Industry Night: From Louisiana Gumbo to Hudson Yards
Chef Erik Ramirez did not set out to become one of New York's most important culinary voices. He was a first-generation Peruvian kid from New Jersey who spent a summer in Louisiana watching his uncle cook gumbo for the pure joy of it. That was the spark. Now he is behind Papasan at Hudson Yards, one of the most talked-about restaurants in the country, and the DC food podcast world cannot stop talking about what he is doing with Nikkei cuisine.
If you follow the DC food scene, you already know that Peruvian cuisine is having a moment. Lima has back-to-back wins at the World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards. And Chef Erik Ramirez is one of the chefs helping American diners understand why. On this episode of Industry Night with Nycci Nellis, the DC food and hospitality podcast that goes behind the scenes with the people shaping how we eat and drink, Nycci sits down with Ramirez to trace the full arc. From a fishing rodeo in Grand Isle to three years as sous chef at Eleven Madison Park. From a life-changing month eating through Lima to opening Llama Inn and then Papasan, a Peruvian izakaya rooted in Nikkei cuisine. Ramirez is a James Beard-nominated chef with a Met Gala menu credit and a story that sounds like it was written for the screen. He talks about what Nikkei cuisine actually is, why Peruvian food is built for this moment, and how a pizza topped with eel and Peruvian chili oil became the dish that explains everything. This is the chef interview podcast episode you send to everyone who thinks they already know Peruvian food.
What You Will Learn
A summer in Grand Isle, Louisiana with an uncle who cooked gumbo and jambalaya for the joy of it was the moment Erik Ramirez decided cooking was worth chasing.
Three years at Eleven Madison Park, finishing as sous chef, reshaped how Ramirez thinks about technique, hospitality, and the respect owed to every element of a restaurant experience.
Ramirez grew up eating his grandmother's Peruvian home cooking but never saw it as a cuisine he wanted to cook professionally until one month eating through Lima's top restaurants redirected his entire career.
Nikkei cuisine was born out of migration and necessity, Japanese precision married to Peruvian ingredients and culture, and Ramirez sees it as the same story every immigrant group has told through food.
Every dish at Papasan must connect to New York, Peru, and Japan, and the eel pizza is the clearest example of how that three-way tension produces something completely original.
Listen to the full episode here, and watch it all here.
