2. Ayesha Nurdjaja: When I rip, you rip, we dip.

Today’s guest is Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja, executive chef at Shuka and Shukette restaurants in New York City and talking to me LIVE from a traffic jam on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway!! Ayesha’s an incredibly talented chef, entrepreneur, and innovator and we talked about everything-- from which condiments are always in her fridge, to the teeny, tiny copyedit she made on the Shukette menu that skyrocketed sales of one particular appetizer. We also commiserate about the joys (and occasional humiliation) that accompanies a public tantrum; discuss why a delicious tomato makes you cry sometimes, and how to avoid leaving a restaurant with food FOMO.  Ayesha’s core philosophy about enjoying food around the table with friends and family, especially right now: Every bite should taste like the Fourth of July. This episode might as well be an audio version of a Pinterest board- I learned so much from Ayesha about marketing/branding, the restaurant business; how to bring a creative concept into a world that (in particular) tells you, “The customer is always right,” and why the visual of barracudas hanging over charcoal (eek!) might just get you reviewed by Pete Wells at The New York Times. 

I’m answering this question today, at ~30:00:  “How can I stop being addicted to sugar?” 

DM me with your questions on Instagram @jaclynlondonRD & subscribe/stay tuned for the answer on an upcoming episode!

Follow Ayesha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ayesha_rare/?hl=en

Check out Shuka & Shukette while you’re there: https://www.instagram.com/shukanyc/?hl=en & https://www.instagram.com/shukettenyc/?hl=en

Read this RAVE review of Shukette in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/dining/shukette-restaurant-review.html

See if you can get a reservation at Shukette for 2023: https://resy.com/cities/ny/shukette