Keizo Shimamoto never imagined he would become a ramen chef. Nor did he imagine he would become a major player in the American ramen scene.
When the second-generation Japanese American began his blog, Go Ramen!, in 2007, he simply saw himself as a ramen eater. He started the blog to document his adventures slurping noodles around his native Southern California — and occasional trips to Tokyo — through the lens of an amateur.
“I didn’t see myself as a food critic,” he says via Zoom. “People would ask me, ‘What’s the goal of the blog? Do you want to become a chef?’ And I’d say, ‘No, I just want to eat ramen.’”