- Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine left 200 Elgin St. in early April while construction work took over the building.
- From April 9 to July 12, it ran a series of pop-ups with its suppliers at 380 Elgin St.
- It reopened at 200 Elgin on August 1 with an unannounced soft opening, and the kitchen is now open to the dining room.
Most restaurants treat a renovation as dead time: paper on the windows, staff scattered, a sign promising to be back soon. Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine did something more interesting with it.
When construction started in its building at 200 Elgin Street this spring, chef and owner Lizardo Becerra's team didn't go dark. They packed up and moved a few blocks down Elgin to 380, and spent the next three months cooking there instead.
Five years, three addresses
The timing was fitting. Raphaël marked its fifth anniversary on April 1. It started in April 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, as a takeout counter tucked into the back of a warehouse, and moved twice before landing its dining room on Elgin. Earlier this year, the restaurant also took part of its team to Peru to cook and learn where the cuisine comes from.
A few days after the anniversary, it closed at 200 Elgin on April 5. It was dark for four days while the team moved, and the pop-up at 380 Elgin opened on Thursday, April 9.
A season of collaborations
The temporary room wasn't just a stopgap. Raphaël used it to run a series of pop-ups with the producers it buys from, putting their work in front of diners, not just on the plate. Collaborators included Rivière Farms and, to close out the run, Prince Edward County's Grange winery.
That final pop-up ran from July 3 to 12, ending with an evening hosted by the Grange's sommelier, pouring the new 2023 vintage of its traditional-method sparkling wine. Remarkably, the team had turned the space at 380 Elgin into a working restaurant in just four days.
Back home, with the kitchen on show
After a short closure for the move back, Raphaël reopened at 200 Elgin with an unannounced soft opening on August 1, and it has been open daily since. The biggest change is obvious the moment you sit down: the kitchen is now open to the dining room, so you can watch Becerra and his team cook. The restaurant says more updates to the space are still to come.
For a cuisine as bright and hands-on as Peruvian cooking, from ceviche cured to order to plates finished at the last second, it's the right call. The cooking was always the show. Now you can see it.
It didn't take long for the new room to get a big-night test. On September 21, Raphaël hosted the Kitchen Party Ottawa all-star invitational, with Becerra cooking in the competition himself.
Moving twice in one summer is a lot to ask of a restaurant team. Doing it while running a pop-up series is even more. The result is a better room on Elgin, and a restaurant that clearly doesn't like standing still.