Meet Our New York City Shefs

Vietnamese restaurant signs, in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City

There’s no place quite like New York City. With literally hundreds of languages spoken, America’s “melting pot” is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in the country. In fact, there are about 4.5 million immigrants living in NYC, representing almost a quarter of the population.

The shefs in New York City are a great reflection of that. This group of talented cooks comes from all over the globe, representing dozens of countries and distinct regions within those countries. The diverse mix of nationalities and cultures means a wide variety of unique and exciting cuisines for you to try.

Here’s a small glimpse of some of the Shef offerings specific to the New York City area, and the inspiring people behind the food:

Shef Jannapa, Thailand

Growing up in Bangkok, Shef Jannapa learned the importance of using specialty homemade spices. Her decades of experience cooking alongside chefs in both Thailand and New York has led her to create truly unique dishes bursting with flavor.

If you’re not sure where to start, try her highly-rated Egg Noodles With Barbecue Pork, which is a fan favorite! “In Thai, this classic dish is called ba mee moo daeng (red pork and egg noodles). I add some pork dumplings to incorporate more texture and flavor.”

Shef Latoya, Jamaica

To experience the flavors of Jamaica, try a dish from Shef Latoya, who learned to cook by watching her grandmother prepare authentic Jamaican meals.

Shef Latoya has realized a food’s aroma and taste can evoke memories of her homeland, which is such a powerful thing. Just a taste of her Escovitch Fish recipe can instantly transport you to Jamaica. “The fish dish is one of my family’s favorites,” she said. “Fried porgy with a vinegar sauce with peppers, onion, and scotch bonnet pepper. We enjoy this for all occasions with rice or mac and cheese or bread.”

She also loves to express her creativity through fusion-inspired dishes like “This Jerk Chicken is Hittin” and “Pineapple-Peppery Has Chemistry” Pork Empanadas.

Shef Szsidd, Pakistan

Shef Szsidd grew up in Pakistan, but her cooking is inspired by her travels across the world. She blends her special family recipes with the knowledge she’s acquired in her extensive travels to create a large menu of flavorful homestyle Pakistani dishes. Some of Shef Szsidd’s most popular dishes include Mutton Biryani and Aaloo Parata, a delicious crispy fried flatbread.

More New York City Shefs

If you have a sweet tooth, there are several shefs in the NYC area specializing in dessert! Shef Sekoura specializes in French pastry but is equally inspired by Middle Eastern and North African cuisine. Shef Ama offers a variety of classic American desserts, like chocolate Oreo cake and flaky cherry hand pies. Either way, you really can’t go wrong!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick tour of New York City through the lens of these featured shefs. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, and this is just a small representation of the many options available. If you’re in the NYC area, check out the full list of offerings here.

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Shef Genni Shares Her Secret to Flaky, More Flavorful Meat Pies

I was born in California but grew up in New Zealand, and I felt the distinct Kiwi influence in our family’s kitchen from an early age. As a kid, I loved connecting with people by feeding them family recipes, and I quickly hopped from working in the kitchens of a golf course to graduating from culinary school at 19. Shortly after that I moved to California and began fervently working at Michelin-star restaurants, gaining any experience I could. My life’s greatest joy has been to share experiences through the culinary skills I’ve acquired.

Now with Shef, I’m thrilled to bring a taste of Kiwiana and Pacific Rim cuisine to my neighbors and customers, so that people can experience the delights of classic Kiwi comfort food.

Auckland Skyline at dusk, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Pacific

What is Kiwiana Food?

Pacific Rim cuisine centers around Oceania and Southeast Asia, incorporating the area’s vast coastline and diverse cultural landscape. New Zealand cuisine in particular has a unique blend of British and Maori influences. You’ll find variations on English classics like bangers and mash, fish and chips, and pavlova, along with earth oven bakes (called Hāngī) and stews that incorporate chicken, pork, taro, and kumara (sweet potato). And don’t forget fresh local fruits, like feijoa, passionfruit, and of course, kiwifruit!

Kiwiana Meat Pies

When I began working as a Shef, I wanted to emphasize the region I grew up in. Meat pies are found at every corner shop (known as Dairies) in New Zealand, and I knew these flaky, fresh pies would be the perfect meal to share with my neighborhood.

A classic meat pie has a thick short pastry to hold its structure, a decadent savory filling of steak, cheese, or mushrooms, and an airy puff pastry topping. I’ve refined my recipes after over 20 years of professional cooking, and I can tell you that my secret ingredient is simplicity: I keep my ingredients fresh, basic, and high quality. The pies are perfect to eat steaming hot out of the oven, or to bulk order and keep in the freezer — simply bake for 10 minutes and quickly fill up on hearty flavor.

Sharing through Shef

Working with Shef has been completely liberating! I spent years being burnt out on the fine dining industry, working crazy hours, and having little work-life balance. Through Shef, I have created a fulfilling business of my own, realized a lifelong dream, and continue to share my biggest passion with the community around me.

Order homemade food today on Shef!

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Meet Shef Shereen, the Former Recipe Writer Bringing Egyptian Food to Shef

Shef is proud to work with people from all over the world who are passionate about bringing people together around a plate of food. One of our talented Shefs, Shereen, shares her story of learning to cook, her desire to contribute to her community through her food, and her excitement about bringing Egyptian food to Shef.

How did you learn to cook?

The tradition of cooking has been in my family for generations. I picked it up through a trail of artisan food makers, from my grandmother to my mother and aunts. I took a little bit of something from each ancestor, whether it was a recipe or a special cooking technique.

From my mother, I learned how to cook, and from my grandmother, I learned how to bake. My grandmother was amazing at baking. She taught me how to be patient in making food and how to put my love into the food I was making.

My grandmother would always say, “Don’t rush the cooking and take your time with it. If you do it this way, people will feel the love in the food.” I believe you can taste the love in food; it has a certain, special feeling.

How would you describe your cooking style and taste?

My cooking is a combination of all of the food traditions that have been passed down in my family. My palate has changed over the years, so I welcome more foods and incorporate new ingredients into my traditional recipes. Still, I always try to stay close to the main ingredients to keep the recipes and traditions alive and honor the traditions.

One of the tenants of my cooking is to cook healthy food. When I cook, I think about feeding my daughter. I want to make sure she eats wholesome, nutritious meals.

Do you have a favorite memory from your childhood surrounding food and cooking?

Growing up, my mother was known in our community for hosting big dinners where she would cook for our family and friends. I remember there being close to 100 people at the dinners.

My mother would begin preparing for these dinners days in advance, asking my siblings and me to join in on the cooking. I was always happy helping her in the kitchen and by the age of 12, I was making complicated Egyptian dishes.

What is your favorite thing about cooking?

Cooking brings peace to me. I feel at ease when I am in the kitchen. My stress completely dissipates. The circle of making and sharing food with loved ones is my safe haven — my place of comfort and happiness. Culturally, this is how we, Egyptians, are raised to welcome people into our homes. It is the only way that we know. That has always been my way of life. We come together over food.

Sharing food brings me fulfillment. I always thought it would just be something that I did for fun, but now it has become a reliable source of income, and it has allowed me to practice the craft that I love and become a positive contributor to my community.

What did you do before working as a Shef?

Before Shef, I was a recipe writer, creating menus for hotels and their brand. I loved this job, but I could never create food myself and have it be my brand. I wasn’t able to showcase my craft. I’ve always wanted something that was just me and didn’t belong to anyone else. My own brand — something that I can build on and grow from. My dream is to open a cafe.

Can you describe your experience working at Shef?

Working with Shef has been the best, from marketing to delivery. The team always works their hardest to find a solution to my problems. We are a team together. Even during the pandemic, they were there to support me, and I won’t forget that.

When I came on board as a Shef, they even made a new category for me. Egyptian. I love the diversity of this platform; it is so welcoming. People who have never left the country can take a tour of the world with us just through our cooking.

Why did you decide to become a Shef?

I wanted to be able to share my food with people and contribute to my local community through my cooking. That’s what I’ve always wanted in this life, to use my passion for cooking to contribute positively to my community and to my neighbors and friends. To be able to be of service to them, for them to not only enjoy my food but be nourished by it means everything to me. Shef has given me that gift.

People holding a plate receiving a donation from a good friend, the concept of giving with care

You mentioned you like leaving a positive impact on the community. How else do you do this other than working at Shef?

Every time that I cook for Shef, I make extra meals, and I give them to the homeless in Hayward. I think about the people who can’t get meals, and I want to take care of them and share the wealth that I have made from Shef.

When people buy food from me, I thank them by feeding the homeless. I make them little care packages of food and water and hand them out. It is my way of giving it back. Through Shef I have been able to feed them.

I think to myself that food is comforting to everyone, and even when someone cannot find shelter in place, I can still give them shelter through food. As long as my customers keep ordering from me, I will be able to keep feeding those who are less fortunate than us. That is what Shef is about; it is about supporting your local community, about taking care of each other.

Try a delicious meal from Shereen or other Shefs when you order from Shef today!

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Banana Bread and Pickled Watermelon Rinds: How One Shef’s Grandmother Inspired Her Love of Cooking

Mary Eva Beamon Wilkins. Everybody called her Eva. My grandmother was always smiling. She used to cruise down the streets of Manhattan and Harlem in her bright red Cadillac. It had to be a ’68 or ’69. That car always smelled like new leather. There were 13 kids in my family. At a time, we could fit 6 of us in the back of that Cadillac. It had a bench seat in the front and little seats that flipped out the back. No seatbelts. The minute we hopped into the car, she would hand us warm packages wrapped up in wax paper, with their edges twisted like tootsie rolls.

PAAREN IM GLIEN, GERMANY - MAY 19, 2018: Decoration in the cabin of a full-size luxury car Cadillac de Ville convertible (third generation), 1968. Focus on the foreground.

Inside would be a warm slice of banana bread or carrot cake, a muffin, a danish, or crispy lemony tart. My grandmother always said, if you are fed — if your belly is warm and your tummy is full, then you are ok. No matter what is going on in the world around you, you are ok.

Homemade Banana Nut Bread Cut into Slices

My grandfather, Bernard, had a fruit cart in Harlem. I spent lots of weekends at my grandmother’s house — that is pretty much where I fell into the world — where I learned how to cook and how I fell in love with cooking. Whatever my grandfather didn’t sell, we would eat or pickle and can. My grandmother taught me how to preserve fruit and vegetables. Zucchini, squash, lemons, cucumbers, fuzzy peaches, purple and yellow plums, blueberries, blackberries. I remember cutting up the juicy insides of watermelons and then pickling the rind. That was my favorite. Her house was always lined up with jars of all shapes and sizes, and baskets of vegetables and fruit. Neighbors and friends would buy the preserves right from her home.

Pickled Marinated Fermented vegetables on shelves in cellar

Boy did that house smell amazing. It’s so funny, at times in the kitchen, the smell of cloves, ginger, and cinnamon simmering on the stove makes me stop in my tracks and brings me back to my grandmother. I smell the warmth, the sweetness and I think of her.

My grandmother was a patient woman, but as well as being patient, she was very strict and diligent. She would teach us something once or twice, and she would expect us to get it.”What would you like to eat? Do you know how to make it? No? Well, we are going to learn how to make it together.”

When I turned 9, I began recreating her recipes on my own. I learned how to brown the butter, and caramelize the onions till they were golden and soft; when to add the warm herbs, and spices. My grandmother always made sure that I understood. She would say: “Do you understand? Do you have questions? She would hold me close and say, “Maryam, in life, you have to open your mouth and speak. That’s how you are going to get things in life. Nobody is going to do it for you.”

I am not classically trained, but my food is good. It is real good. It’s the kind of food you want to take your time on. I promise if you give it a try, you will enjoy it.

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