Melba’s Restaurant opened its doors in 2005 and has come to be regarded as the premier comfort food destination in New York City.

The eponymous restaurant was the vision of founder, Melba Wilson. Being born, bred and buttered in Harlem, Melba knew she wanted to stay close to home so she could nurture and provide an exquisite yet comfortable dining experience to the community that raised her.

As a young adult working at Sylvia’s, Rosa Mexicano and Windows on the World restaurants, Melba saw firsthand what it took to own and operate a successful business. She quickly became aware that diners have the opportunity to eat wherever they choose. When great food is combined with remarkable service, the result is a dining destination that patrons come to regard as home. It is the commitment to exceptional customer service, coupled with great food that make the standard of excellence that exists today. On any given day, you can find Melba greeting guests with hugs, her trademark smile and inquiring of her customers as to whether there is anything she can do to enhance their dining experience. After all, dining at Melba’s is like coming home for dinner, whenever you’re away from home.

At FIELDTRIP, Chef JJ Johnson embraces the heritage of rice and shares its impact on culture, embracing global flavors and techniques used across diverse communities. Each rice variety tells a unique story of how it arrived in this country and how it made its way into your bowl. The offering focuses on sustainable heirloom rice grains that are freshly milled and never enriched. Using sustainable products is a priority for Chef JJ, who enhances his bowls with ethically sourced vegetables and proteins, creating a flavorful experience that both tastes good and is good for you!

Our cuisine is influenced by global flavors and techniques used within various cultures. We use heirloom grains with each rice telling a unique story of how it arrived to this country and into your bowl. All rice is freshly milled, unbleached and not enriched. Using sustainable products is extremely important to us. Our rice bowls are paired with ethically sourced vegetables and proteins creating a flavorful experience that tastes good and is good for you!

Our culinary ambassador, Georgette Farkas, interviews Chef JJ Johnson about his culinary career and his rice-centric company, Fieldtrip. Read more about it here.

Queen of Soul Food

Sylvia Woods, the “Queen of Soul Food,” is the founder and owner of the world famous Sylvia’s Restaurant, located in the historical village of Harlem. Since the opening of the iconic restaurant in 1962, Sylvia Woods has been lavished with numerous awards and accolades from her peers, community leaders, politicians, and the business world at large. She’s the proud recipient of several legacy awards including the Merit Award from Mayor Bloomberg, of New York City, numerous declarations and citations from political figures ranging from President William Jefferson Clinton to Governor Pataki, and a special invitation to the Clintons’ last Christmas at the White House.

Sylvia has also been featured on several dozen-television shows across the world, including Good Morning America, The Today Show, The BBC Network, Japan T.V., and The Food Network. Print media has also been a fan of Sylvia garnering her with write-ups in such publications as: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Elle Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Newsweek, and many more.

Civil rights activist, Reverend Al Sharpton has created a tradition in which he summits meetings of leadership at Sylvia’s Restaurant. He refers to it as, “a world-famous meeting place”. In 2007, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama shared a meal at the iconic restaurant. In 2016, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and 2020 presidential candidate U.S Senator Kamala D. Harris.

To encapsulate Sylvia’s footprint on soul food and Harlem, Former President Bill Clinton said it best when he stated, “When people came to see me from all over America and the world and wanted to know what Harlem was like, I sent them to Sylvia’s.”

Adir Michaeli was mentored by celebrated pastry chef Roni Fredy Mordechai, learning the ins and outs of baking. At Tel Aviv’s famed Lehamim Bakery, he led the pastry department, establishing and running the main production facility, which turned into the core of the business. He moved to New York to lead the opening team of Bread’s Bakery in 2013. For Adir, satisfaction comes from creating a taste that keeps customers pleasured and returning again and again.

Michaeli Bakery is an Israeli style bakery serving burekas, rugalach, babka, challah and more on the Lower East Side!

It all started when would-be Chef Jimmy Ly met Yen Vo, who had moved to New York from Houston to pursue a career in fashion. Back in Texas, Yen was used to eating traditional southern Vietnamese food at the hundreds of Vietnamese restaurants in town. So when a friend introduced the soon-to-be couple, Yen wanted to know: “Where can I find good Vietnamese food in New York City?”

Jimmy knew the answer was his parents’ house. A Queens native, Jimmy grew up as most Vietnamese kids do, as a sous chef for his parents helping to prep for food-centric family gatherings and events. He would later leave college to help his parents run their banh mi shop, the Chinatown staple Paris Sandwich, learning how to bake bread from scratch and recreate the authentic flavors he’d grown up with. Naturally, when he introduced Yen to his parents’ cooking, it was love at first bite.

This would be the earliest inspiration for the first Madame Vo, opened in January of 2017 on a tree-lined block of E. 10th Street in the historic East Village. At the time, there were just a handful of contemporary Vietnamese establishments gaining traction in NYC, but Jimmy and Yen believed in their food, an assortment of recipes passed down from both sides of of their families. From Yen’s family came the addition of short rib in a bowl of pho; from Jimmy’s family, original dipping sauces and a stellar fried rice.

It was a smash success, with New Yorkers lining up for bold-flavored southern Vietnamese cooking with familiar, nostalgic flavors. “Food is such an important part of Vietnamese culture,” Jimmy says. “Our mission is to share and elevate the Vietnamese culture, and show people how diverse and complex Vietnamese food can be.”

After not being able to find cooking like our Mom’s, we opened Mimi Cheng’s in the summer of 2014, making Taiwanese dumplings by hand everyday.

We quickly realized though that this was no easy feat.  Mimi used to stay up late washing, chopping, shredding, mixing, and wrapping dozens of fresh dumplings made with organic and local ingredients. When we left for college, she would drive down to see us with coolers of dumplings and jars of her secret sauce, enough to feed us and all our friends for weeks. The tradition continued when we started corporate jobs in Manhattan; our refrigerators were always stockpiled with fresh dumplings. Each one was individually hand-wrapped. It was Mimi’s way of taking care of us even when she was not around. 

Now you can see why it wasn’t so easy to find dumplings just the way Mom made.

We use pasture-raised pork, organic chicken, organic and/or local vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, and non-gmo sunflower oil. Mimi taught us to never take shortcuts. Three locations later, we are still sticklers on making food the right way.

Much love,

Hannah + Marian