Meet Sarah Gavigan of Otaku Ramen

To say Sarah Gavigan is “ramen-obsessed” falls a bit short. She says it best: “A great bowl of ramen is an orchestra playing a five-minute concert in your mouth.” The former music executive-turned-ramen-connoisseur has taken her profound love for the dish and its umami and created a brand that includes a soulful cookbook and her popular eatery, Otaku Ramen. We caught up with Sarah to learn more about her childhood culinary influences, her new artisan noodle company, and her favorite ramen of all time — even in the summer. Please welcome Sarah Gavigan!

What was your upbringing like?

I grew up as an only child of two amazingly fun people in a small tight community in Columbia, TN. I went to middle school in Franklin and preferred horses to people for most of my teenage life. I grew up around a huge group of families with kids my age that, for better or worse, will always be my brothers and sisters.

You’re originally from Nashville but spent years living on the West Coast. What brought you back to Music City?

I spent nearly 17 years on the West Coast and loved it, but when the economy sank in 2008, my husband and I decided to make a change. Our daughter was 6 at the time, and it was obvious that LA would not make life easy as a young family.

What prompted your trajectory from advertising, film production, and music licensing to the culinary world?

I’m a serial entrepreneur and wanted nothing more than to be IN IT, no matter what IT was. It started with a comms law class in college — my teacher was a legendary movie producer who said in class one day, “Hey kids, you know movies come to shoot here all the time, and you can work on them, just look it up.”

I worked on a movie set for the first time when I was 20 years old, and I wanted to learn more. So, I went to LA. As I continued into film production, I mostly worked on commercials and music videos (I was there in the golden era of music video production). I loved the pace of the “short form” world and never worked in long form.

I had become an avid music lover and would often find myself in the crowd of DJs and producers at shows. I ended up befriending the guys from a band called Thievery Corporation in 1998, and they convinced me to represent their music for placement in the short-form world. I said, “Why the heck not?” That led to my agency, Ten Music, which placed indie music in commercials for almost 10 years.

I closed Ten Music about four months before the economy hit the tanker in 2008. Two years later, we came to Nashville, and I was ready for something totally new. In general, ramen and eating Japanese food had become one of my favorite pastimes while living in LA; when I got to Nashville, I was gutted without my magical bowl of ramen to make a bad day good. So, I simply decided to learn how to make it. That commitment to making myself happy with a bowl of ramen is now the commitment of those at Otaku Ramen. Our purpose is to serve happiness one bowl at a time. I like to say I am in the happiness business now.

What are your earliest childhood memories when it comes to food?

I had some strong duality. On the one hand, biscuits and country ham. House-made sock sausage. The Southern cuisine of Middle TN in the ’70s. But on the other hand, my father’s family is Sicilian, so we would cook around the clock when my grandparents were in town. My grandmother’s meatballs are still my forever comfort meal.

What drew you to ramen, and what is your absolute favorite ramen of all time?

A great bowl of ramen has a power that many foods don’t. I didn’t know what that power was until I started learning the craft. It’s umami. A very clever neuroscientist at Vanderbilt proved that the pretense of umami (defined most simply as “savory”) sets off receptors in the brain, releasing serotonin and dopamine. Umami makes you happy.

A great bowl of ramen makes you happy because it has umami and all the classic hallmarks of a great bowl of ramen. The noodle and broth are well-matched. The saltiness is just right. The broth has just the right amount of fat to help those noodles slurp right into your mouth. A great bowl of ramen is an orchestra playing a five-minute concert in your mouth. I have been privileged to have some mind-blowing bowls of ramen. But my favorite to date was served to me on this last trip to Japan in October by a female ramen chef. It was a kelp broth with hand-crushed chewy noodles. It was perfect.

What one dish is a must-try next time we visit your restaurant?

If you have never had a proper bowl of ramen, start with the Classic Shoyu or the Tennessee Tonkotsu. I call Shoyu “breakfast ramen” because it’s lighter and like a hug. You can eat it any time of the day. Tonkotsu is a punch in the mouth. Some people say the Hot Chicken Bun is the best thing we have ever made. Three bites of heaven, for sure.

What seasonal items can we look forward to on the Otaku Ramen summer menu?

Our Summer Series this year will be summer-worthy, but the theme will be kept secret until June 1. Each year we pick a theme and run the event for eight weeks with prizes, giveaways, and lots more. We are also adding frozen drinks to the Eastside menu when we open.

What makes ramen such a year-round delicacy — even in warmer weather?

Comfort is comfort, be it hot or cold. And we think as Asians do on this topic; eating something hot raises your inner temperature, which makes the temperature outside feel cooler!

Can you tell us about your new artisan ramen noodle company and where we can get them?

Learning the craft of making fresh ramen noodles and making them available — not only in the shop but for people to cook at home — has always been a part of the long-term plan. We recently rolled out a purchase online-and-pickup model [called Super Happy Noodle]. Text NOODLES to 833-601-0028 to be the first to know about drop dates.

If you’re eating out in Nashville, where are your go-to spots?

With the amount we are working these days to get the new units open, I have been eating out or picking up a lot. The new corridor of casual spots on Gallatin has become our go-to: Eastside Banh-Mi, FatBelly Pretzel, and Eastside Pho. My all-time favorite food item now and forever in Nashville is my friend Jackie’s Chicken Salad at her spot, The Food Company, in Green Hills. I used to make her FedEx it to me in California. Actually, it would be a hard tie between ramen and that chicken salad for my final meal.

What’s next on the horizon for you?

Building the business of Otaku Ramen is my purpose, my love, and my job for the foreseeable future. It’s hard to imagine after that, but my dream would be to join the many incredible ocean conservationists in protecting our oceans. When I was 13, I wanted to become Jaques Cousteau.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

F**k up fast.

Outside of faith, family, and friends, what three things can’t you live without?

The ocean, olives, noodles.

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Nashville women are doing inspiring work. Meet more of them over at our FACES archives!