An Armenian family's food, finally at home in Brooklyn.
Ararat El-Rawi grew up in a family of Armenians who had made their way from Armenia to Iraq, and eventually to the American Midwest. His earliest cooking education happened in the kitchen alongside his mother — and those flavors stayed with him everywhere he went.
He spent years working the front of house at some of New York's most respected restaurants: Aquavit and Red Rooster under Marcus Samuelsson, and Esca with David Pasternack. Even as a server, he found his way into every kitchen. "Each place I worked, I would learn how to make their style of food and keep getting better and better."
"As my mom would say, we're such an old culture that a lot of this food — we were the first ones to make it. Everybody else took it and changed it to their liking." — Chef Ararat El-Rawi
When the pandemic shuttered Esca in 2020, Ararat set up tables outside his Bed-Stuy apartment and started cooking for his neighbors. Strangers became regulars. Regulars became friends. The press showed up. And a quiet pop-up became something undeniable.
In January 2024, he opened Cafe Little Armenia at 1035 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint — a proper home for the food he's been making his whole life.
