edible artisan

Chef Raymond Li: The Journey of a Young Chef

By Maral Arslanian | February 05, 2024

Chef Raymond Li

“I grew up with a buñelo in one hand and a Chinese dumpling in the other.”

A first-generation American with immigrant parents, chef Raymond Li, 35, laughs as he talks about his childhood growing up in Miami. His mom is from Barranquilla, Colombia, and his dad, described as his biggest influence, is Cuban and Chinese. Li’s paternal Chinese family were restaurateurs and dim-sum masters. “I feel my grandpa speaks to me through food.”

Li describes his young self as a “bit of a knucklehead” and a lover of soccer, which helped keep him out of trouble, though “I did a lot of dumb things in the past,” he says. But family always came first. Li traveled back and forth from Colombia for two years while his mom got treatment for liver disease. “I had to help her, but then discovered I needed support for myself,” he says.

Paying His Dues

Back in Miami, Li landed a job preparing meals for a friend who had a meal-prep company, his first, unofficial introduction to a professional kitchen. In 2013 he got a job as a busser at Cool de Sac in Gulfstream Park in Hallandale. He recalls having to expedite orders in the kitchen. “I’m good with chaos,” he says. “During busy times I would jump in and help.” The team recommended he go to culinary school and offered him a cook’s position.

Li enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu and, while at school got a job at The Ritz Carlton as a Cook III. “I remember I had barely made the background check,” he says. Later he was awarded the five-star employee of the year. Li then went to Matador Room in Miami right before chef Jeremy Ford, the chef de cuisine, won Top Chef. They both quickly clicked. “During my seven months there, I learned things about the industry from Jeremy, that I’ll always be grateful for,” he says.

Those lesson-filled opportunities motivated Li, who sent letters to 30 Michelin-starred restaurants all over the world. This opened the door to Benu in San Francisco, where he spent six months cooking with renowned Korean-American chef Corey Lee. After a pass through Robuchon in Paris, then consulting back in South Florida, he joined the team as a sous chef at Palmar, Wynwood’s modern Chinese restaurant, in 2018. On Palm Sunday, the same day his son Liam, now four, was born, Li was promoted to chef de cuisine.

“My son changed everything,” Li says. “I see things completely differently now.” He moved to Elcielo in Miami, which led him and Elcielo founder Juan Manuel Barrientos to plan on opening Li’s first restaurant in Bogotá in the summer of 2020. Then the pandemic hit and he was out of work. “I hadn’t had a break that long in a long time,” he says. “I have no income, I’m left without a job. Let’s sell dumplings.”

Photo 1: Li with his father

Photo 2: Chef Li and his son, Liam

New Venture: Li’s 7 spice

Li’s Dim Sum hit the ground running. Run by chef Ray and his father, they sold delicious homemade, tradition-filled dumplings that diners couldn’t get enough of for months. But the industry called back. Li returned to the pass at Lost Boy and then Tropezón in 2021.
Today, Li says the past year has been one of growth and prioritizing the values he wants to instill as a father. “If I don’t continue the traditions of my heritage, they’ll die with me.” After six months of trial and error, Li’s 7 Spice was born in 2022. “It is my interpretation of Japanese togarashi, a Japanese spice blend containing seven ingredients, and Lebanese sabaa baharat (seven spices).” The Lebanese inspiration comes from the large diaspora living in Barranquilla.

The spices, which include Sichuan peppercorn, fennel seed and coriander, are toasted and then processed and packed in a three-ounce bottle of fragrance-filled goodness. It is a product chef Li is proud of, the result of years in the industry developing his style. “When a dish leaves the pass, that’s a piece of my soul. As a chef, this is my creation.”