Melvin Davila first crossed paths with Keiichi "Kei" Maemura—the acclaimed chef behind authentic Japanese restaurant Shimuja Ramen in Florida—at a Miami pop-up event over a decade ago. "It was the best ramen of my entire life," Davila says.
Davila had worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants but jumped at the chance to make ramen alongside one of Japan's most celebrated ramen masters. Maemura’s style is distinctly southern Japanese, influenced by the Kagoshima region where he was born and trained for more than 30 years. The broth he creates is thicker, clearer and more deeply layered than most Americans are used to. His ramen is nearly 90 percent crafted with ingredients sourced from Japan, including a soy sauce recipe known to only three people on the planet.
As Davila continued honing his culinary skills while developing an appreciation for precision, consistency and hospitality, Maemura offered him the opportunity to partner on opening a restaurant concept, with Davila as its owner. Davila says nothing could have prepared him for that moment. "I wanted to cry," he shares. "I felt like I had been knighted."
Hayato Ramen is nestled within COATI Food Hall, an industrial-style mixed use space in downtown Colorado Springs. Davila fell in love with the city after visiting his sister; he received Maemura’s blessing, and the Hayato name itself, after Maemura traveled with him to Colorado to help scout locations. "I felt so honored," Davila says of carrying on his mentor’s legacy. "It didn't feel real."
Every bowl at Hayato is hard-won. The broth takes 72 hours to make, with specialty ingredients shipped from Kagoshima through importers in Denver because Maemura’s recipes don't have substitutes. Coaxing the depth and richness out of the bone broth takes six hours at sea level, while at Colorado's elevation, that same process takes 12. That kind of craftsmanship doesn't happen in unlimited quantities. When Hayato sells out, there's simply no more to be had.
"When we run out, we run out,” Davila says. “We can't just make more." For him, that's not a limitation. It's proof that what he's serving is the real thing. The customers who understand that tend to be the ones who have tasted ramen at its source. Former military who have lived in Japan and Korea sample one spoonful and need no explanation.
"They know what real ramen is," Davila says. "When Chef Kei came from Japan, he wanted the world to try his ramen. I want Colorado to try it."
Hayato Ramen
514 S. Tejon St.
719.922.4147
hayatocolorado.com
"When Chef Kei came from Japan, he wanted the world to try his ramen," Davila says. "I want Colorado to try it."