This noodle restaurant is giving back, and the community is eating it up
One small-town Central Kentucky noodle shop is serving up profound change in its community alongside its popular lickable bowls.
Driven by first-hand knowledge of how the nonprofit sector works, Noodle Nirvana is giving back generously to the community. Berea, in turn, has welcomed the socially conscious restaurant since its opening in 2016, giving rave reviews for epic noodle bowls and yearly commitment to a local nonprofit.
“I’m so thankful for how the community has embraced us because by eating here, a nonprofit is getting the support they need to do the critical work in our communities and working with some of our most vulnerable populations,” said owner Mae Suramek, a 1995 Berea College graduate.
Suramek was recently nominated by Democrats to fill the 89th Kentucky House seat vacated by Robert Goforth. She will face Republican Tim Truett, a local elementary school principal, in the Nov. 2 special election.
Noodle Nirvana menu
Suramek cooks up Thai comfort food from her childhood in addition to spring rolls and “make your own,” aka build-your-own options.
The latter option is fully customizable down to the protein (beef, chicken or tofu), noodles (glass noodles, rice noodles or ramen from Lexington Pasta), sauces (spicy lime, rustic Thai veggie and Vietnamese Pho), stir-fry (curry, Pad Thai, peanut sauce and drunken basil) and garnishes (cilantro, peanuts, lime, bean sprouts, etc.)
Those dining in will see their bowls crafted in front of them down an assembly line similar to concepts used by fast-casual national food chains.
“We’re like the Chipotle of noodles,” jokes Suramek, but it’s no joke to the diners, who have given it an average online review of 4.7 stars. It is also consistently ranked in the top 3 best dining spots in Berea on Yelp and Tripadvisor.
Feeding your soul
The restaurant came to be after Sumarek grew frustrated from her two decades running nonprofits. She worked for AmeriCorps, a Lexington domestic violence shelter, a refugee resettlement center in Raleigh, in human rights advocacy for city and state governments in Kentucky and North Carolina and at the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center (now known as Ampersand).
“As the director of nonprofits, I’ve always been drawn to causes that I care about,” said Suramek. “But as a nonprofit, we need lots and lots of money to do that important work. Instead of me being in Frankfort or (Washington) D.C. lobbying for better victim laws or working to develop creative programs I’ve spent most of my time raising money. That includes things like throwing fancy fundraisers that were overpriced to the point that the people we were trying to serve couldn’t even attend. It got me thinking of better, more sustainable ways to do the work.”
Her breaking point came when she partnered with a Lexington restaurant to donate a small portion of its sales during one of its slowest days of the year. The next day she received a check for a measly $62.50.
Suramek began searching for better ways for small businesses and the for-profit community to have more of a stake in improving their communities.
During her 20-year Berea College reunion she discovered her calling. One evening she invited several friends to her home and served a curry noodle bowl (with rice noodles, beef, half a boiled egg, two pieces of tofu, curry broth and crushed peanuts) that she’d been eating since she was a child. Their reactions were priceless.
“Every single bowl looked like it had been licked clean. They all loved it,” said Suramek of the bowl now on the menu as Mom’s Curry Noodle Bowl. “That moment made me realize that I could have success with a restaurant featuring comfort food from my childhood that I could then use as a mechanism to give back to my community in a much more significant amount than $62.50.”
Less than a year later Noodle Nirvana was born.
Berea is in Noodle Nirvana
It was the first noodle-exclusive restaurant in Berea and the business was immediately a hit. The quick success came as a surprise to Suramek, who had an ambitious, albeit attainable, goal of selling 30 noodle bowls per day. They ended up selling 1,000 per week.
Considered a social enterprise — the restaurant prioritizes people, community and the environment as much as it does profits — Suramek continues her work with nonprofits. Each year Noodle Nirvana partners with a local nonprofit, giving 25 percent of sales and all tips from the first Wednesday of every month to the organization.
During its first three years, over $120,000 was raised for the New Opportunity School for Women, Madison County Food Bank and Hope’s Wings Domestic Violence Program. This year’s partner is Hospice Care Plus, a carryover from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Suramek also provides a display highlighting the nonprofit’s mission and needs and space for monthly board meetings.
“It’s a beautiful thing that I occasionally get teary eyed about because none of this would’ve been possible without them (the community) choosing to eat here and our employees choosing to work here. I don’t take any of that for granted,” said Suramek.
Noodle Nirvana
Where: 315 Chestnut St., Berea
Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon-8 p.m. Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday-Tuesday
Online: noodlenirvanaky.com
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 6:00 AM.