Japhy’s Soup and Noodles served its very last bowl of soup last night, after 25 years of serving bowls of soup (and also other things). The couple of days leading up to the restaurant’s sudden closure were mighty busy, with lines of people spilling out the storefront and down the block. It goes without saying: local soup-lovers are in a sad place. 

But G Mehta, Ronuk Patel and Roshan Patel say they have something to cheer Arcata up. The three are opening up a new ramen bar – and it’s right across the street from where Japhy’s was, up on G street in Northtown. 

Noodle-based soups are about the only thing the two businesses have in common, though. 

Susukino Ramen Bar, named after a neighborhood in the city of Sapporo, Japan, will be a late-night restaurant with a bar atmosphere and live DJ sets on Fridays. They hope to open in late June.

“We’re trying to really make it like a real Japanese izakaya, basically,” Ronuk told the Outpost during a tour of the space, still in the renovation stage. “You come and hang out, have a beer and eat good food, you know? And it’s just supposed to be that kind of vibe.” 

The restaurateurs, who own the cannabis farm Devi, said they’ve wanted to open a restaurant for a while, and Japanese food is the obvious choice. Inspired by a decade of annual snowboarding trips to Japan, Ronuk recruited his friend Gori for the restaurant, a chef who recently moved here from Sapporo. 

Gori will serve up four types of ramen, classic Japanese appetizers, and yakitori skewers, made with ingredients sourced locally when possible, Ronuk said. A bowl of ramen will probably cost about $15. They’ll pour wine and beer, but hope to open a full bar eventually – and they plan to stay open as late as 2:30 a.m. on the weekends. 

Located at 1504 G St, the relatively large space has seen a couple of restaurants come and go over the last several years. “It’s tough business, it’s not easy,” Ronuk said. “It really is passion for us, because we love food so much. We love Japanese food. We love ramen.”

He and his business partners are confident that Arcata wants and needs what they’re serving up. 

It’ll be the “neighborhood spot,” Roshan said. “We can bring a whole community together and build a culture around it: bring that Japanese vibe that’s super homey and friendly, everyone just come in here kicking it, grab beers, eat some meats, just enjoying their time.”