3. Shakera Jones: Recalibrating with Champagne.

Welcome back, friends! Today’s guest is Shakera Jones, founder of Black Girls Dine Too-- a lifestyle brand, blog, and social media space that promotes and supports diversity and inclusion efforts for women and other underrepresented groups in the culinary and fine wine industries. Shakera’s a tech professional by day and wine student, media personality, writer, TV producer, and restaurant reviewer by night (and in her spare time). As a woman with multiple projects ON THE SIDE (see what I did there?), you may have already seen Shakera’s byline in Food & Wine; SevenFifty Daily, Wine & Spirits magazines, but if not, you’ll catch her on the forthcoming SOMMTV Season 4 (!!!) and follow her exceptionally practical strategies and advice for attending a booze-y event, dining out, or dipping a toe in the world of wine tasting on her site. We covered so many topics, from how to modernize our language wine & food to be more inclusive and less intimidating; the low-key power of a pub / restaurant crawl; how to tell if your date is a snooze by their drink order; why lunch should be your next reservation (especially at a Michelin-starred restaurant!), and the game-changer that was Sushi Samba in the early 2000’s (IYKYK). I promise: This episode is EVERYTHING (and then some). Plus, a little fun fact about Shakera & me: We just started chatting outside of Le Pavillion after dinner this past June, and she SO graciously agreed to come on here and chat with me! (https://lepavillonnyc.com/)

I’m answering this question today at the top of the episode: “Is it actually possible to eat healthy at a restaurant?” DM me with your questions on Instagram @jaclynlondonRD & subscribe/stay tuned to hear the answer on an upcoming episode!

 

Check out Black Girls Dine Too immediately!: https://www.blackgirlsdinetoo.com/

Follow Shakera on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/blackgirlsdinetoo/?hl=en

Watch Shakera on SommTV: https://www.sommtv.com/

 

HONORABLE RESTAURANT MENTIONS WITHIN THIS EPISODE: 

Batard: https://www.batardtribeca.com/ BLVD: https://www.boulevardbistrony.com/ Cote: https://www.cotenyc.com/ Clay: https://www.claynyc.com/ Daniel: https://www.danielnyc.com/ Francie: https://www.franciebrooklyn.com/ Tiki Chick: https://www.tikichick.com/ Nougatine: https://www.jean-georges.com/restaurants/united-states/new-york/nougatine-at-jean-georges Milkbar: https://milkbarstore.com/ Willy Wall: https://willywall.com/