All You Can Eat: Basan rolls

Ramen & rollin’

Basan brings Japan to the ’ville

Behind the window of a blue and white food truck with a cartoon rooster on its side, Kelsey Naylor and Anna Gardner ladle heaping helpings of ramen, chock full of locally sourced ingredients. But their menu is anything but traditional—they’ve put their own spin on every dish. The chefs’ signature option, Basan Peitan, combines chicken, greens, serrano pepper, and an onsen egg in a spicy, creamy chicken broth. “It also has pork rinds on top,” Naylor says, “which brings me a lot of joy.”

If Naylor and Gardner’s names seem familiar, it’s because they’re veterans of the local restaurant scene. A graduate of Johnson & Wales culinary school, Naylor has worked at Lampo, Ten, Timbercreek Market, and The Alley Light, while Gardner has worked in the kitchen at Junction, Oakhurst Inn, and The Ivy Inn. It was while they were both working at Public Fish & Oyster that they decided to join forces and spend a year in Japan studying cuisine.

“I’ve always wanted to cook Japanese food. So, being able to live and cook there for a year was awesome,” says Gardner. “I come from a fairly standard meat-and-potatoes family. (I’m not kidding—I didn’t even know pickles could be made from anything but cucumbers until I was in my late teens.) When we were in Japan, I fell in love with all of the new flavor possibilities and ingredient treatments.”

When they returned, they opened Basan—but not without help from their mothers, Jennifer Naylor (who owns Mama Bird’s Kimchi) and Kathy Gardner, who helped with taste testing. “We did a lot of R&D on recipes and would make something 50 times in a row until we felt like we had it right,” Gardner says.

They launched the food truck in September of 2020, and it garnered such support that a brick-and-mortar isn’t out of the question in the future. For now, the chefs are content to develop more interesting, surprising recipes, and expand the menu. (Try the kare pan—a deep-fried curry bread, only available on Saturday mornings at The Farmers Market at IX.) —C-VILLE Writers

EZE AMOS

The Basan Peitan wows with its pork rind topping.