Something magical happens when a restaurant can transport a diner to a completely different place. It’s tough to get right. When it works, you can feel it.

That’s the case at Crafted Ramen Misolado, which took over the former Sakura Bana space off 74th and Dodge streets. Its goal? Send diners on a 17-hour flight to Japan. 

Though an actual trip to Japan is still on my shortlist, the restaurant seems to do the next best thing: Fun imported snacks and candy, Japanese toys and collectibles, a wide variety of imported drinks of all kinds and, obviously, really tasty ramen. 

Most of the dishes we tried hit. And, though it wasn’t perfect, it struck me as a joyful journey. 

Owners Kenichi and Akiko Ota also run a Crafted Ramen location in Kansas City. They spent more than six months visiting several states looking for a spot to open a second location in partnership with a ramen shop from Japan.

Then they met chef David Utterback, who had purchased Sakura Bana after its original owners retired, and was looking for someone to take it over. 

“We were not interested in opening just anywhere. We wanted to find a place where we could be needed by the community and become something meaningful there,” Kenichi Ota wrote in an email while he’s traveling through Japan. “That search eventually led us to Omaha.” 

Utterback made the Otas a deal to take over the space, he said, and also introduced them to local contractors to help them update the dining room.

“Without that connection, I do not think we would have been able to open in Omaha,” Ota said. 

Utterback continues to support the couple and the concept — in fact, I accidentally ran into the award-winning Omaha chef on my first visit for this story, sitting in a back corner booth. 

Utterback suggested we try the Misola Black ramen, so we did. We also ordered a bowl of the spicy creamy chicken, two Misola buns, truffle edamame and an order of pork gyoza. 

The service at Misolado is a mix of table service and fast casual ordering. When we visited in the evening, we selected our drinks from the cooler at the front, paid for those at the cash register and then got seated. From there, we ordered at the table, then waited for our food. 

Another day, when I visited during lunch, I went through a similar process but ordered and paid for my food at the cash register before seating myself. A few minutes later, a server brought out my lunch. Either way, it is quick and efficient, and paying up front, which you do in both scenarios, allows guests to leave whenever they’re done. 

As you might imagine, Utterback’s recommended ramen is indeed very good. It’s made with a pork broth and a miso base, which together gives it hefty umami. It gets topped with a flavorful drizzle of fragrant black garlic oil; green, red and fried onion; black mushrooms; a soft-cooked, marinated half of an egg and a thick slice of pork belly chashu, which is pork belly braised in soy sauce. All that sits atop a tangle of noodles. It’s rich, salty, earthy, fatty and flavorful, all the things you’d want from a piping hot bowl of pork ramen. 

I had high expectations for the lacy, crisp-looking gyoza I’d seen online before our visit, but I found the reality a tad disappointing. The staff forgot to bring our order, so I requested them after we’d finished. I’m not sure if the kitchen rushed them, or if they had instead been waiting for us that whole time, but the crispy sear at the bottom of the dumplings had lost its crunch and the filling inside was barely lukewarm. I’ve had better elsewhere in the city. 

I liked the fried pork buns much better. Though a bit messy in the plating, the combination of a soft, puffy bao bun with crispy pork, mayo, special sauce and cool shredded cabbage tucked inside is a lovely combination. 

The truffle edamame caught my eye instantly, and it’s very good, with just a hint of savory truffle flavor on each pod that pairs well with the steamed, vegetal flavor of edamame. This will be a go-to for me. 

The server asked me how spicy I’d like my spicy chicken ramen; I chose a medium level. She offered a side of chili oil in case I wanted it hotter, and I did end up using some. I always enjoy a bowl of chicken ramen, which generally strikes me as cleaner and lighter than pork. 

At Crafted Ramen, the chicken broth is creamy, which adds back some of that richness, likely by using Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise or egg yolk or both. 

The kitchen tops the bowl with flavorful, tender hunks of tandoori chicken, which is marinated in yogurt and spices and generally traditionally cooked in a clay oven at a high temperature. Its smokiness paired well with the noodles and the rest of the toppings. The chewy, earthy black mushrooms really stood out in my bowl. 

Another day, I went for lunch to sample the Japanese curry on MiSoLaDo’s menu, as well as the crispy Brussels sprouts, which I hadn’t saved room for at dinner. The chicken in the rice bowl can be either fried or grilled. I went for the latter, and it had the same Indian tandoor flavor. Mixed with the slightly sweet, thick curry sauce that comes on the side in a cup, it reminded me of curry I’ve tried in London. Indeed, history tells us that Britain originally introduced Indian curries to Japan in the late 1800s. It was warming and filling on the cool, rainy spring day I visited,  the type of comfort food I adore. 

The fried Brussels are another highlight, as were the majority of the shared plates we tried. Super crispy and tossed in a sweet sauce, they have complexity of both flavor and texture that makes them a joy to eat. 

Ota said the response to the menu in Omaha has been positive. Thus far, the owners find that Omahans are adventurous eaters, looking to try something they haven’t had before. 

It’s worth slowing down and exploring the selection of snacks and treats at the front of the store. 

I selected one I knew, Hi-Chew, but two flavors I’d never seen before – one meant to mimic the taste of Coca-Cola and another flavored like ramune, a popular fizzy Japanese drink. These were a huge hit in our house, as were a bag of juicy gummy peaches and a small bag of savory cheese crackers with a texture similar to shortbread. I highly recommend a selection of new-to-you treats. You likely will be as delighted as we were.

Ota said they discovered many of the snacks and sweets while living in Los Angeles through a warehouse that imports food and many of the drinks in the cooler that are otherwise difficult or impossible to find locally. 

Put simply: I had fun at Crafted Ramen. There are plenty of good dishes on its menu, and I suspect many more hidden gems on the snack shelves. Until I actually make my way to Japan, this will certainly do. 

This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press, an independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories in Nebraska that matter. Read the article at: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/the-sbh-review-omahas-crafted-ramen-misolado-transports-diners-on-joyful-journey-to-japan/