As a young chef, Marie-Anne Velasco (above) left her home in Montreal at 22 with $300 in her pocket, her knife kit, a pair of clogs, a couple of shirts, and two pairs of jeans. Prior to that, she had earned an undergraduate degree in languages, literature, and international finance; worked at a bank, which helped her realize she wanted to go to culinary school; traveled through Asia; and attended culinary school, which led to competing for Team Canada in the Culinary Olympics.
From Montreal, she went to Italy, where she was a self-proclaimed “couch-hippie,” and then to Chicago, where she cooked for Charlie Trotter and Rick Tramonto, and had impromptu drinks one night with Anthony Bourdain who called her “Cookie” because he didn’t believe the diminutive Velasco—wearing a dress and makeup—could be a grill cook.
Multilingual, she’s an instructor at Le Cordon Bleu, a wife, and mother of two young children. Next year, she will open the highly anticipated, yet-to-be-named ramen shop with Qui Tran (right) of Mai Lee, where she will serve as executive chef and partner.
She thinks she’s not interesting. We think that’s Canadian humility talking.
Velasco met Tran, whom she called a “master of conversation,” like a lot of people do, as a regular at Mai Lee. Drawn to the food she said you couldn’t get anywhere else in St. Louis at that time (circa 2001), she first started going by herself and then as part of a group of chefs from L’Ecole Culinaire. On one visit, when they all wore their chefs’ jackets, Tran approached them and asked, “Why wasn’t I told about this? Who are you guys?”
As more evidence that St. Louis’ cooking scene is tightly knit, at that time Velasco and her husband Eric Kessler lived behind Sidney Street Café and became friends with chef-owner Kevin Nashan who’s friends with Tran. (Also in the industry, Eric waited on Kevin and Mina Nashan at the Four Seasons when they first moved back to St. Louis to take over Sidney Street.) At nearby Niche, when it was still in its original location, they would grab drinks before going out, and occasionally run into Tran who’s friends with Gerard Craft. Velasco and Tran’s wife Thuy share a love of baking (Thuy likes to bake, Velasco likes to eat), and Tran and Kessler are both involved in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). With so many crossover connections, it was inevitable that Velasco and Tran would become friends and business partners.
Back then, during Velasco’s first stint in St. Louis, she held a number of jobs in the industry: sushi chef at The Ritz-Carlton, chef de cuisine at The Chase Park Plaza, instructor at L’Ecole Culinaire, and instructor and program chair at Le Cordon Bleu, where she helped to open the program. An opportunity arose to move back to Chicago and teach at Le Cordon Bleu there, so she and her family moved. But they kept in touch with the Trans. “It’s hard to stay away from Qui and Thuy,” Velasco said.
Lured back here with the prospect of partnering in the ramen shop, Velasco moved to St. Louis last December when her youngest child was only 2 weeks old. A few weeks before that, a very pregnant Velasco and Tran visited Sun Noodle in LA as part of their extensive R & D for the shop. Tran explained that they chose Sun Noodle because it’s the best: “Sun Noodle equals ramen noodles,” he said.
Both Velasco and Tran lauded Sun’s commitment to quality control as key to what sets it apart, and they’re so sure of the noodles’ superiority, their ramen shop will become a local distributor. Other ramen shops loom on St. Louis’ horizon, so it’s likely that Tran and Velasco will sell noodles to their competitors; the two aren’t worried, however, about giving those competitors an advantage. With so many different noodles and varieties, their restaurant will still offer something unique. “We’re confident in what we do,” Tran stated.
Although the shop’s location hasn’t been determined yet, the partners have a clear idea for the concept and offerings. The goal, according to Velasco, is to make it as close to an authentic noodle shop as they can.
She vividly remembers her first taste of ramen outside of Kyoto while traveling: it was cold out, her feet were wet, and she couldn’t read the language and so pointed at the pictured boards for what she wanted. They were out of her first choice, but it didn’t matter because what she got—“pork belly in liquid form”—was so good, her nose and eyes “were crying,” presumably partly because of the spices, partly because she was thawing out, and partly because it was good enough to invoke tears.
Upon entering the shop, she saw a “little lady” skimming the broth in the kettle: “All you see are these little eyes and steam” over the kettle and “smell umami,” she recalled, adding about the transformative experience, “I had no idea what I was eating but I was eating it so fast, it was burning my face off.”
Tran’s perfect bowl of ramen is “simple” and “balanced,” “not too heavy or too fatty.” The goal, then, is to serve “a clean bowl of ramen” comprised of five or so ingredients with plenty of add-on options.
Velasco described what makes ramen good, explaining that there are four key components to every ramen dish: (1) the base, (2) the tare or flavoring components, (3) the toppings, (4) and the noodles. At Sun Noodle, they tasted around six different noodles with five different base broths, and then a variety of toppings. Referring to the different profiles comprised of the acid, fermented, creamy, tart, salty, and spicy components, Velasco said, “All those powers combine.” But she’s not at all overwhelmed by the possibilities. Rather, she’s excited to be in charge of the seemingly endless variety of flavor combinations.
While the shop itself will be authentic, Velasco and Tran envision a few unique twists, like soft-serve ice cream on the side. Another part of their R & D has been to taste as much ramen as they can across the country (so much so Velasco said that she’s eaten her “car’s weight in noodles” over the last two years). “Whenever we go out for ramen, we look for Yogurtland afterwards,” she laughed. The soft-serve concept is also inspired by High Five Ramen in Chicago (right) where alcoholic slushies help cut the food’s intense heat.
A “pork and beef guy,” Tran is excited about the “chicken schmaltz ramen” currently in development, saying that he’s “created something for his Jewish clientele.” He thinks his chicken stock ramen is just as good as the usual pork style and “will set their noodle shop apart from a lot of places around the country.”
When asked why the process has taken so long, both noted that they’ve been trying to find the perfect location. Of utmost important is their commitment to excellence: “Qui and I are the type of people that if you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it right. I think that’s why we get along so well in the kitchen. You can’t half-ass anything,” Velasco said.
Tran agrees with her on that point and noted that they both love to talk to people, which is why he has charged her with being “the face of the new project.” (Both are charismatic, easy to laugh, and good story tellers.) With Velasco in charge, Tran said he will divide his time between Mai Lee and the new shop, “taking a page out of Gerard [Craft’s] book,” where one builds a good team and can go back and forth between restaurants.
Tran also attributes their good working relationship to their complementarity. While he sees the big picture, Velasco focuses on the finer details, according to Tran, who admits that she’s smarter than he. He also said that she reminds him of his mother (at right): “It’s very comforting to have a woman cooking soup.” Before anyone cries sexism, it’s important to know how much Tran respects his mother and her cooking, so his statement is more complimentary than derogatory.
Of the kind of gender-based cooking Tran is referring to, Velasco said, “In French they call it ‘cuisine de bonne femme,’” explaining that it means “back to the womb” or “home cooking.” When asked about the gender divide and ramen in particular, since, like sushi chefs, ramen chefs have traditionally been men, Velasco said that she “doesn’t feel the stress of it” because “she’s always been around it,” where “it” is the idea that a woman chef is rare or novel because she’s lesser than a man.
In addition to traveling around the country tasting ramen and visiting Sun Noodle, Tran and Velasco recently hosted acclaimed Japanese chef Shigetoshi Nakamura (the “master of ramen”) in St. Louis, where the three tested recipes together at Le Cordon Bleu. Nakamura provided guidance on how to replicate authentic Japanese ramen in St. Louis, which starts with something as basic but critical as checking the water to make sure it’s free of anything that will affect the noodles’ taste.
Velasco described the experience as invaluable, with “pork heads here, pork bellies there,” the bounty of which was shared with a lucky group of friends and family. Tran revealed to us that Nakamura intends to return to St. Louis for the shop’s grand opening in the first quarter of 2016.
Authentic ramen consumption involves slurping, a practice, along with elbows on the table, that’s been broken out of many of us. When asked if locals will slurp, Velasco said, “I think people in St. Louis are ready to embrace it,” adding that in Le Cordon Bleu’s kitchen after recipe testing with Nakamura, “everyone was so quiet; all you heard was slurping.” Velasco recommends having a spoon in one hand for slurping and chopsticks in the other for a toppings “chaser.”
She also thinks the current ramen craze engendered in part by David Chang of the Momofuku empire has helped add to ramen’s hype: “He’s all over the place, from TED Talks to PBS to MTV.” She paused and asked, “Is there MTV?” confessing that she doesn’t own a TV. And with that question, she became even more of an endearing, interesting “uninteresting” person who is poised to put St. Louis on the ramen map.
