RanDe Rogers

Sisters Caribbean Cuisine

Nocciola

Nocciola opened in September 2014 and is located in the heart of East Harlem. Since then, chef Abel Mendoza has been serving both quality interpretations of classic dishes and daring new ventures into the uncharted territories of food, complemented by an extensive wine and beer list.

The Wine list features wines from Italy and around the globe while the Beer list is a selection of local draught beers and imported bottled options.

The interior's vibe is rustic, relaxed and it reflects the hip sensibilities of the surrounding area while also paying tribute to East Harlem's storied past. Our dining dining room is perfect for family gatherings or celebrations as well as for business meetings.

Ashleigh Shanti

Benne on Eagle

Ashleigh Shanti is Chef de Cuisine of Benne on Eagle in Asheville, NC.  Working closely with five-time James Beard Award finalist Chef John Fleer, Ashleigh pays homage to the rich African-American culinary traditions that once thrived in The Block – the neighborhood surrounding the restaurant – as well as honoring her own history as a Southern, African-American female.  Ashleigh is a 2020 semi-finalist for the James Beard “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award.

Born in in St. Mary’s, GA and raised in Virginia Beach, VA, Ashleigh’s heritage has roots across the Southeast.  Her happiest days as a young girl were Sundays spent in the kitchen with her family; friends would stop by to visit, eventually prepare themselves a plate, and stay for hours. These moments ingrained in Ashleigh the power of food and how drastically a meal could impact a person's mood.  When her parents insisted she find a job at age 16, Ashleigh chose one with long hours and grueling tasks – a kitchen – in the hopes that they would balk. And so it was this first job, chosen out of rebellion, where Ashleigh unexpectedly solidified her future career path.

After graduating from Baltimore International College in 2013 with an Associates Degrees in Culinary Arts, Ashleigh embarked upon a variety of culinary experiences, including a position teaching fermentation classes at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans and a stage at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York.  Homesick for the Southeast, in 2017 Ashleigh moved to Kinston, NC to assume the role of Culinary Assistant for Chef & the Farmer co-owner Vivian Howard.  Here, she learned the importance of establishing a culinary identity and discovered the impact of telling a story through a plate of food.

While each of her kitchen experiences helped hone her technical expertise, Ashleigh struggled to find a cuisine that resonated with her on a personal level. It was this longing that beckoned Ashleigh to Asheville in Fall 2018 to help Chef Fleer open Benne on Eagle.  Here, Ashleigh has found her culinary identity in a kitchen where the food is both meaningful to her and honors her heritage. She is proud to help Chef Fleer build Benne on Eagle’s culinary program from the ground up by following the theme of Sankofa, “go back and get it” in the Twi language: progressing forward and integrating new food techniques and methods, while looking back to history to reclaim lost and forgotten traditions. 

In her spare time outside of Benne on Eagle’s kitchen, Ashleigh’s culinary explorations continue. She is often found foraging for wild foods or exploring the process of fermentation in her homegrown lab. 

Amanda Freitag

Chopped (Bravo TV)

Through her work in professional restaurant kitchens, as a food television personality and now author, Amanda Freitag has become more than a chef, she is The Chef Next Door. While the moniker is derived from the title of Amanda’s first cookbook, The Chef Next Door: A Pro Chef's Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking (Houghton Mifflin; 2015), it also aptly conveys both her professionalism and warm, accessible personality. These traits have served her well as a judge on Food Network’s hit series, Chopped, and as the co-host of Food Network’s American Diner Revival with Ty Pennington.  

GARDEN STATE BEGINNINGS

Growing up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, Amanda’s passion for food was evident at an early age. Unlike most typical fourth graders, Amanda packed multi-coursed lunches in a large grocery bag and her earliest memories involved a fascination with the film Who’s Killing the Great Chefs of Europe and baking homemade doughnuts with her grandma. At the age of 15, she fell in love with entertaining through food and the fast-paced excitement of restaurants when she took a job working in a large banquet hall, and later, at an á la carte concept. When Amanda showed real talent in her high school Home Economics class, her teacher encouraged her to pursue a cooking career. After graduation, she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

CULINARY CHOPS

After graduating from culinary school, Amanda’s first position in a New York City kitchen was as rotissier and garde manger at Vong led by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. It was here Amanda was first introduced to marrying French technique with Southeast Asian ingredients and flavors. In 1994, she transitioned to Verbena under chef Diane Forley, a female pioneer in the predominantly male restaurant industry who became one of Amanda’s greatest mentors. At Verbena, Amanda rose quickly through the ranks to become the restaurant’s chef de cuisine learning, among other things, the importance of using local, organic ingredients.

Her time at Verbena revealed to Amanda that she still had much to learn about the culinary world and that travel would be key to her continued development. In 2000 she traveled extensively through France and Italy to explore the bountiful markets and progressive restaurant scenes. While in Paris, she spent two weeks working under chef Alain Passard at his venerable restaurant, Arpège. At Arpège, Passard insisted on using only the freshest ingredients, leaving nothing but butter in the walk-in refrigerators at the end of service. This eye-opening experience made an impression, helping to further develop Amanda’s deep appreciation of superlative ingredients and the flavors of the Mediterranean region.

Upon returning to New York, Amanda worked at some of the city’s most popular restaurants including Cesca, where she cooked alongside Tom Valenti as his chef de cuisine and earned two stars from The New York Times in 2003. In 2006, Amanda was named the executive chef at Gusto in the West Village, where her Italian food was met with critical acclaim. In January 2008, Amanda took over as the executive chef at The Harrison in TriBeCa. Over the years that she helmed the kitchen, The Harrison received numerous accolades from local and national media, and earned a two- star review from The New York Times restaurant critic who lauded Amanda’s work as “exemplary.” 

FROM BIG KITCHENS TO SMALL SCREEN SCREENS

In 2008, Amanda shared her culinary knowledge and experience with a broader audience, joining the judging panel on Food Network’s competition series Chopped where she currently still serves as a judge. In May 2015, she launched her own show concept, American Diner Revival, with co-host Ty Pennington, in which she lends her expertise to struggling classic diners across the country to overhaul their menus. On the small screen, Amanda has also competed on Iron Chef America, America’s Next Iron Chef, and has appeared on Unique Eats and other shows on Cooking Channel and has made numerous other television guest appearances on national broadcast television including The Today Show, The Chew, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, and more.

THE CHEF NEXT DOOR

In September 2015, Amanda launched her first cookbook, The Chef Next Door: A Pro Chef’s Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking. After spending nearly her entire life in restaurant kitchens using professional equipment, Amanda finally confronted her own fears of cooking in her small apartment kitchen and wrote about the experience in The Chef Next Door. Connecting with the intimidation and anxiety experienced by many home cooks, in The Chef Next Door Amanda helps improve readers’ confidence through imparting approachable skills, tricks, and tips. In her bright, lively voice, she helps readers master the basic techniques that are the foundation of good, flavorful cooking. She also teaches how to think like a chef—to consider seasonality, balancing flavors, understanding the steps, and learning how to improvise—to create a menu and execute dishes with pro techniques, as if she were right there in the kitchen. The Chef Next Door shares a diverse range of dishes, such as Spinach Feta Pies, Kale and Farro Salad with Aged Goat Cheese, Lusty Lemon Chicken, Pop’s Beer-Braised Bold Beef Stew, Mediterranean Potato Salad, Marinated Artichokes, Cocoa Carrot Cake, and more.

When she is not in the kitchen, Amanda enjoys traveling the world and collecting restaurant menus to add to her ever-growing collection.

Bevy Smith

Quintessential Harlem girl and life-long New Yorker Bevy Smith is the host of Sirius XM’s “Bevelations” on Radio Andy and will serve as a headlining contributor for Fox Televisions Stations’ “Page Six TV” beginning in September 2017.  Bevy also shared her style insight on BET’s “Wendy’s Style Squad,” and for three seasons was showcased as moderator of Bravo TV’s revolutionary “Fashion Queens.”

Once a wildly successful luxury fashion publishing exec, Bevy shifted her professional goals to pursue “Dinner With Bevy,” a social event connecting VIPs in fashion, style, entertainment and media at chic intimate dinner settings. The New York Times described Bevy as a “socialite and noted hostess.”

A beloved motivational speaker, brand ambassador and pop culture aficionado, Bevy is a frequent guest on an array of TV shows, including “The View,” “Good Morning America,” “The Wendy Williams Show,” “The Real,” “Dr. Oz,” “CBS Morning Show” and “Access Hollywood.”

In addition to Bevy’s TV appearances, Smith has been an annual guest speaker at the National Urban League Conference; moderator for HBO panels at ABFF (American Black Film Festival); a presenter at both the SESAC Pop Music Awards and Alliance for Women in Media Luncheon, a guest speaker at the Urban League of Louisiana Women in Business Challenge and hosted “Unlocking your Superpower Through Vision Boarding” at the 2017 PowHERful Foundation’s New York City Enrichment Conference.  

Bevy is never too busy to give back.  For the past three years, she has hosted “Fashion for Action,” an annual fundraiser for Housing Works, a New York-based thrift store chain and advocacy group that helps find appropriate housing for people living with HIV and AIDS.  In 2017, Smith was the recipient of Soledad O’Brien’s PowHERful Foundation’s Entrepenuer award and was also recently named Community Champion of AIDS Organization Harlem United.  Additionally, Bevy is on the board of Cool Culture, a charity devoted to raising awareness among under-privileged children.