Ricky Cheramie & Rebirth Restaurant

Ricky Cheramie was born in 1970 in Galliano, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, near the Lafourche Bayou.  Self-trained, he was mentored from 1990 to 1993 by Chef Randy Cheramie (no relation) of Randolph’s Restaurant.  In 1993, he was brought up to New Orleans to work at Chef Paul Prudhomme’s K-Paul’s Restaurant.  Three years later, he moved over to Commander’s Palace as line cook under Great Chef Jamie Shannon, where he stayed until 2000.  Great Chef Emeril Lagasse hired him for Emeril’s Restaurant located in the New Orleans Warehouse District, where he worked under Great Chef Chris Wilson.  In 2003, he moved to Boston to work under Chef Jay Murray at Grill 23 but three years later, Chef David Slater of Emeril’s brought him back to Emeril’s as sous chef, from 2006 to 2008.  

From 2008 on, he stayed for a couple of years at the Bombay Club in the New Orleans French Quarter until 2015, when he was offered the position as executive chef for the new Rebirth Restaurant (think New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina), where he creates farm-to-table Cajun Creole.  Great Chefs discovered him shortly after the restaurant opened and he is scheduled to be taped in early 2017 for their Great Chefs of America television series.