Oscar Lee is steeped in Baltimore food history. “My grandfather’s brother opened one of the first Chinese restaurants ever in Baltimore,” he said of the Golden Star on Greenmount Avenue.

But when Lee and his uncle, chef Ten Vong, opened their own business here in 2014, they turned not to the Chinese dishes they’d grown up with but to ramen. “Ramen was really big at the time; it was just missing here,” said Vong, who previously worked in fine dining in New York City.

Their Ejji Ramen, located above the Whole Foods in Harbor East, fuses Japanese ramen techniques with their own Chinese Malaysian culture — with a Maryland twist. Diners need look no further than the eatery’s pit beef ramen, which features ribbons of meat gently laid onto bowls of rich, homemade pork broth.

The soup, made with grass-fed beef that’s smoked on the premises, is arguably the best thing to happen to Maryland’s signature meat since sliced buns. Though the dish was created two years ago as a special, it quickly found its way onto Ejji’s regular menu and has remained one of its most popular items.

“One of the ways to get people to try things is to anchor it in something that’s familiar,” Vong said.

The Baltimore area is home to numerous examples of chefs finding inspiration in the region’s favorite foods. They’re taking ingredients steeped in comfort and nostalgia and bringing them back into the conversation with modern techniques and global culinary traditions.

The results? Delicious.

At Blueprint Cafe in Charles Village, diners can order a hot, creamy congee topped with fresh, chilled crabmeat. With traditional, tomato-based Maryland crab soup, the acidity of the broth can overpower its star ingredient. But Blueprint’s Asian-inspired porridge, which can be eaten for breakfast or lunch, allows the seafood to shine.

Co-owner Andrew Bui, who previously helped open The Bun Shop in Mount Vernon, says the dish was inspired by his Vietnamese heritage and his husband’s Korean background. The addition of crab, though, Bui said, “was definitely a little Maryland mix.”

Blacksauce Kitchen chef Damian Mosley often riffs on the traditional chicken box, a staple of Baltimore’s carryout scene, in his ever-changing weekly menus. Last month, customers could pick up a fried turkey box from the Remington spot; over the summer, a shrimp box.

Others are turning to more obscure traditions. Sour beef and dumplings, a longtime favorite among Baltimore’s large German-speaking population, has found its way onto the menu at places such as Chachi’s in Old Goucher. Co-owner Karl Diehn got the idea after sampling the dish during the sour beef dinner at Zion Church of the City of Baltimore. He said the labor-intensive meal requires around four days of work and the restaurant even makes its own gingersnaps for the dish.

It’s not the only Maryland throwback you’ll find at Chachi’s: The eatery serves sauerkraut and Binkert’s sausage, a local staple for generations. (Acclaimed Fells Point hot spots The Wren and Little Donna’s use Ostrowski’s meats instead.)

Coddies, too, have become a favorite retro Baltimore choice for chefs looking to reinvent a classic. Appearing on a recent season of “Hell’s Kitchen,” Catina Smith prepared her own version of the classic potato and codfish balls. She butter-poached her cod, folding the cooked fish with fresh herbs, mayo, egg and mustard into potatoes before breading and frying. Chef Gordon Ramsay called the finished product “rustic” and “charming.”

Another version, served on popsicle sticks, has become a popular choice at Wye Oak Tavern, the new Frederick restaurant from brothers and celebrity chefs Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. The restaurant features other nods to Baltimore favorites, such as tiger sauce, a horseradish-mayo combo that’s usually slathered on top of a pit beef sandwich, as adornment for prime rib.

It’s true there are few things in life that can top a freshly sliced pit beef sandwich from a roadside stand. But the pit beef ramen from Ejji — or the prime rib at Wye Oak Tavern — just might do the trick.