Born in Maui, Nik Ramirez had a passion for cooking and sport from a young age. At 18, the pursuit of a professional soccer career led him to Romania, where he played for FC Petrolul Ploieşti. Then he moved into the restaurant industry, where he attended the culinary arts program at Santa Barbara City College and started his career at Santa Barbara’s iconic Wine Cask in 2008.

Nik continued to hone his skills, cooking and staging at 108 in Copenhagen, Gaggan in Bangkok, and a seasonal izakaya restaurant in Japan’s remote lya Valley. But it was Thailand that felt like home. He lived in Bangkok for four years, and both of his children were born there.

Nik served as chef de cuisine at the Dusit Thani Hotel’s 22 Kitchen & Bar and the Hotel Indigo’s Char Restaurant & Bar. In 2019, Nik decided to move closer to family and accepted a position at Acme Hospitality in Santa Barbara. A few years later, while searching for a new home in the Santa Ynez Valley, he met Greg and Daisy Ryan of Companion Hospitality.
In June of 2022, Nik and his wife Ashley began a series of weekly Na Na Thai pop-ups at Companion’s Bar Le Côte in Los Olivos, CA and a year later in June of 2023, they opened Na Na Thai’s own brick and mortar in Buellton, CA serving authentic Thai street food classics in a lively setting