Jewan Manuel. | Jewan Manuel Ra Ra Ramen serves vegan ramen, bao, and more out of Lil’ Dame Jewan Manuel, better known as Plant Based Papi, has popped up in and around Portland with his vibrant vegan fare since 2019. Only eight people attended his first pop-up; less than a year later, he was selling out within hours and drawing crowds that wrapped around the block. In December 2020, Manuel opened an eponymous standalone restaurant, but it shuttered in August 2021. For the last two and a half months, he’s been headlining at Lil’ Dame for rotating dinners, and now he’s settling into the space with an all-new weekly ramen pop-up. From Friday to Sunday every weekend, Lil’ Dame, a collaborative restaurant space from the team behind Dame, will transform into Ra Ra Ramen, an all-plant-based ramen restaurant serving homemade noodles, chewy bao, refreshing salads, and more. “Portland used to have a vegan ramen food cart, but it’s never had a 100 percent vegan ramen space,” Manuel says. “So I was like, ‘I want to put my hat in that ring.’” The concept for Ra Ra Ramen was born in Manuel’s home kitchen with a ramen recipe he’s been making for himself and his friends for the past seven years. “I don’t eat ramen that often, but I would make it and think, ‘This is actually pretty tasty,’” Manuel says. Over the last year, he’s gotten into dough science and started making noodles at home. Jewan Manuel Bao at Ra Ra Ramen. After Luna Contreras concluded her Chelo pop-up at Lil’ Dame, the collective asked Manuel if there was anything he would want to do on a more permanent basis. With his past experience of running a restaurant, Manuel says he knew he didn’t want to do anything that would be seven days a week, but a recurring weekend pop-up felt right. After six months of development, Ra Ra Ramen debuted on September 13. The menu revolves around three types of ramen — Classic Ra Ra, Firecracker Ra Ra, and Smoky Sweet Corn Ra Ra — each featuring homemade noodles and broth. In contrast to other vegan ramen that are often made with miso paste, Manuel broth derives its creaminess from a mix of sunflower and hemp seeds, plus kombu, shallots, and more. “The broth is like 17 different ingredients,” Manuel says. “But I wanted something unique, and it was something I’ve never done.” Manuel opts not to use meat substitutes, instead serving whole foods like marinated mushrooms and tofu as protein options to add in. In addition to the ramen, Ra Ra Ramen also serves crispy chile garlic noodles with housemade sesame garlic chile oil, bao buns stuffed with gochujang and miso marinated “pork” made out of mushrooms, and a cucumber salad with pickled daikon. Ra Ra Ramen will operate out of Lil’ Dame for the “foreseeable future,” but no plans for a permanent restaurant are on the horizon. “I really just like the individualism of just creating an experience for a period of time,” Manuel says. Ra Ra Ramen joins an already rich field of vegan options in Portland like XO Bar, Obon Shokudo, and Mis Tacones, but what Manuel is doing still stands out from the crowd. “I want to be a beacon in the community, a Black man that makes vegan food in Portland,” he says. “At this time, I’m a Black man who makes vegan ramen in Portland, which sounds so crazy to a lot of people, but it’s been fun.”