Latest news with #ErikRamirez
New York Times
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Is the Restaurant Good? Or Does It Just Look Good?
How many shades of pink and orange can you fit into a single restaurant? At Papa San in Midtown Manhattan, the limit may not exist. A neon-orange sign bearing the Peruvian Japanese restaurant's name — in chubby capital letters inspired by Japanese typography — flashes above the bar like a homing beacon over Hudson Yards. Customers sip pisco sours on branded pink coasters and visit a bathroom saturated in orange light. Employees wear burnt orange hats, descend a pink staircase and print checks over an orange table. Even an alcohol warning sign behind the bar includes the Papa San font and the word 'warning' in a popping rosy hue. The design is so pervasive and striking that you might forget this sunset-shaded expanse also serves food. Erik Ramirez, the chef and an owner of Papa San, is well aware of this. 'Everything is branding nowadays,' said Mr. Ramirez, who owns two other Peruvian restaurants in New York City. For diners, 'I feel like the food element is kind of an after thought.' A decade ago, the country's most buzzed-about restaurants were largely defined by the ambition of the food and the credentials of the chef. Now, they're all about atmosphere and appearance. For many diners who grew up in the visuals-obsessed Instagram era, a restaurant doesn't need to have a particular aesthetic — it just needs to have a memorable one. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Llama San Team Expands Nikkei Cooking at Papa San
Opening Nikkei, the fusion of Japanese and Peruvian cuisines that is a hallmark of Peru, again inspires Juan Correa and Erik Ramirez of Llama San, who also own Llama Inn. Looking to the Japanese izakaya for style, they're serving ceviches, makis, tiraditos, zensai, robata grill items and donburi. There's also a chicken tour de force, with the entire bird deconstructed from beak to tail with yakitori style gizzards, heart, wings, crisp skin, chicken sausage and broth. Their Nikkei also crosses paths with other cuisines in cacio e pepe udon, unagi pizza and yuzu Béarnaise. Neon accents add color to the generously windowed industrial space with a stretch of open kitchen and a mezzanine bar. Consultants from Tres Monos, a notable Buenos Aires bar, helped shape the cocktail menu. The Spiral, 501 West 34th Street, 929-533-2037, This plant-filled, brick-walled taste of France on a notable West Village triangle is a collaboration between the New York Jets star C.J. Mosley and his business partner, Brandon Wassel, with Mathias Van Leyden and Mino Habib, the owners of Loulou Petit Bistro & Speakeasy in Chelsea. Expect escargots, onion soup, salade lyonnaise and steak au poivre. The executive chef Mehjabin Ahmed, a veteran of Eleven Madison Park and Le Coucou in New York and Bistro Paul Bert in Paris, is in charge. For drinks, Jeremy Le Blanche can suggest a mix bourbon, ratafia, salted caramel Campari, meringue and dehydrated roses in your cocktail glass. (Opens Thursday) 173 Seventh Avenue South (Perry Street), 646-558-3200, The chef Sungchul Shim has opened his ode to steaks and more with an epic menu on an Eighth Avenue block dense with tourist traffic. It's discreetly situated on the second floor above Bar 92 serving burgers (beef, shrimp) with drinks. The 120-seat main dining room, subdued and with an open kitchen, turns out steakhouse fare (prime and Wagyu, choice of sauces), seafood, uncommon items like clam chowder pie and Sichuan-spiced mala gambas, and, as a filling finish, the option for Asian rice or noodle dishes. Luis Robles, the chef de cuisine, has been at Mr. Shim's side for several years. (Saturday) 776 Eighth Avenue (47th Street), 646-329-5929, This week's addition to the city's fertile list of omakase options has been installed on a bustling crosstown street. All of eight seats are available for a seating at 5:30 p.m. every night except Sunday for the many courses ($300) created by the chef Hiroki Abe. After the omakase session, around 9 p.m., an à la carte kappo-style menu will be available. The owner, Shuichiro Kobori, had a hand in the dark interior with Japanese wood accents. 127 East 34th Street, 646-360-4492, Mexican Modernism, based on the work of architect Luis Barragán, is the theme for this year's Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. It's also what is shaping the food at the various dining locations around the garden during the show, and also for the special Orchid Nights when there will be a dinner menu at the Hudson Garden Grill from 7 to 10 p.m. On the various menus will be dishes like shrimp in green mole, red mole cemitas and churros. Orchid Nights will be Saturdays, continuing this Saturday until the show closes April 27. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
