Meet Erik Piedrahita: Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erik Piedrahita and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erik, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
This question needs a bit of a background, but it’s all part of a pretty cool story. I’ll try and keep it short – stay with me… I moved back to Los Angeles from San Francisco to open Bon Temps. Having lived in the Bay Area for couple years, I was ready for the right opportunity to present itself so I could move back to LA. I was missing my family, and my girlfriend and I at the time had been managing a long distance relationship. I love San Francisco, and have amazing memories of my time there, but I was ready to move back. During my intitial phone interview, I fell in love with the concept. I flew down to LA a few weeks later for a tasting, and got the the job. Opening a restaurant is not easy by any means – there are tons of moving parts; developing a menu, establishing vendor relationships, hiring an entire staff, training an entire staff…the list is never ending, All this while construction is still happening, and theres always a new issue popping up. But theres something about the work that you pour] into it. Theres a bond that forms, and an inherent attachment to every aspect of the restaurant. So we opened the restaurant, got a bunch of accolades, everything was going great. Fast forward almost a year, and then COVID. Like a lot of other places, we tried to develop a take out model to keep us going but alas, some bad news: the restaurant was going to close. I was devestated. That night I went to have dinner with my dad at his house. While having a couple Vieux Carrés, I decided that I was going to build a barbecue pit (since also deciding I wasn’t going to take another job unless It was as good of a fit as Bon Temps) My father drew up some plans, and a few days later we broke ground, What started with a simple design, developed into a full outdoor live fire kitchen. My background is mostly in fine dining – not so much barbecue. But in fine dining, there’s a lot live fire cooking, so at The Neighborhood Barbecue, we use these cool fine dining tricks and techniques and apply it to barbecue. We’re kind of in this niche where we’re a mix elevated live fire cooking, and the barbecue you eat in your dad’s backyard. I love that. its the kind of food that I like to eat, and its really cool to be able to share it with other people. I kind of fell into this, and ran with it..and theres nothing Id rather be doing right now. The first week I cooked, I gave food to family, friends, and a few chef friends (who posted the food on Instagram). The next day, I had a bunch of new followers, and people asking how they could get some barbecue. At first, people would DM me, I would take payments through Venmo and that was that. As the business grew, we developed a few better practices, and are still working to develop the business every day but it’s amazing to see how we’ve grown since that first week. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity I have to be able to cook what I love, and do what I love to do, and be able to make a business out it. Im thankful for all of our guests, and look forward to seeing everyone at our next barbecue.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My background is mostly in fine dining (2 & 3 star Michelin background – not so much barbecue. But in fine dining, there’s a lot live fire cooking, so at The Neighborhood Barbecue, we use these cool fine dining tricks and techniques and apply it to barbecue. We’re kind of in this niche where we’re a mix elevated live fire cooking, and the barbecue you eat in your dad’s backyard. I love that. its the kind of food that I like to eat, and its really cool to be able to share it with other people. I kind of fell into this, and ran with it..and theres nothing Id rather be doing right now.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a really tough question considering the current state of affairs due to pandemic life in Los Angeles. In a perfect world scenario, and everything was open – that’s easy. I can spend the entire week eating and drinking my way through Los Angeles (and the beaches aren’t too bad either). We’re so lucky in LA to have such a diverse food scene. There’s not a lot of places around where you can have some of the best Korean food, world class tacos, and incredible Ethiopian food all in the same day and all within a few miles of eachother. throw in a few bottles of good wine, and some cool bars, a couple of LA sunsets, and thats my kind of week. Theres so much to explore and discover here. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I couldn’t have done this without my Dad. On so many levels. From developing the concept, to building out our outdoor kitchen, and we’re still at his house every week still cooking there. So without my dad, no barbecue, Kristen, our social media, and marketing extraordinaire. Most of our business is done through Instagram (which I’m terrible at) so without Kristen, theres no way our brand would have developed the way it has. She’s also the person who likes food more that any other person I know. Nothing goes on the menu until Kristen tries it and approves. She has an incredible awareness of what good food is, and what’s going on in the food scene. Julian – who I met a few years ago, after he drove across the country from Connecticut to cook in Los Angeles. He was one of the first hires at Bon Temps. He’s one of the most hard working, focused, and talented cooks i’ve worked with. While working a few very demanding restaurant jobs Julian is also part of our team, always helping out, no matter how tired he is.

Website: theneighborhoodbbq.com

Instagram: neighborhood.bbq

Image Credits
First photo of me (not food pics): Adam Mengual IG: @adamamengual food pics: Kristen Kraemer IG: @kristenkraemer