Ammi’s
Ammi means ‘mother’ in Hindi /Urdu and is a homage to a mothers cooking, and comfort food. The recipes will mainly be homestyle foods coming from Jimmy’s mother and family dating back a century.
Bessou
Bessou serves reimagined Japanese home cooking. The word ‘Bessou’ loosely translates to ‘second home’; with that, we aim to create new but familiar food that brings people together. We make everything on-site without preservatives and use natural, locally sourced ingredients.
Bird & Branch
Bird & Branch is an Asian American owned specialty coffee shop dedicated to providing job training for those facing barriers to employment. Serving coffee, non coffee drinks and baked goods, the creations are inspired by flavors owners Brandon and Faith grew up eating and incorporate both Asian and American tastes.
Due Madri by The Butcher Girls
As whole animal butchers, Erica & Jocelyn always loved meaty Italian fare and worked to emulate some of Italy’s most beloved meaty recipes. With 20 years of shared experience, the Butcher Girls bring their expertise to those around them with a mission of people and animals before profit.
Good to Go
Good To Go by JBF is an incubator for fast-casual concepts featuring rotating menus from established operators looking to expand their brand. Guided by Good Food for Good™, this kiosk will be a place where sustainable, ethically-sourced, and accessible food is created by people striving to make the world a better place.
Harlem Hops
Harlem Hops is Central Harlem’s premier destination for “beer, booze, bites, and beats”. It is an immediately welcoming space for casual dining, socializing, and exploring an intriguing and accessible collection of innovative, small-batch beers.
Local Roots
A proud Asian, female-owned small business, Local Roots serves Chinese farm-to-table food featuring homestyle cooking using local and sustainable ingredients. Dishes on the menu are inspired by favorite childhood foods using high-quality ingredients. In addition, Local Roots hosts weekly farmers’ markets at bars/cafes and opened the Local Roots Market+Cafe in July 2021.
Lolo’s on the Water
Husband and wife Raymond Z. Mohan and Leticia Skai Young Mohan present LoLo’s On The Water, a spin-off of their Harlem mainstay LoLo’s Seafood Shack, offering styled BBQ to coastal comfort foods. LoLo’s menu is inspired by local seaside eateries they encountered while living in the British West Indies.
Malai
Founded in 2015 by Pooja Bavishi, Malai, a Brooklyn-based ice cream company, draws inspiration from South Asian ingredients inspired by Bavishi’s childhood nostalgic spices and flavors and unexpected twists on classics.
Mijo
Mijo, an abbreviation of “My Son” in Spanish, is the first business of Fany Gerson with her husband Daniel Ortiz de Montellano. Mijo was born once their El Newyorkino business settled after being created during the pandemic.
Mothershuckers
MotherShuckers’ goal is to serve more than just the best oysters with the best toppings in NYC. We also have a mission to educate the masses on the benefits of eating and harvesting oysters, for the body and the environment.
Nom Wah
Originating as a tea parlor in the 1920’s, Nom Wah shifted to a fast-casual Dim Sum restaurant after Wilson Tang took over for his uncle. Nom Wah now serves Chinese-American classics and rotating Cantonese favorites.
Ras Plant Based
Ras Plant Based, run by husband and wife team Romeo & Milka Regalli, focuses on providing communities with delicious, healthy Ethiopian cuisine that is reminiscent of food they grew up eating. Food that is simple, yet insanely complex, made with love and bursting with flavors.
The Galley by Lobster Place
The Galley is a fun, casual seafood kiosk from the team behind Lobster Place. They are highlighting some of the most popular items from their flagship location while creating new dishes that capture the uniqueness and quality of their seafood offerings.
Meet the Chefs
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Romeo Regalli
Romeo Regalli
Romeo Regalli is a self-taught plant-based chef who has dedicated his career to creating delicious and nutritious dishes using only whole, natural ingredients. As the cofounder of Ras Plant Based, a company that specializes in creating vegan meals for individuals and families, Romeo has become a leader in the plant-based movement.
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Aniwat Khotsopa (Tong)
Aniwat Khotsopa (Tong)
Bryan Chunton, was born into a restaurant family; his parents owned and operated Thai restaurants in the 80’s. Having many restaurants under his belt and working in kitchens at the early age of 12, he introduced NYC to the authentic flavors of Northeastern Thai Cuisine with the help of Chef Aniwat Khotsopha and Ms. Pei Shan Wei. Chef Aniwat hails from Udon Thani and was the chef at the Centara Grand Hotel, serving Isan cuisine. Ms. Wei, a long-time business partner, and entrepreneur, oversees the operation.
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Raymond Z Mohan
Raymond Z Mohan
A New York Restaurant School graduate, Executive Chef Raymond Z. Mohan has apprenticed under renowned chefs such as Wayne Nish. Born in Guyana, his culinary interest developed as a child while shopping with his mother at the market for their family’s roadside stand. Leticia Skai Young Mohan was born in East Harlem and brings entrepreneurial-driven creativity as a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Culinary Entrepreneurship Program of the French Culinary Institute.
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Wilson Tang
Wilson Tang
From owner Wilson Tang and his team, Nom Wah at Pier 57 brings Chinese American bites to Chelsea. Making dim sum an all day casual affair serving an assortment of dumplings in addition to second-generation sentimentality dishes creating a perfect meal for sharing with friends and family. In 2020, the brand launched its first cookbook, The Nom Wah Cookbook, which features recipes of classics and stories from the neighboring multi-generational businesses that make up Chinatown.
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Maiko Kyogoku
Maiko Kyogoku
Maiko Kyogoku loves hospitality. She grew up in a restaurant-owning family that opened the 1st sushi restaurant on the UWS. Her modern approach to traditional Japanese dishes reflects her multicultural heritage as a Japanese American New Yorker. Kyogoku has over 15 years’ experience running operations for Daniel Boulud and the Thompson Hotel group. Kyogoku opened Bessou restaurant in 2016 to much fanfare. Bessou’s food can also be found on the home meal delivery platform, Cookunity.
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Anna Gordon
Anna Gordon
Anna Gordon founded The Good Batch in 2010 with the purpose of introducing her one-of-a-kind pastries to New York City. The Good Batch specializes in hearty cookies, baked goods, and ice cream sandwiches. Anna is best known for her playful diversity of ingredients and textures, some of which are secretly vegan and gluten-free. Anna splits her time between Chef and CEO of the companyand is a James Beard Foundation WEL Alumna.
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Pooja Bavishi
Pooja Bavishi
Founder and CEO Pooja Bavishi previously worked in public policy before switching careers to focus on food. She is a 2018 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow recipient and was named one of Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 100 in 2020. In one of her sweetest accomplishments, in 2020, she won a battle on Food Network’s Chopped Sweets — her winning Agate Candy & Saffron ice cream is currently on Malai’s menu!
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Ben “Moody” Harney
Ben “Moody” Harney
Ben “Moody” Harney is the founder of MotherShuckers, the only oyster cart in Brooklyn. Fascinated by the story of Thomas Downing, “the Oyster King of New York,” and the son of freed slaves who peddled oysters on Wall Street in the late 1800s who went on to open one of the most successful oyster restaurants of his time. All shells are donated to the Billion Oyster Project—improving the water quality and stimulating a return of sea life.
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Brandon and Faith Lee
Brandon and Faith Lee
Brandon and Faith Lee are a husband and wife team who opened Bird & Branch in February 2018. Their goal is for Bird & Branch to be a coffee shop that gives back to the communities they serve by supporting the people within it. They strive to be intentional with their actions and how they affect our earth and its people. Brandon and Faith don’t have all the answers, but join them for a good cup of coffee as we figure things out together.
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Kim, Kevin & Stacey
Kim, Kevin & Stacey
Harlem Hops is the realization and result of years of hard work and collaboration by three friends, Kim, Kevin & Stacey, HBCU grads and business partners, who have combined their experience in restaurant management, event production, and community service with a lifelong passion for beer. As minority business owners and operators, the Harlem Hops team is pleased to feature the growing number of brewers of color on the Harlem Hops beer list.
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Jimmy Rizvi
Jimmy Rizvi
Born in India, Jimmy Rizvi shifted to restaurants from a career in finance/ tech consulting & concert promotion/ production with Bollywood artists. Sensing a need for a modern Indian brand with genuine hospitality and creative cuisine, Jimmy fulfilled his dream of opening his own Bombay-inspired restaurant concept with the launch of GupShup. Jimmy currently serves on the board of NYC Hospitality Alliance & City Harvest’s esteemed Food Council.
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Erika Nakamura & Jocelyn Guest
Erika Nakamura & Jocelyn Guest
Due Madri is a labor of love between two mothers. Erica and Jocelyn baby-mooned in Rome and traveled down the Amalfi Coast and to Sicily. It is a place special to their hearts as their journey into motherhood was so profoundly informed by the region’s air, water, and food. (Their experience still informs them about what we feed our children and what we prepare as a family for our dinner table.)
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Fanny Gerson
Fanny Gerson
Fany Gerson is the chef, founder, and co-owner of La Newyorkina, a Mexican frozen treats and sweets business, and Fan-Fan Doughnuts, a gourmet doughnut shop. Fany takes great pride in representing her cultural heritage, Mexican, and religion, Judaism. Daniel Ortiz de Montellano is the founder of a Mexican-based company The FoodWorks Co., administering food and beverage facilities for the US Embassy in Mexico and more. Fany and Daniel met in 2014, married in 2016, and had their son, Gael, in 2018.
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Wen-Jay Ying
Wen-Jay Ying
Wen-Jay Ying is the founder of Local Roots NYC, a small business that connects New Yorkers with produce that’s always local and always fresh. Ying’s entrepreneurial spirit comes from her years in the DIY music scene playing in multiple bands. Wen-Jay is rock climbing, dancing or traveling when she’s not cooking or visiting farms. Since 2011, Wen-Jay and Local Roots have brought the highest quality ingredients from the most talented farmers to NYC.
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Dave Seigal
Dave Seigal
Chef Dave Seigal was the opening Executive Chef for Cull & Pistol in 2013 and is responsible for all kitchen operations in the combined Lobster Place Seafood Hall and Cull & Pistol enterprise. Several industry greats trained him, including Martin Berasategui in Spain and Charlie Palmer, Jean Georges Vongeritchen, Gray Kuntz, and David Bouley here in the U.S. His culinary vision finds inspiration in a life-long love of seafood and the global breadth of his cooking experience.
