Tag: Fernanda Mueller

Chef Mashama Bailey brings her Southern food to NYC at Intersect

Post author By Fernanda Mueller
Post date January 26, 2021

Acclaimed Savannah, Georgia Chef Mashama Bailey is bringing the best of her Southern cuisine from award-winning restaurant The Grey to the Big Apple in a multi-week residency at Intersect by Lexus. In its first-ever takeout and delivery program, the venue is featuring a rotating three-course menu that changes on a weekly basis — to keep things interesting.

Located in New York City’s Meatpacking District, Intersect by Lexus has featured some excellent chefs in their Restaurant-in-Residence rotation, and this month’s is no exception. Chef Mashama Bailey residency started on Thursday, January 21, and is running through mid-April, so you will have plenty of time to enjoy her port city classic dishes mixed with the NYC flavors.

The menu, which includes appetizer, entrée and dessert courses, along with sides of The Grey’s signature collard greens, pickles and homemade bread, is available Thursday through Sunday evenings. To complement the experience, guests can choose between a selection of handcrafted cocktails such as Chatham Artillery Punch and the Father John Manhattan available to order à la carte, and a wine pairing package.

Orders will also include some branded gifts inspired by The Grey and Intersect by Lexus, such as a copy of Chef Bailey and her business partner Johno Morisano’s new book, Black, White & The Grey, an at-home pickling kit and a free month of Netflix to stream Chef Bailey’s episode of Chef’s Table.

Current menu

LEEKS VINAIGRETTE:Tomme, Benton’s Country Ham, Rye Crouton

GRILLED RED SNAPPER: Charred Citrus, Salsa Verde

BUTTERSCOTCH CREAM: Rye Brisee, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Chantilly Fried Sage

Accompanied By: PARKER HOUSE ROLL, COLLARD GREENS, PICKLES

From Thursday, Jan. 28 to Sunday, Jan. 31

For this new edition of the program, Intersect partnered with food delivery app Taste to make sure everyone will have a safe meal at home. Orders can be placed at their website. Each menu costs $65, excluding delivery, tax and gratuity, and the three course wine pairing is available forpurchase for extra $24.

About Chef Mashama Bailey

Mashama is a New York City girl – born in the Bronx and raised in Queens. Thanks to the women in her family — grandmothers, aunts and her mom — she learned to cook and became passionate about the power of food to tell stories. Chef Bailey attended the Institute of Culinary Education and also did a six-month stage at Château du Feÿ in Burgundy, France to improve her cooking techniques.

After working 12 years in New York restaurants, Mashama was invited by John Morisano to become the partner and executive chef at his new Southern restaurant in Georgia, The Grey, set in a former Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Savannah. With a penchant for regional produce, seafood and meats, Chef Bailey is always bringing new ideas to the restaurant.

The Grey was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant award, with Chef Bailey winning Best Chef Southeast award in 2019. Not to be missed, she was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table in 2019 and became the first African American chef to star on the acclaimed show.

See more:

The Heartwarming Story Behind Nola Love Pizza

Food Truck Operators See Booming Business Amidst Citywide Closures

The Future of Food is Plant-based, says Matthew Kenney

The Perfect Pairing with Cafe Katja

Tags Chef, delivery, Fernanda Mueller, intersect by lexus, Meatpacking, Savannah

Chefs Dining Featured NYC Restaurants

The Future of Food is Plant-based, says Matthew Kenney

Post author By Fernanda Mueller
Post date August 7, 2020

Renowned vegan chef launched the Future Food Institute, an online school specialized in plant-based cuisine, and is opening 15 new restaurants.

I asked chef Matthew Kenney the question he must have heard a million times: How can a plate of vegan raw food compete with a juicy steak? He said, “It’s really easy if you put a brown steak, which is not very pretty, next to a raw vegan tomato lasagna, exploding with colors, first I think is more beautiful and flavorful. But most importantly, after eating a steak you want to go to sleep and after eating a vegan tomato lasagna you can run 10 miles because this food provides the energy you need”. Because of his belief in the power of food in our health and the planet, the chef changed completely his career in cooking and took the vegan term mainstream.

The Food Future Institute

Ten years ago, Matthew spoke in a TEDx Talk about the difficulty in associating the word “chef” with “healthy”. People want to eat better. But the truth is that the vegan option on the menu, with some grilled vegetables, will never catch their attention. Chefs need to know how to create masterpieces with plant-based ingredients and for that, they need to learn new techniques.

That’s why since 2009, he has been teaching chefs from over 30 countries in a school specialized in plant-based cuisine. Blending his knowledge of classical French cuisine with new techniques. In May of this year, Matthew took a step further and launched the Food Future Institute, an online course with classes taught by several chefs specialized in vegan food. The FFI has more than 750 students enrolled and, at least, 500 hundred are international. The cost is $350 and the student has access to the platform for a whole year.

New plant-based restaurants in 2020

In addition to The Food Future Institute, the chef will open 15 new restaurants this year, even in the midst of the global crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic. In New York, he’s opening a new pasta concept on August 14th, called Sestina Pasta Bar, a rooftop restaurant at Alo Yoga Flatiron, called Sutra, and two new locations of Pizzeria Double Zero.

According to Matthew, there’s a growing demand for plant-based food, even in countries that produce a lot of meat: “When we opened in Brazil, which is the largest meat exporter in the world, we had one thousand people dining in our restaurant for the first two days. We were so busy, we had to close for the next couple of days to readjust”. The chef explains that this happens in every place they open a new restaurant, because people are getting more conscious about what they eat and how their food affects the environment.

See more:

Matthew Kenney Q&A: Ladurée Going Vegan

The Food Movement is Growing (and Winning)

Vegan Recipes to Cook at Home During Quarantine

Tags chefs, Fernanda Mueller, food future institute, Matthew Kenney, pizzeria double zero, Plant-based cuisine, plant-based restaurant, sestina pasta bar, sutra, TEDx Talk, Vegan Food

Chefs Dining Featured Nutrition NYC Uncategorized

Dine Around Downtown Web Series: Learn Recipes from Top Chefs

Post author By Fernanda Mueller
Post date June 9, 2020

We all miss having dinner in our favorite Downtown places. But while restaurants must remain closed during the first phases of New York’s reopening, we have to keep cooking at home. So what about learning signature recipes from Top Chefs?

This year, the traditional Downtown Alliance’s event, became a web series — Dine Around Downtown: Cooking at Home. Hosted by award-winning Chef James Beard and Author Rocco DiSpirito, the series will feature Chefs from three Lower Manhattan restaurants to cook up signature recipes and share tips from complex gastronomy to basic cooking.

For the premiere event, on June 11, Rocco will interview Chef Billy Oliva, from one of America’s most historic restaurants in Lower Manhattan, Delmonico’s. They will demonstrate how to make a Pan-Roasted Dry-Aged Cowgirl Ribeye and Cowboy Butter, with Roasted Corn and Shrimp Salad.

The series is FREE, and all donations go directly to the restaurant’s employee relief funds or to a food security charity of the restaurant’s choice.

delmonicos — Historic restaurant Delmonico’s

See More:

The Perfect Pairing with Cafe Katja

Vegan Recipes to Cook at Home During Quarantine

The Meatball Shop: Flavorful Dishes, Zero Waste

Tags billy oliva, cooking class, Delmonico's, dine around downtown, Downtown Alliance-Lower Manhattan Association, downtown chefs, Fernanda Mueller, James beard, recipes, rocco dispirito

Chefs Featured News NYC

Chef Raffaele Ronca is feeding frontline workers in New York

Post author By Fernanda Mueller
Post date June 1, 2020

chef raffaele ronca feeding frontline workers

During this difficult time, many restaurants have stepped up to feed our heroes the frontline workers. One of Downtown’s team favorite Chefs, Raffaele Ronca, is providing food 2-3 times a week to healthcare workers as well as local first responders. He has been donating meals to White Plains Hospital and also to Rye Fire Department and Rye Police Department.

At the beginning, Raffaele and his team weren’t receiving any donations, so every meal would come from their own pocket. But as word spread around the community, some people started to help with monetary donations to fund the effort. Several of their vendors also offered to provide assistance.

“Providing food for the frontline workers makes us feel that we are doing something good for the heroes who are risking their lives to save lives. We are giving them a warm meal in hopes they can keep doing what they do”, says the Chef.

Raffaele owns two restaurants that deliver authentic Neapolitan flavors to New York: Rafele, in West Village and Rafele Rye, in Westchester County. The second one has been open for delivery and takeout since the beginning of the pandemic and the West Village unit will be open tomorrow, June 2nd.

Everyone in the restaurant business has been struggling with limited availability of ingredients, so Chef Raffaele has been trying to adjust the menus of the two restaurants to serve their loyal clients, making sure they follow all COVID guidelines.

See More:

Three NYC Restaurants Helping to Feed Essential Workers In The Wake of COVID-19

Serving Up a Dish of Heart and Sole

WHERE TO GET CARE IN LOWER MANHATTAN

Tags Chef Raffaele Ronca, chefs, coronavirus, covid-19, Fernanda Mueller, frontline workers, healthcare workers, New York, New York donations, Rafaele, westchester county

Coronavirus in New York: Feed the Needy

Post author By Fernanda Mueller
Post date March 19, 2020

At this time, New Yorkers have understood that they have to stay home to contain the transmission of the Novel Coronavirus. However, the measures taken by the authorities are negatively affecting the lives of many people, specially the ones that depend on their day-to-day salary to survive. So if you want to help out, here are some local and national programs:

No Kid Hungry

For many kids, school meals are the only healthy food they can depend on. With Coronavirus forcing school closures, children in need will miss more than 101 million meals this week alone. No Kid Hungry is a national campaign run by Share Our Strength, that are making sure kids in America get three meals a day during this difficult time. Donate here!

Family Meal

Due to restaurant closures and the restrictive measures of operation for these establishments, thousands of hospitality workers are out of work. IGC Hospitality has launched a program called Family Meal to provide FREE meals to NYC workers in this industry. These are people who have dedicated their lives to taking care of others. Now, we need to take care of them. Each meal costs approximately $6, so you can have a sense of how many meals you can provide with your donation. Donate here!

Citymeals on Wheels

If you want to help your local elderly population, consider Citymeals. This NYC organization is helping the elderly and those who are too sick to cook or shop for food. They are preparing 250,000 meals in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. Donate here!

The Bowery Mission

This organization has served homeless and hungry New Yorkers since the 1870s and during this difficult time, their work is more important than ever. Since restaurants at The Seaport District suspended their operations, they donated approximately 400 pounds of perishable items to The Bowery Mission. Donate here!

We are all facing difficult times. But for some of us, the results of this crisis will be much worse. Help out, if you can!

See More:

Citymeals On Wheels Needs Donations To Help Elderly In Need

Weill Cornell Medicine Releases Scheduling Changes

Get Involved: How To Help Homeless/Displaced LGBTQ+ Youth At The Ali Forney Center

Tags Citymeals On Wheels, coronavirus, Coronavirus in New York, covil-19, donation, downtown new york, Family Meal, Feed the Needy, Fernanda Mueller, New York City, No Kid Hungry, Seaport District, The Bowery Mission, volunteering

Fashion Featured Uncategorized

Meet the brand Beamina, with handbags designed by mother-daughter

Post author By Fernanda Mueller
Post date February 3, 2020

We all love things made by children, because they always put their hearts into it. And when you create something with love, the final product is always great. That’s what makes Beamina such an unique and inspiring brand. The handbags are designed by a 12-year-old child with a big heart.

Bags with purpose

Paulina Anchia, fondly nicknamed Amina, by her brother, has been sewing since the age of 6, after getting her first sewing machine. She would create bags and clothing pieces to sell to friends and family, then she donated all the proceeds to children in need. Paulina’s mother, Beatriz Martinez, decided to help her to pursue her dream of becoming a fashion designer, and together they created the brand Beamina, in 2018.

Puerto Rican Mother-daughter use their creativity and humanitarian heart to help their local community through their bags. A percentage of the proceeds is donated to the Ricky Martin Foundation, that is committed to denouncing human trafficking in the world. “We want to urge people to feel the responsibility to spread the feeling of feeling powerful and limitless when you set your heart to it. We want to be contagious, we want you to Beamina”.

Unique designs

Beamina’s designs are fun, with unique interior drawing, created by Paulina. The Fearless collection is the brand’s most iconic design. The bags are not only super stylish, but also versatile: designed to be used for day or night, casual or more elegant occasions. The Fearless bags are also handsfree, so they fit perfectly with today’s dynamic lifestyle.

Although the brand is in its early stages, it has a lot of potential to grow. Beamina’s bags have purpose, style and a beautiful background story.