The first-generation Peruvian-American chef, a former Eleven Madison Park sous, pairs his huancaína with fat fried potato wedges as part of a riff on pollo a la brasa, the heavily spiced rotisserie chicken that’s become as emblematic of Peruvian cuisine stateside as ceviche. With their soft innards, the top-notch potatoes nearly overshadow Ramirez’s carved-up, brined, and smoked bird. Dip both fowl, its crispy skin flavored with blackened chiles, and potatoes into the huancaína, or other condiments made with red rocoto and green ají peppers…
From a modest, open kitchen, Ramirez expands on the tastes of his childhood, focusing on technique. Huacatay, or Peruvian black mint, seasons slices of pork shoulder mellowed with yogurt and teased with pickled fruit. The kitchen perks up an otherwise boring beet salad with another minty herb, muña. Plantains (the sweet ones fried, the green ones turned into chips) accent pieces of golden tilefish marinated in dashi-spiked, citrusy leche de tigre, making for surprisingly complex ceviche. Even quinoa, the ancient grain that’s practically as much a staple of Brooklyn as South America these days, gets a star turn thanks to bananas and bacon. —
Zachary Feldman
