Though named Chicago Ramen, this new shop has zero connection to the city. It’s located in suburban Des Plaines, and it’s run by Japanese chef and Los Angeles restaurateur Kenta Ikehata. But they can call it anything they like, as long as they keep dishing out ramen this incredible. The restaurant specializes in tsukemen, a sort of deconstructed version of ramen, where the noodles and broth are served in two separate bowls. The thick and springy noodles are rinsed after cooking, leaving them cool and slippery on the tongue, yet still with a remarkable ability to latch onto liquid. The chicken-vegetable-pork broth with miso paste comes out screaming hot and as thick as gravy. Take a sip and it can seem aggressively salty and meaty. But dunk some of the noodles in and each slurp is a riveting balance of cold and hot, bouncy and creamy.