Who Is Mouton Noir? In 2003, at the age of 30, Andre Hueston Mack was the first African American to be named Best Young Sommelier in America. Soon after, he accepted a somm job at The French Laundry before Thomas Keller sent him across the country to open the most anticipated restaurant of the year, Per Se. In 2007 – really just a few years after he jumped into the food and wine world – he left fine dining to launch his…
Who Is Jalapa Jar? Tommy Byrnes (a Texan), Joel Nearing (a Texan) and Steve Smith (a Yank) are the founders behind Jalapa Jar, a fresh salsa developed by Joel and put onto NYC breakfast tacos by Tommy and Steve. Yep, you’ve heard that correctly: legit, Austin-style breakfast tacos have made their way to the streets of New York City. Specifically, this crew is churning out my favorite food (seriously, send all the tacos my way) at the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn.…
Who Is DANK Banana Bread? Caitlin Makary is a badass. She rides a motorcycle. She rock climbs. And she owns DANK, a banana bread company inspired by her vegan sister and rock climbing friends. Rider, climber, entrepreneur — you could say her risk tolerance is higher than most. For years, Caitlin worked in corporate fashion, and it took a nudge from an old boss and a massive breakup to catapult her into entrepreneurship. In January 2016, she broke up with her…
Leeann Rybakov grew up in Kiev, Ukraine, where buckwheat is ubiquitous on every table. And while her mom continued to serve it once they moved to the United States, Leeann didn’t see it around all that much — not that she really thought about it anyway. After working for eight years at her family’s logistics company, her husband encouraged her to follow her passion for cooking and attend culinary school. She did, though she says cooking as more than just…
When the going gets tough, the tough slow down. Or at least, that’s Candice Ross’ motto. She’s the founder of the Brooklyn-born and based Stagg Jam, where she makes tasty jams and marmalades in cool flavors including seasoned sorrel, cherry chai, spicy orange with red pepper and fennel, and grapefruit rosemary, a nod to her Louisiana roots. For the past year, Candice has steered the Stagg ship, aiming for ideals that would make her grandad proud (she named the company after…
(Photo credit: Judy Kim) One went to culinary school. The other didn’t. One had a baker as a dad. The other grew up eating dry chicken and overcooked broccoli. Their culinary paths couldn’t have been more different. And yet, they both ended up working side-by-side at one of the best restaurants in New York City: Eleven Madison Park. After years of browning butter on stovetops in restaurant kitchens and serving it to their friends at dinner parties, the lightbulb went off and they decided…
When Hansen Shieh was eight years old, his obviously awesome (wait for it) mom took him out for lunch. As he bit into his first Sichuan pepper, his mouth exploded in flavor and heat. And his mom, the badass that she so clearly is, just laughed at him. Now, some 30 years later, Hansen is on a mission to bring the kick of Sichuan and other flavors, including Chinese fermented black bean, tamarind and fish sauce to the mainstream with his…
(Photo credit:Meredith Jenks) When Scott Norton and his co-founder, Mark Ramadan, were in college, they had a thought: why are American consumers totally chill about their ketchup? After all, the stuff we all grew up on is loaded with junk like high fructose corn syrup, canola oil and tomato paste. But instead of going back to bonging beers and eating take-out pizza like most college kids would do at this point, they took their concept a step further and asked themselves, “What…
Zesty Z is the brainchild of founder Alexander Harik, who pitched the idea to his family at the dinner table. They promptly laughed him off before taking him seriously. But unlike the other ideas he’d dreamt up in the past, the one for Zesty Z stuck. Here’s how he describes the lightning flash that led to where he is today: “Why don’t we just take mom’s recipe, change it up a little bit, make it ready made, come up with a…