New restaurants PekoPeko Ramen and R. House recently opened for business near the Homewood campus, quickly gaining popularity among students. R. House is a large warehouse-turned-dining-hall in Remington, while PekoPeko found its place in the Nine East 33rd building in Charles Village.
Hopkins alumnus David Forster, who grew up in Japan, said that he was particularly frustrated with the lack of diverse food options available while he was at Hopkins. After a few years in New York City working in ramen restaurants, he returned to open Peko Peko with the University’s help.
“I was a student at Hopkins. Moving to Baltimore for undergrad, I was upset with the lack of quality food options in the area,” Forster said. “I always knew that I wanted to come back to Baltimore for PekoPeko because, as a student, I felt that it would definitely work.”
Forster spoke about the help he received from the University in opening his restaurant.
“Being a first-time restaurateur, it’s hard to get a lease,” he said. “Having been a student here, I had become familiar with a number of the staff at Hopkins. It was helpful for me that they knew me so that they could tell the landlord that I’m a legitimate contender.”
Freshman Coco Li described her first experience going to eat at PekoPeko. When she arrived, the restaurant was busy. PekoPeko opens at 5 p.m. and stays open until midnight.
“They have a high turnout rate,” Li said. “People were piling up as we left. I overheard someone saying that if you went at six or seven, you’d have to wait for an hour. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s been generally very busy since it opened.”
In his first few weeks, Forster has already received plenty of feedback from his customers, citing the positive response to the system of having the tip included in the price of the meals.
“The expectation of a diner is that the service is good,” he said. “If the service isn’t good, don’t eat at that restaurant again or speak to the manager. Don’t not tip someone. It’s also ludicrous that the front of house staff walk home with so much more money than the back of house staff, so it’s a good way to make sure that everyone is receiving the appropriate wage.”
Li compared the restaurant to Niwana, which is right up the street. Although she criticized PekoPeko for being pricey, she said that Niwana is more expensive and typically takes longer.
Despite Li’s comments about the relative brevity of her visit, Forster rejected the label ‘fast-casual’ to describe PekoPeko. He believes it is inappropriate because they do not offer takeout and are not part of a chain. Forster mentioned that PekoPeko might take part in the University’s upcoming Spring Fair and are looking to possibly host a temporary stall in R. House.
R. House has ten permanent chefs and one stall that is designed to host restaurants for a few weeks at a time. Stephanie Hsu, the marketing and events manager at R. House, said this allows chefs to experiment and test new ideas with a built-in audience.
Hsu also elaborated on the establishment’s relationship with the University.
“As far as Ron Daniels is concerned, R. House is his idea, and we think so too,” Hsu said. “There’s been a lot of great synergy, being so close in Remington. We’re working hand-in-hand on a lot of initiatives, and it’s nice to see Hopkins students come out.”
According to Hsu, the Blue Jay Shuttle, which runs every 15 minutes, provides a direct route to the restaurant, and this is an example of one of these initiatives. She said that R. House provided a community atmosphere that was well-suited to a variety of people.
“That’s the basic premise of R. House,” Hsu said. “It’s a place for a community to gather. We have all different kinds of seating so that we can accommodate all different kinds of parties, whether you’re a Hopkins student coming in on the weekend or a mom who has a kid.”
Freshman Teagan Kim wrote in an email to The News-Letter that she could see why R. House’s atmosphere and variety appealed to students.
“We went on a Friday night,” she wrote. “It was pretty hard to decide what to eat. Every stall had something I wanted to try.”
Kim also wrote that, despite the large seating area, she struggled to find seating because crowds.
“Every table in there was filled,” she wrote. “There was a good mix of cool 20-somethings chatting and drinking with their friends and families with kids eating dinner together.”
Hsu said that she appreciated the relationship between R. House and PekoPeko, saying that she hoped to collaborate with them further in the future.
“It’s another great success story of Baltimore locals who want to stay and do good things in the neighborhood,” she said. “I think that the more of those concepts that we have together, it can only be for good.”
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.