The Table

12/06/2019

Whether its Cup Noodles at home or the Octopus and Bone Marrow Fusilli at Marea – if the dish involves noodles/pasta – best believe I’m having it. That’s because, for me, noodles have always been a constant reminder of home, a simple meal that invokes many of the same feelings of comfort I get when I’m around the ones I care for most. To my family and others alike, noodles are a symbol of longevity - a filling yet affordable meal that’ll hold you down for hours on end. A good noodle dish offers a gateway of understanding to the cultural and universal. And it’s up to the noodle maker, acting as part historian and artist, to interpret and represent that to the best of their ability. Noodle making is a labor of love that requires discipline, patience and consistency.
It was for those reasons, we decided to add this dish to our menu for A Night in Italy. To us, pasta making was deeper than just wanting to make pasta. It’s a representation of who we are as individuals, a team, and a business. Similar to the specific ingredients required for making pasta (flour, salt, oil, and water) we too add and contribute to many things as singular individuals/ingredients. But with some hard work, patience and a lot of repetition, a form of alchemy starts to occur where the ingredients slowly learn to work together and take shape. We too are taking shape at The Table and our Strozzapreti with Bone Marrow and Basil, like many great foods, is enjoyed best when shared.
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What’s your favorite/most memorable dish? Comment below!
@ New York, New York

12/04/2019

12/04/2019

Growing up was there an ingredient that you just absolutely hated? Maybe a vegetable or a fruit or just a dish in general that you tried to avoid at all costs? For me, it was tomatoes. I hated tomatoes (still kind of do)! But one day I joined my good friend for dinner at where I had an heirloom tomato salad that completely blew my mind away! It was soooo good, I was practically licking the plate clean! The pairing of the ingredients and flavors were just dancing happily off my tastebuds. The creamy whipped ricotta was balanced well with juicy heirloom tomatoes. The freshness of the sweet basil meshed perfectly with the citrusy and smokiness of the charred tomato vinaigrette. And to top it all off was the salty crunchy anchovy breadcrumbs which stole the show for me.

For something that I disliked for years, this dish is one of my top 5 game changers. I feel like as a chef, you take great pride in the dishes you make, hoping to change people’s perspective on an ingredient & did that for me with this dish. I’ve eyed the menu hoping to have this again but it seems to be a seasonal dish. So I took it upon myself to try and recreate one of my most memorable dishes of summer 18 hoping it will have the same effect on my guests as it did with me.

12/04/2019

Growing up was there an ingredient that you just absolutely hated? Maybe a vegetable or a fruit or just a dish in general that you tried to avoid at all costs? For me, it was tomatoes. I hated tomatoes (still kind of do)! But one day I joined my good friend Zinnat for dinner at , where I had an heirloom tomato salad that completely blew my mind away! It was soooo good, I was practically licking the plate clean! The pairing of the ingredients and flavors were just dancing happily off my tastebuds. The creamy whipped ricotta was balanced well with juicy heirloom tomatoes. The freshness of the sweet basil meshed perfectly with the citrusy and smokiness of the charred tomato vinaigrette. And to top it all off was the salty crunchy anchovy breadcrumbs which stole the show for me.

For something that I disliked for years, this dish is one of my top 5 game changers. I feel like as a chef, you take great pride in the dishes you make, hoping to change people’s perspective on an ingredient & did that for me with this dish. I’ve stalked the menu at hoping to have this again but it seems to be a seasonal dish. So I took it upon myself to try and recreate one of my most memorable dishes for summer 19 hoping it will have the same effect on my guests as it did with me.

12/01/2019

“It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it…and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied…and it is all one.” - M.F.K. Fisher
As we reflected on this quote we thought back to some of our major moments in life and we couldn’t think of a time when food wasn’t involved. Whether it was sharing a meal with family to celebrate an achievement or eating with friends when things weren’t going our way, food has been a constant form of comfort! How many stories do you have that revolve around food?
Individually we have fond memories of certain dishes that remind us of a time, a place, a feeling, or even a person. Beyond that, food is a big representation of our ethnic identity and this has been another part of what The Table represents. We’ve had our team try foods that they have never been exposed to and we’ve had some positive reactions and some not so great ones! Being able to share these experiences over dinner with our team brought us closer together and made our vision that much clearer. Although we might not consciously realize this, conversations over a dinner table with those we can relate to and those who care for us can almost be therapeutic and that is what we try to achieve with every dinner we host.
“Feed Your Purpose” While attending Idea Exchange, we were surrounded by motivated creative individuals who reminded us how The Table came to fruition. One of our big takeaways from the event was a tagline that everyone collectively worked out for us to use and we loved it so much that we decided to take it on officially. To us, feeding our purpose ties in to our hunger to do something true to each of us individually that can invoke the love and security we feel when we have some of our favorite comfort foods with the people who mean the most to us.
With that being said, we hope to see you on December 13th for our first Night in Italy!

11/29/2019

We’re incredibly appreciative each and every day to be surrounded by such great friends and family. Having the opportunity to create a platform where we can all get together over some great food is just the cherry on top!
Whether you’re a close friend of ours or even someone who stumbled upon our story, YOU are what makes The Table special. Hearing your stories and aspirations gives us motivation to keep giving it our all day in and day out. Working together as a community our accomplishments become that much greater. So thank you once again and hope to see you at our Night in Italy on December 13th! @ New York, New York

11/27/2019

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how” - Friedrich Nietzsche
As 2019 slowly draws to a close, our team .nyc met for dinner one night and we spoke warmly about how this year has marked the start of our lives – of us finally taking ownership of ourselves, feeding our respective interests, and choosing to do it together - at The Table.
As children of immigrants, getting together to share a meal as a family is often considered to be one of the most important aspects of the day. It’s the one time in our day where we can be ourselves, highlight our accomplishments, our shortcomings, and share just about anything with those that care most for us. Unfortunately, as we’ve gotten older, we’ve started to realize that not many of us are making time to do just that.
In an effort to counter this, we created The Table with a vision of bringing together friends, family, and strangers alike to share a meal. To offer a moment of reflection and awareness to our lives and push each other to achieve what “could be” and offer a network of supportive individuals one can seek in times of need.
With the introduction of our Night in Italy series on December 13th (swipe left for menu), we encourage all that come to be vulnerable, to seek new relationships and to simply enjoy themselves over some good food and conversation. Looking forward to seeing you there!
•The Table @ New York, New York