Welcome to our inaugural 50Hertz Flavor On the Menu series — a new way for us to showcase how 50Hertz Tingly Food’s products and ingredients come alive in the hands of world-class chefs.
We’ve shared plenty of recipes in our own collection, but this series takes things further — into kitchens where bold flavors and tingles come alive through a chef’s imagination, from Michelin-acclaimed restaurants to hidden gems.
At the center of it all is 50Hertz Tingly Food’s pantry of Sichuan pepper oil and spices — our pride and joy. Watching chefs weave our products into their own stories and dishes is what makes this series so exciting.
And to kick things off, we’re starting close to home: Toki Underground in Washington, DC. A pioneer of the city’s and the East Coast’s ramen scene, a Michelin Bib Gourmand favorite, and a place that’s personal to us in more ways than one.
Meet Toki Underground
Back in grad school, when our founder Yao and I were classmates at SAIS, Toki Underground on H Street NE was our late-night refuge for authentic Japanese ramen. We weren’t alone — hordes of students braved freezing DC winters, waiting an hour or more for steaming tonkotsu broth, springy noodles, and carefully layered toppings.
At the time, we thought the vibe inside Toki was just DC’s hipster-quirky aesthetic. Only later did we realize how much it echoed the cozy, stool-lined ramen shops tucked into Shinjuku’s alleys — not just a meal, but an escape, lifting the weight of grad school the way those Tokyo ramen-yas revive weary salarymen.
Opened in 2011 by Taiwanese American Chef Bruner-Yang, Toki Underground quickly became a sensation, winning Eater’s Restaurant of the Year in its debut. Since 2018, it has consistently earned Michelin’s Bib Gourmand, recognized for providing high-quality, delicious food at a great value.
Chef Bruner-Yang has become one of D.C.’s most acclaimed culinary voices — a four-time James Beard Award nominee whose various projects have garnered national recognition, including Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurant and Best New Bar.
In 2024, under the new ownership of Liv Caillabet, the Toki team expanded to Baltimore, bringing its nationally recognized ramen, cocktails, and cozy-but-lively energy to a broader audience.
The Sichuan Pepper Connection
Yao met Liv while doing a demo at a local event in DC. Liv immediately recognized the uniqueness of our products and wanted to bring Sichuan peppers into his ramen. Now, seeing Toki Underground feature our tingly Sichuan pepper oil in their bowls feels especially meaningful.
What began as late-night ramen runs during grad school has grown into a full-circle moment where our pepper oil adds its tingle to Toki’s Michelin-recognized dishes.
On the menu, the Tingly Garlic Tonkotsu gives our Sichuan pepper oil a chance to shine — a rich pork broth layered with garlic and finished with our signature Sichuan pepper oil, then topped with chashu (braised pork belly), kale, scallions, pickled ginger, and an onsen egg (a silky, slow-cooked Japanese egg, named for the hot springs where it was traditionally prepared).
It’s warm, comforting, and tingling with flavor — the kind of bowl that revives you in a DC snowstorm.
Image: The Tingly Garlic Tonkotsu in all its glory — tingling with 50Hertz Tingly Food’s Sichuan pepper oil.
Image: Sichuan Dan Dan Noodle at Toki Underground featuring our Red Sichuan Pepper Oil
Toki Underground even spotlighted our story on their Instagram, sitting down with our founder Yao Zhao for a video interview about Sichuan pepper — its many names, its tingle, and its roots in the berry-filled mountains of China.
As they wrote: ‘Flower pepper. Prickly Ash… it goes by a few names.’ And in their words, the ingredient is all about ‘getting tingled while Yao transports you to the berry-filled mountains in China where Sichuan peppers grow.’
Image: Watch the interview on Toki Underground’s Instagram
Toki has also played with Sichuan pepper in other creative ways. At a Yunnan-inspired collaboration dinner, diners enjoyed dishes like fatty beef mala noodle soup, chili and Sichuan pepper chicken, and even a cocktail called the Spice Girl with house-made Sichuan pepper syrup. It’s proof of how versatile our spice can be in the hands of such creative chefs.
Image: See the full collaboration here.
Image: Cocktails that tingle. Meet the Spice Girl—a mala-inspired creation with house-made Sichuan pepper syrup and dried heaven facing pepper (朝天椒 / cháotiānjiāo).
Dining at Toki Underground
Part of what makes Toki so memorable is its atmosphere. The DC original feels like a hidden attic izakaya — intimate, buzzing, and built for slurping ramen shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers.
Toki’s Baltimore home — the restaurant’s second location — was designed by Christophe Richard, son of the late James Beard Award–winning chef Michel Richard. It expands on Toki’s playfulness with skateboards hanging from the ceiling, walls covered in bold graphics, and the same warm ramen counter with stools that seat guests shoulder to shoulder, just like in Japan’s hidden Shinjuku ramen stalls.
Michelin recognized Toki Underground not only for the depth of its ramen, but for the way every detail works in harmony — the food, the drinks, the offbeat design, and the lively energy. It’s more than a bowl of noodles; it’s a full experience.
Flavor Comes Full Circle
From grad school lines on H Street to Michelin recognition, the story of Toki Underground and 50Hertz Tingly Food’s Sichuan Pepper is one of friendship and full-circle flavor. What began as late-night ramen runs in DC snowstorms has come to a moment where 50Hertz Tingly Food’s Sichuan pepper adds its tingle to their craft.
It also speaks to a larger shift in dining: chefs are now increasingly embracing bold, global ingredients once unfamiliar to American diners. Today, Sichuan pepper is sparking Michelin-honored dishes across the country.
If you’re in DC or Baltimore, don’t miss the chance to slurp a bowl of Tingly Garlic Tonkotsu and feel that unmistakable buzz for yourself.
→ Book your reservation at Toki Underground
→ And check out our authentic 50Hertz Tingly Food Sichuan Peppers here and bring the same tingle to your own kitchen
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