Ramen and Sake Specialist Arriving Soon in Carlsbad

The newest addition to North County’s ramen scene hails from the East Village, where Beshock Ramen & Sake Bar debuted on Market Street back in the fall of 2016. The eatery has roots in Japan, where co-owner Ayaka Ito’s family runs a restaurant in her hometown of Nagoya. Founded with childhood friend Masaki Yamauchi, Beshock opens at The Shoppes at Carlsbad in early February.

Yamauchi worked with Japanese architecture team Nonstyle to design the 1,750-square-foot space, which features sleek surfaces, industrial materials, and graffiti-style art. Seating ranges from booths to higher perches at the sake bar and ramen kitchen; the restaurant also includes an outdoor patio.

Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Beshock bring its time-honed menu to Carlsbad, which centers around a tonkatsu ramen whose broth base, a mix of pork, chicken, and seasonal vegetables is simmered for over ten hours. Other ramen options include spicy miso, creamy vegan, and chicken-based varieties. Experience executive chef Jason Tsuji is proficient in other styles of Japanese cuisines, and also offers sushi rolls, rice bowls, and appetizers that range from Nagoya-style wings and homemade pork gyoza to takoyaki and yellowtail sashimi.

Ito is a sake enthusiast, who has been a certified kikizakeshi — the equivalent of a sake sommelier — since 2014. Her hand-selected list for Beshock includes an array of sake varietals that can be sampled in a flight. Ito is so serious about sake that she will soon be traveling to sake breweries in Hawaii and Japan in order to develop and brew her own brand of rice wine. A retail boutique, offering sake selections as well as drinkware, is also being added to the ramen bar’s East Village location.