Laura Zastrow (Hong photo)
hong-compositite-morrisramenreopens-05-04-2020
Morris Ramen will be serving four kinds of ramen, available for the first time as takeout, as well as cooking community meals. Chef/co-owner Francesca Hong (left) and miso ramen.
Starting May 4, ramen will be going out the door of Morris Ramen.
But chef and co-owner Francesca Hong is quick to note that the restaurant at 106 King St. is only partially re-opening.
“‘Re-open’ implies we are going back to doing something we did before, and how we operated before,” says Hong. “Our commitment to food and service are the same, but what we are doing is not like how it was.”
Morris Ramen closed on March 17, the day Gov. Tony Evers halted dining inside state restaurants. Hong closed immediately and did not attempt to switch over to takeout or delivery. “I did not want to force staff to feel like they had to come to work, if they were uncomfortable doing that,” Hong says, adding that it’s the type of difficult decision that comes with the job of being a responsible restaurant owner. She says she’s also still undecided if a restaurant “should be considered ‘essential.’”
During the shutdown, Hong and her staff kept in touch to see how everyone was doing. The decision to start cooking again stemmed in part from those talks with staff.
Bringing Morris Ramen back to life was, for Hong, “about morale.” Being able to feed people again helps — but, she says, now is also the time to “start to adjust to the new reality” for restaurants. “We all will have to change the model,” says Hong. “No one knows what restaurants will look like in the future, but it won’t be the same.”
Morris Ramen was able to get a Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government that allows her to retain staff. “I have 75 percent of my staff back. They are all making their full salaries, or a fair $15 an hour,” says Hong.
On April 27, Hong started using the Morris Ramen kitchen to cook free community meals, about 150 meals per day, delivered by the Goodman Community Center and several other area nonprofits to those in need. She and her staff also launched free meals for those in the service industry, which can be picked up from the restaurant on Mondays and Fridays from 5-7 p.m.
Hong takes safety measures and social distancing seriously and her staff signed a social distancing contract before returning to work. The instructions on Morris Ramen’s website to customers about ordering and picking up food packages from the restaurant’s small entryway area are clear and thorough for a non-contact transaction.
One big change at Morris Ramen: previously, ramen had never been available for takeout — so that diners would be able to get that peak ramen experience. Now, “we had no choice,” says Hong.
Various options were considered. “We thought about just doing kits that people would assemble at home,” Hong says. Ultimately, the plan evolved to this: the kitchen cooks the noodles until they are almost done, shocks them in cold water and then packages them for travel. At home, pouring hot broth on noodles will revive them, says Hong. “It will never be quite the same as if you were sitting at the ramen bar,” says Hong. But it’s an acceptable alternative.
Four styles of ramen are available to order by text or phone. Diners can also choose the option to donate a community meal for $15. Also available are beer, wine, sake and some non-alcoholic drinks.
Re-opening with a limited menu “was a difficult decision,” says Hong, “but one that works for our restaurant at this time.” Hong expects things will change, and knows she has to remain nimble with regard to the restaurant’s future. Right now, “no one knows if their decision is the right decision, and everything seems like the wrong decision,” she reflects.
Whatever the “new model” for restaurants ends up looking like, Hong is prepared to continue to keep serving food to the community in some way: “If we have to become a nonprofit soup kitchen, that’s what we have to do.”
