CITY GUIDES | WASHINGTON, D.C.
Chef Carlos Delgado Is Redefining Peruvian Cuisine in America
At Michelin-starred Causa and the new Maru San, Delgado is giving Peru’s regional and Nikkei cuisines a bigger stage.
By Eric Barton
Updated June 17, 2026
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and has reviewed restaurants for two decades. He splits his time between Miami and Asheville, N.C. Email him here.
The first time I interviewed Carlos Delgado a year ago, he ended our conversation with a fairly transparent attempt at suspense.
“And who knows,” he wrote, “perhaps a small new restaurant might be on the horizon.”
He already knew.
That restaurant became Maru San, which just landed on our list of D.C.’s best restaurants right now. Maru San is an intimate Washington, D.C., counter devoted to Nikkei cuisine, the distinctly Peruvian tradition born from Japanese immigration. It’s a more focused, more personal complement to Causa, Delgado’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Shaw, where the tasting menu crosses Peru from the Pacific coast to the Andes and Amazon.
Together, the two restaurants make an argument much larger than either dining room: Peruvian food in America doesn’t have to be reduced to ceviche, lomo saltado, and the familiar standards. Delgado, who won the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, has become one of his home country’s most visible culinary ambassadors, showing just how varied, sophisticated, and ready for a wider audience its food can be. Nikkei cuisine, in particular, feels overdue for its moment. Delgado may be the chef who gives it one.
Chef Carlos Delgado
He grew up in Callao, the port city beside Lima, where he learned to cook in his grandmother’s kitchen and began working in cevicherías. After immigrating to the United States, he studied culinary arts and worked at restaurants including Bryan Voltaggio’s Volt before beginning to define his own version of modern Peruvian cooking.
The most formative stretch came at José Andrés’ China Chilcano, where Delgado spent six years and rose to executive chef. The restaurant introduced Washington to Peru’s culinary intersections: indigenous traditions layered with Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese influences.
“My six years working with José Andrés taught me how to think like a true restaurateur,” Delgado says. “I often find myself considering, ‘What would José do?’ in various situations. I greatly valued the opportunity to learn from the operations of all his restaurants, each run at such a high level. This experience guided me to see the industry from a broader perspective.”
Delgado opened Causa with partners Chad Spangler and Glendon Hartley in 2022. The restaurant earned a Michelin star the following year, making it the first Peruvian restaurant in the United States to receive one. Michelin later named Delgado its 2024 Young Chef Award winner. Causa succeeds because it treats Peru not as a flavor profile but as an enormous place. The tasting menu moves through its ecosystems, introducing ingredients and traditions that many American diners have never encountered.
Ceviche Nikkei mixto at Causa
“It was important to me that Causa offer something different from the typical Peruvian restaurants in the U.S., which often focus on ‘classic’ Creole cuisine,” he says. “I wanted to showcase Peru in a way that hadn't been done here before, offering a glimpse of the country as a traveler might experience it. This restaurant and menu are designed to be an immersive journey through my eyes, as if you, the diner, are traveling and eating your way through Peru.”
Whole fish at Causa
Red wine braised short rib at La Vie
Maru San narrows the lens. The 25-seat restaurant centers on hand rolls, sashimi, and a limited tasting experience exploring Nikkei cooking. Delgado resists describing the food as fusion. Nikkei has had more than a century to develop into its own cuisine, with Japanese technique meeting Peruvian seafood, chiles, citrus, and pantry staples.
The concept also brings Delgado back to food he explored at China Chilcano, now presented without competing for space beside Peru’s Chinese and Creole traditions. This time, Nikkei gets the entire restaurant. America has embraced sushi, ceviche, and seemingly every possible hand-roll counter, yet Nikkei food remains unfamiliar to many here. Delgado offers an accessible entrance, then uses it to explain something deeper about migration and the way cuisines evolve without losing their identity.
There’s already another project coming: Brisa, a coastal Latin American restaurant planned for Buzzard Point, where Delgado will serve as culinary director and partner. His ambitions, it turns out, were never especially small.
Dessert with macambo at Causa
But his measure of success remains personal. “My hope is for Causa to continue to grow, evolve its offerings, and enhance the overall dining experience,” Delgado says. “On a personal level, I want to build a better future for my children.”
The larger legacy is taking shape around him: a chef from Callao giving American diners a far more complete picture of Peru, one restaurant at a time.
