CIA alumni are always cooking up something interesting, and with a network more than 50,000 strong, there’s never a shortage of highlights! Here are just a few examples of CIA alumni in the news this past month.
Openings and Chefs on the Move
Chef Jonny Black ’07 and his wife Monique Black—herself a culinary veteran who will run the front of the house—are opening their dream restaurant, Chez Noir, in Carmel, NY. The menu at Chez Noir will change often. If temperatures dip, Black may decide suddenly to add a warming soup to the list. If a gardener calls with a basket of freshly picked chard, it may end up in a dish.
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Paige Darrah, writer at The New York Times, spent a Sunday with Kwame Onwuachi ’13, ahead of the opening of his new restaurant, Tatiana. The restaurant’s opening coincides with the New York’s Philharmonic’s first season in the newly renovated David Geffen Hall.
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Kwame Onwuachi ’13 walked Tim Carman, writer at The Washington Post, through Tatiana, Onwuachi’s forthcoming restaurant in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
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Louisiana native, Paul Hargrove ’04 will be joining the New York City High Line’s Standard Grill team as executive chef. Ahead of the fall menu relaunch, Chef Hargrove has reimagined classic Standard Grill original dishes and brings his love of the culinary arts to the place of the downtown social set.
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Nana’s, an old school restaurant that helped plant the seeds of Durham, NC’s current dining Golden Age, will reopen early next year. Chef and owner Scott Howell ’88 sold his longtime restaurant to Matt Kelly ’00.
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Craig Levy ’89, former owner of Rocca, recently launched an Italian ghost kitchen, Rocca, in Garfield, NJ. Levy was asked by northjersey.com what his favorite north Jersey restaurants.
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Robert Giuliani ’02 has found a way to successfully use his chef training, sailing, and social media activities to create a tidal wave of support for his soon-to-open authentically Mexican “Tacos Tacos Tacos” restaurants.
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Executive Chef Walter Pytel ’13 at Bar25 in Delray Beach, FL, is helping bring a new perspective on the gastropub. The new eatery has a cozy NY gastropub aesthetic and pays serious attention to its menu.
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Ben Pflaumer ’10 takes over Vermillion in Alexandria, VA, with a revamped menu after the restaurant closed temporarily due to the pandemic. Chef Pflaumer takes the place to new heights with its regionally sourced ingredients and strong ties to the surrounding community.
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Chef Shaun Ng ’19 is the face and brains behind Hide KL, a hidden speakeasy restaurant in Malaysia, that serves a menu inspired by a global gastronomy. He sits with Augustman and discusses his time in the kitchen and his transition into the food scene.
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Chef Carol Reyes ’06 restaurant, Boveda, recently opened at the Popular Center building in the heart of Hato Rey’s Golden Mile financial district in Puerto Rico. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and features a Spanish-inspired menu with a modern twist.
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Multiple James Beard-winning Mediterranean Chef Alon Shaya ’99 is opening a new restaurant at the Wynn in Las Vegas, NV. The as-yet unnamed eatery will launch sometime next winter in the 14,000-square-foot space, formerly home to Wynn’s Tryst and Intrigue nightclubs.
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New and Noteworthy
Marley Brown ’13, chef de cuisine at SingleThread, was one of the featured wedding stories in The New York Times. She met her husband on the job in 2017 after moving from Belleville, Illinois to California to begin her culinary career. She soon fell in love with the state’s wine country and her future husband, whom she married on September 10.
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Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain, a new biography detailing the final years of Anthony Bourdain’s ’78 life, was released on October 11 and “It’s grittier than anything we’ve read about him before.”
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Amarit Kaur ’16 talks about working the hot and heavy open-fire grill station, her experience as a female in the kitchen and her determination to be the best chef she can be in the face of inequality in the industry.
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Emma Hearst ’06 and her husband John Barker ’06 had been working as professional chefs for 15 years when they decided to open Forts Ferry Farm in Latham, NY. Instead of creating dishes with ingredients, they wanted to grow them.
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Anne Burrell ’96 appeared as the special guest at the City of Hamilton’s Taste of Bermuda culinary experience. Burrell took part in two cooking demonstrations at the city’s tasting village followed by a book signing. She also spoke with Bermuda College culinary students to impart her knowledge and inspire a generation of aspiring chefs.
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Shaurya Veer Kapoor ’20 was named a part of India’s Economic Times F&B Leaders 40 Under 40. Kapoor serves as executive chef at Gola Sizzlers and Café Hawkers, and he is the third generation to have joined the home venture. He has taken the business forward with his brand-new ideas and his passion for food.
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Greenwich Food & Wine Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall. Stephen Lewandowski ’95, the festival’s chef ambassador, appeared on Great Day Connecticut to highlight some of the dishes that would be appearing at the festival’s gala dinner.
Kristen Montemarano ’17, who covers commerce, news, and deals for Food & Wine and AllRecipes, wrote a piece on the best deals on cooking and bakeware available on Prime for Prime day.
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When Maneet Chauhan ’00 recalls the Diwali celebrations from when she was growing up in Ranchi, in Jharkhand in eastern India.
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Chef Richard Blais ’98 is hosting the first-ever Chili Cookoff on TikTok with four foodie/home chefs who are creating their own twists on this culinary trend. He’ll tell viewers how they get in on the competition and give additional tips and tricks for the novice cook to take simple recipes to the next level.
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Nicola Blaque’s ’16 Jerk Shack was featured as one of five unmissable restaurants in San Antonio.
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Allegra Angelo ’04, co-founder and sommelier of Vinya in Miami Beach, FL, is one of seven female sommeliers who are setting the bar high in the South Florida wine scene. With three locations open, guests can enjoy Angelo’s selections from mainly France, Italy, and Spain. The locations host “community bastion,” events where guests and industry tastemakers can build face-to-face relationships.
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Mark Soliday ’91, owner and executive pastry chef of Confectionary Designs in Rehoboth, DE spoke with the Taunton Gazette about seasonal product demands, revamped classics, and his detailed custom wedding cakes.
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Dan Souza ’08 will be one of the judges on America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation. On the show, home cooks from across the country will compete to see who has what it takes to join the coveted America’s Test Kitchen team.
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Pano Karatassos ’60 and Buckhead Life’s remarkable legacy of restaurants in Atlanta, GA, including eight restaurants were profiled in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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Prime Time
Erin McDowell ’07, author of The Fearless Baker and The Book on Pie was interviewed for CBS Saturday Morning’s The Dish where she discussed falling in love with CIA.
Jim Verfurth ’81 talked about his positive experience at CIA during a segment celebrating his restaurant, Lambeau’s America Kitchen in Highland Village, TX and its delicious take on Americana.
On the Shelf
In her new memoir Savor, readers get to know Fatima Ali ’11, the brave woman who was beloved by Food Network audiences and her family. In 2018, Ali, at 29 learned she had a year left to live. Soon after she found out, she hired the food writer Tarajia Morrell to collaborate with her on a memoir working through her culinary bucket list.
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Eating Well
Jake Cohen ’14 grew up breaking the Yom Kippur fast with bagels. He spoke with Good Word News as he revisited his beloved bagels by creating the all-bagel tomato galette.