Raised in Seattle with roots in California and Vietnam, Helen Nguyen has always had a passion for food. After a decade in real estate business and sales, she pursued her passion and moved to New York and attended the Institute of Culinary Education.

While at school, she started an apprenticeship at L’Appart under Chef Nicolas Abello, who led his team to their first Michelin star within the first few months of opening and then worked her way into the kitchen of Chef Daniel Boulud’s famed Restaurant Daniel. There she trained with the Feast and Fetes catering and private events team for 3 years.

Though trained in classic French, Vietnamese comfort food is where her heart resides. Helen started sharing her love for food, culture, and community via monthly popups and eventually opened Saigon Social, her first restaurant, in 2019. Saigon Social is a casual spot serving up Vietnamese comfort food with a menu rooted in the food that Helen ate as a child but plated and presented with the elegance of Helen’s fine-dining background.

Mokbar is a Korean eatery serving ramen, rice bowls and handmade dumplings, as well as a diverse selection of small plates inspired by Korean street foods.

Chef-Owner Esther Choi grew up cooking traditional Korean food with her native Korean grandmother as her greatest inspiration. For Esther, “Food is the ambassador of a culture. It expresses all the elements that define a country – its history, social customs, language, geography and art traditions. It is something passed from generation to generation.”

Esther truly believes in the simplicity of unpretentious dining, yet with complex and perfectly executed traditional Korean flavors. She serves her cooking with humility, demonstrating her commitment to the authenticity of her Korean heritage. Her mission is to broaden New Yorkers’ understanding and appreciation of Korean culture through her food.

Mokbar is not only owned by a strong female chef, but is also operated by an all-female management team! Mokbar has two Manhattan locations in the Meatpacking District’s Chelsea Market and The Hugh in Midtown, as well as a Brooklyn outpost near the Barclay Center.

Chef Madeline Lanciani began her career in 1974 when she became the first female chef ever hired at the renowned Plaza Hotel in New York City. From there, she worked in kitchens of some of the city’s top restaurants. After much success in the New York culinary world, she decided to begin raising a family and start a new career in the pastry world.

She began with opening Patisserie Lanciani in the Greenwich Village. Then, in 1992, she opened Duane Park Patisserie in TriBeCa, which has since become a longstanding beloved neighborhood staple. Most recently, Madeline opened Ring Ding Bar which takes a creative and contemporary take on the classic 1950s hand-held dessert snack. Madeline and her team have worked to concoct unique flavors like Nutella, French Toast, Funfetti, PB&J, Matcha, Cookies & Cream, Red Velvet and even Negroni. These nostalgic hand-held treats seek to “inspire people to reconnect with their inner kid and indulge in a little bit of (and a little bite of) whimsical, care-free fun.” 

Chef Wesly Jean Simon was born and raised in Haiti until moving to the U.S. at the age of 14. He worked as executive chef for the Hard Rock Cafe Times Square for 15 years until deciding to branch out on his own. With the goal of helping his community and providing better presentation of Haitian cuisine, he decided to return to Haiti for six weeks to better understand the food. After working with butchers and rural cooks from his home country, he returned to the U.S. to open his restaurant, Zanmi, in February of 2020.

Named after the Kreyol word for “friends”, Zanmi has become the community spot that Wesly had hoped for; hosting Haitian movies nights on Monday, karaoke on Tuesdays and live music every Thursday through Sunday while also serving up signature dishes like pork griot with fried plantains, sausages and pikliz, djondjon rice, and voodoo pasta.