Every graduating class at the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute opens a pop-up restaurant at its home off Harmony Circle. The chef students will open Waliimo for weekday lunch service May 20 through June 13. The menu features dishes from Ethiopia, Somalia and other East African nations, and there’s a creative drink list as well. Proceeds from the pop-up support scholarships at NOCHI. Culinary and baking program participants Ayla Connors, Tiarra “Kizzy” Danner, Marya Kircher, Melanie Londono and Jean Werner talked about the capstone project. For reservations, a menu and more information, visit nochi.org/waliimo.
Gambit: How did you get interested in food and attending NOCHI?
Ayla Connors: I have only been working in kitchens for a few years. Before that, I worked in the front of the house as a server. I would see how the kitchens worked, and I realized I wanted to know what went into all the food. So I pivoted and started working in kitchens and that led me to realize I like baking more. I like everything about it. There’s a lot of science to baking, it’s very exact.
Melanie Londono: I am from St. Pete, Florida. I grew up in a touristy beach town. Cooking is how my whole family gets together. But I have been working in hotels since I was 15. I gradually made my way into the kitchen after Covid. When everything was opening up, I went into the kitchen. I moved here for school, and then I came back to do pastry. I really like breads, lamination and all the tedious processes. That’s my jam.
Jean Werner: I am from New York. I was in the Marine Corps for five years, and I wanted to do something more creative, so I got into baking and pastry. I worked a few pastry jobs in New York. I was with the New York Mets and I worked for Dominique Ansel. Now I am down here for the culinary program.
Kizzy Danner: I am from Benton, Arkansas. I moved to New Orleans in 2021, transferring with Whole Foods. I was around food for seven years. I wanted to dive in more, so I started working in restaurants, first in front of the house and management and then in the kitchen. I worked at a smoothie and health food shop, at the New Orleans Food Cooperative, a pasta place and now I work at a vegan restaurant, I-tal Garden. I have been vegan for eight years.
Marya Kircher: I came to the school after I raised kids and as a way to meet people and to come to New Orleans. I love food. I am from Wyoming. I am in the culinary program.
Gambit: Tell us about Waliimo.
Londono: There wasn’t a lot of East African food in the area, so we thought it would be a good thing to touch on.
Werner: Waliimo is from East Africa. The cuisine (in the pop-up) is generally East African. Sharing or telling a story through the food and service is part of (the project).
Connors: Waliimo means feast, so it goes with our theme of shared food.
Londono: It’s a culture that’s based on eating together, eating family style. A lot of the culture revolves around food. We wanted to show people a different way of eating. Instead of everyone having their own a la carte meal, they can have something shared and communal.
Kircher: We all wanted to try using different spices and techniques and new ingredients.
Londono: We went to dinner at Cafe Abyssinia. They’re an Ethiopian restaurant. We told them we were doing a project and hoping to do a pop-up. They brought us out extra stuff. They showed us their kitchen so we could see their set-up.
They were really proud that everything was made that day. Everything was focused on fresh produce and fresh vegetables. Everything is spiced.
In a city full of ghost and haunting stories, it’s no surprise there is some strange account at a building from 1840.
Gambit: What dishes will you serve?
Connors: The Waliimo style is more traditional. We’ll have an a la carte menu, and then we’ll have a more traditional experience. You can eat as a group and share. You can get that for each course. We’re still figuring it out, because the menu has grown since the pitch. I think the starter one will be all of them except the salads.
Danner: We have sambusas. We have beef or veggie, which is potato and carrot. That’s very common. We are doing recipe testing still, so we might develop a sauce. One place served them with a sweet chili sauce. We also have red lentil hummus.
Londono: A lot of these dishes are stews. We wanted to lighten it up because this is a lunchtime thing. Some of the proteins are not in a stew, but the dish still has the same flavor profile. Like with kulwa, usually it’s a stew, but we’re going to cook it a la minute, so the sauces are still there, but it’s a fresh cooked tenderloin.
Danner: Wat is traditionally a caramelized onion stew. There are different variations. That’s where you get doro wat, which is chicken. We have a Gulf fish wat as well.
Londono: We have lamb tibs. It’s a heavily spiced lamb. We’ll do that with yuca mash and stewed cabbage.
We took the spices that are going to be in the food and turned them into drinks as well. We have a spritz. We took the Ethiopian coffee, which is really nice, it’s sort of floral, and have that as an expresso martini sort of drink. We have berbere lemonade, so it’s spiced lemonade. You can add spirits.
Danner: I am excited for our desserts. I kept pitching a panna cotta, and it made it on the menu. I thought it would go with the shay spice.
Londono: For desserts, we’re going to do a honey tart with a hibiscus peach sorbet. We’re doing lots of sorbets.
发表回复