Windstar Cruises, the official cruise line of the James Beard Basis, is cooking up a scrumptious menu of visitor cooks for its 2023 culinary cruises season. Three themed foodie cruises will characteristic a trio of acclaimed visiting cooks, specifically Washington D.C.’s Jerome Grant, a 2019 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalist for Finest Chef Mid-Atlantic; New York’s Ayesha Nurdjaja, a 2022 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award Nominee for Finest Chef: New York State; and Boston’s Tracy Chang, an alumna of the James Beard Basis Chef Bootcamp for Coverage & Change, James Beard Basis Ladies’s Entrepreneurship Management Program, and a 2020 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalist for Finest Chef: Northeast.
Each Windstar and the James Beard Affiliation are devoted to help, rejoice, and elevate the folks behind America’s meals tradition and champion an ordinary of excellent meals anchored in expertise, fairness, and sustainability. The Basis aligns carefully with Windstar’s dedication to recent and native epicurean experiences world wide, in addition to efforts to scale back meals waste.
Every of Windstar’s three 2023 themed cruises will embrace two on-board cooking demonstrations, and 4 dishes by the JBF visiting chef at a hosted dinner with wine pairings. Every chef can even lead friends on a market tour to assemble recent, native components for dishes served on board. As well as, all three cooks will present a number of recipes to be featured on Windstar’s menus to be served throughout the fleet on each crusing.
“Because the Official Cruise Line of the James Beard Basis, we’ve hosted dozens of prime cooks over time. Among the best byproducts attainable is a scrumptious and always rotating part of JBF dishes on our menu – on all of our sailings,” says Windstar President Christopher Prelog. “It doesn’t get any higher than crusing with a James Beard Basis visitor chef on a particular culinary cruise. Not solely will you get to eat their meals — you’ll get to know them. You might even be taught a number of suggestions and methods for being a greater prepare dinner your self, and also you’ll positively have a richer and deeper journey expertise due to it.”
Chef Jerome Grant within the Caribbean, 3/4-11, 2023 on Star Legend, from Panama Metropolis to Oranjestad
Jerome Grant picked up the fundamentals of Filipino delicacies from his mom and the Caribbean flavors of his Jamaican heritage from his paternal grandparents. After graduating from Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Grant moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place he gained his first crucial discover whereas helming the Renaissance St. Croix Carambola Seaside Resort. Grant later accepted an government sous chef place at Urbana Restaurant in Washington, D.C. earlier than working as government chef of the Mitsitam Native Meals Café contained in the Nationwide Museum of American Indian, and inaugural chef of the Candy House Café contained in the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition. His recipes and menus took the café from a easy idea to turning into a James Beard Award acknowledged restaurant and cookbook. Candy House Café is a 2017 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalist for Finest New Restaurant, and the restaurant is inspiration for the 2019 James Beard Media Award Nominated “Candy House Café Cookbook.” Since 2020, Grant has been with Dacha Restaurant Group in D.C., together with Jackie Restaurant, which pays homage to Grant’s Filipino-American roots, and Dacha Beer Gardens. He’s additionally getting ready for the upcoming launch of Mahal, an open-fire kitchen.
Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja within the Mediterranean 6/17-26, 2023 on Wind Surf, from Venice to Athens
Ayesha Nurdjaja is the manager chef at Shuka in New York Metropolis’s SoHo neighborhood, in addition to sibling restaurant Shukette. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she is the daughter of an Indonesian father and Italian mom. Nurdjaja graduated from culinary college in 2006 and first labored for Chef Lidia Bastianich, working her method up the ranks to develop into sous chef. Nurdjaja has additionally helped lead the kitchen groups at Bar Artisanal, Michelin-starred Picholine, and at Michelin-starred A Voce beneath chef Missy Robbins. She additionally frolicked as government chef at Il Bordello and at Brooklyn neighborhood favourite Purple Gravy. In 2015, Nurdjaja joined with restaurateurs Vicki Freeman and Marc Meyer to create Shuka, with a menu that attracts on the colourful flavors discovered all through Italy, Morocco, and Tunisia. Shukette adopted to nice acclaim in 2021.
Japan with Chef Tracy Chang 9/21-30, 2023 on Star Breeze in Asia, from Tokyo to Osaka
Tracy Chang is the chef/proprietor of PAGU restaurant in Cambridge, MA, celebrating Spanish and Japanese fashion tapas paired with pure wines, sakes, sherry, and extra. Previous to PAGU, Chang based a pop-up restaurant, Guchi’s Midnight Ramen, and hosted occasions with eating places, startups, nonprofits, and universities, together with Harvard, the place she is a educating fellow. Throughout Covid-19, she co-founded two nonprofit initiatives, Off Their Plate (OTP) and Undertaking Restore Us (PRU), to offer important employee communities with meals and groceries. The usual working procedures she created for PAGU and Off Their Plate, have been compiled right into a complete information by the James Beard Basis, World Central Kitchen, and the Aspen Institute.
