On most days, the sizzling sound of frying mofongo and Eliezer “Chef Ziggy” Segui Albino’s joyous, booming voice filled the air in the streets of Columbia Heights. 

Albino’s puesto (market stall) along 14th Street NW was marked by a tent, catering dishes, and a giant Puerto Rican flag. The line for his famed sidewalk kitchen often stretched down the block. Plates piled high with roasted pork, rice, mofongo, and pigeon peas were handed off to hungry person after hungry person, always with a side of a smile and conversation. 

And if someone didn’t have money to pay, Albino simply piled the food on even higher and told them they could pay the next time. 

He was happiest watching others eat his Puerto Rican cooking, loved ones say. 

But on this overcast, late May evening in Columbia Heights, those sights and sounds are gone and replaced by somber chatting, sharing of memories, tears, and prayers. 

It was about two weeks ago when the famed Puerto Rican sidewalk cook many called “Chef Ziggy” died  from a heart attack, his family says. They are gathering where his puesto was — dotted with photos of him, flowers, and a cross — to reflect and remember their son, brother, father, and friend.

“He was everyone’s friend… and always provided for everyone. He had such a kind heart, even when he was a little boy,” his father Jose David Segui tells DCist in Spanish, while his grandson (and Albino’s nephew) helped with translating. “He always took care of others before himself. Always.” 

His favorite dish that his son made was arroz con gandules. “His was the best,” Segui says. 

Consuelo Amaya stands with her arm around Eliezer Alejandro Segui Amaya, the son that she and Albino had together. There are tears in her eyes. “I’m going to miss him. He was my best friend,” she says. “Even if we weren’t together, he was always there for me.”

She loved his pernil. 

Eliezer Segui Albino was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, as he told DCist last year, in a “Christian home.” His father is a minister and mother, an elementary school teacher.

At 17, he boarded a ship and left Puerto Rico for a mission trip in Latin America. As an assistant chef, he cooked for nearly 400 people daily for a year. The experience taught him how to cook quickly for a lot of people. It also made him fall in love with being a chef. 

“It’s not just food,” Albino said in February 2021. “Food is… art.” 

In 1988, the ship wrecked off the coast of Argentina. He called the experience “traumatic,” but, as he was known to do, Albino remained focused on the positive. 

“By the grace of God, if you believe in him, nobody on board that ship perished that day,” he said.

After moving back to Puerto Rico for a time, he headed out to the mainland United States in search of a better life and landed in Columbia Heights. He brought his culinary talents to a number of jobs across the District including cooking at Johnny Rockets in Union Station, Capitol City Brewing Company, Capital Hilton and, most recently, the Washington Convention Center. 

Even while he was working, he continued his education by enrolling as a student at the University of District of Columbia studying mass communication. 

However, when the pandemic struck, he was laid off from his job at the Convention Center. 

Albino took the difficult situation and turned it into, well, mofongo by fulfilling his dream of opening his own makeshift eatery. He set up on 14th Street NW, despite having to take two sets of buses there and back each and every day just to transport all of his equipment. 

“He was such a driven person,” his sister Nitza Segui Albino tells DCist. “Cooking was his thing… his culture.” 

The dish that she loved the most was Chef Ziggy’s arroz con pollo. “Oh, I liked it a lot. A lot,” she says. 

Albino’s food and sidewalk kitchen became a Columbia Heights sensation, with folks driving from across the region to get a heaping plate. 

“One customer, two customers, three customers. Then, they are tweeting and texting,” Albino said last year. “Then, the next thing I know I’m on Popville. Then, the Washington Post. Then, I’m on Telemundo News. Next thing I know, I’m everywhere.”

During the little down time he had on weekends, Albino would also help mutual aid groups hand out produce and pantry goods to those in need. This is how Joie, an organizer for DC Ward 1 Mutual Aid who declined to share her last name for privacy reasons, first met him. She was also a frequent customer.

“He loved [cooking and serving]. And he would give you so much food too,” she says, chuckling. “He’d just pile it on.”

Her favorite dish was his red snapper. “I’m going to learn how to make red snapper in his honor,” Joie says.

Albino served everyone, even those who couldn’t pay. Megan Felix Macaraeg, the organizer director for the co-op Beloved Community Incubator and a friend of Albino’s, says there were countless times they saw him give to those in need. 

“Every time he was done [selling], he would give [the rest] to the unhoused people. Everybody deserves to eat and be treated with dignity and kindness,” Felix Macaraeg says, “He was hugely generous.”  

Their favorite dish was mofongo.

Early last year, though, all of his cooking and eatery supplies were destroyed or stolen. In Columbia Heights, which has a long tradition of food vendors, this act by an unknown assailant wasn’t surprising to some. 

But, despite thinking it was “over,” the community rushed to support Chef Ziggy in his time of need. 

A GoFundMe was set up that amassed thousands of dollars in donations, no doubt aided by a social media boost from Spanish chef José Andrés.

We can do better than that….let’s get him a food truck…if he thinks he needs it! I will look for him tomorrow….@PoPville but at least we will help him plus money for initial purchases etc…. https://t.co/RkHH8Vqh4E

— Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) February 23, 2021

A spokesperson from Andrés’ Think Food Group confirmed to DCist/WAMU that the famed chef and humanitarian also personally provided financial support to Albino.  

The sidewalk chef used the money to not only get himself back to cooking and serving his customers, but also to provide for his community. Joie says that he bought a tent for the mutual aid organization, while Felix Macaraeg says Albino used some of the funds to assist a Columbia Heights diaper drive.  

“Anybody else would have kept [all the money],” says Felix Macaraeg. “But he didn’t.” 

That isn’t to say Albino didn’t struggle with his own personal challenges or tough times. But cooking was his calling and helped him to transform into the person he was always meant to be, family members tell DCist. 

“The person that he became, as a father and as a person that cares, that, to me, is what matters the most,” says his sister Nitza. “He became an example. A role model.” 

The GoFundMe that was used to help Albino get back to cooking has now been repurposed to help with funeral and remaining medical expenses. Whatever money is leftover, the page reads, will go to his son. As of publishing, nearly $9,000 has been raised. 

Back at Albino’s former puesto location, his father is leading a prayer service. Eyes are watery, heads are nodding, and “amens” are being spoken. 

Prior to the service, Albino’s son Eliezer Alejandro stood where his father used to make so many people happy with his cooking, food, and conversation. Last year, when asked if he wanted his son to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a chef, Albino said no. 

“I want him to be the first Puerto Rican president of the United States,” he said. 

When Eliezer Alejandro is told his father’s dream for him, he smiles and simply says, “I know.” 

This post has been updated to correct that José Andrés is from Spain.