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Meet Melibea

The backlash against 'Modernist Cuisine' or 'Molecular Gastronomy' is everywhere. 

And sometimes you can't help but agree with the points. Like so many movements, it's the followers that take it that bit too far or pervert the original intentions of the leaders.  You can see the impact of the movement on Alex Ureña's fare at Melibea. He did, afterall, work under Ferran Adrià at ElBulli. However, unlike some of Adrià's acolytes, Ureña is well in control of his influences.  There's an ambition, subversion and playfulness about the food at Melibea. With its influences spanning across the whole of the Mediterranean, you would think that there could be room for the cuisine to lose track of its purpose. However the food remains grounded, hearty and delicious.  Ureña did grow up on his grandfather's farm and watched his mother make recipes from the local produce. Perhaps it's that influence that dominates his cooking more than the influence of the godfather of Modernist Cuisine. 

Across The Mediterranean

Seafood Fusions

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Recapping Melba Launch Party in New York

The room buzzed with chatter of beer, wine and food last Monday night at Melba’s New York City launch party. Nearly forty people gathered in a Union Square loft, where a piano man played delicate music, calming guests on another cold February night. The party popped off with beer and wine from New Clarendon Brewing Company and Bed-Vyne Wine Shop, doing their part in welcoming guests to the celebration. “Bringing wine to the table, sharing food, culture, and music -- it’s a great fit for us,” Michael Brooks, one of Bed Vyne’s owners, said. Brooks served up a 2011 Pullus Pinot Grigio Slovenia Stajerska, an orange-hued Pinot Grigio, which results from the skins being left on the grapes (usually, the grape skins are removed to process Pinot Grigio), he explained. Guests also enjoyed a 2007 Tete de Lard Cab Franc Saumur from Loire Valley, France and a 2011 Alfredo Roca Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. Brewers Stone Dow and Geordie Wood of New Clarendon Brewing Company poured a refreshing Belgian-style saison made with cardamom, blood orange peel, ginger and hibiscus. The second tasting was a Marienplatz Dunkelweizen, a traditional wheat beer with honey malt. Beverages were plentiful as Marilyn Donahue-Schiller’s Eastern European menu emerged: sausage, pickles, beet blinis, and hearty trays of gravlax.

Later, a delightful winter meal of roasted pork, sauerkraut gravy, roasted potatoes and vegetables was served family-style at round tables awaiting hungry guests. Presented with a huge platter of meat, it was up to one brave (or hungry enough) soul to lead the meat carving for the table. As guests began settling in for dinner, Santiago Tenorio, co-founder of Melba, and Alisha Miranda, head of community for Melba in NYC, welcomed guests to Melba’s first gathering in New York City.

“I’m really excited that we got such a great group of people together tonight to really be part of Melba’s launch in New York and be part of our journey as we bring Melba to the U.S.,” Tenorio said. Miranda gave a shout out to Brooklyn, where she pictures these feasts really taking off. “I'm really lucky to have been able to recruit some of the finest folks I know out of Brooklyn to make this party happen,” she said. “I think the food/tech world is ready for new, innovative projects, and hopefully Melba becomes one of those.” In a place with new faces all around, everyone got to know each other over a homemade meal. With a wide variety of BYOB beer and wine around, too, it was easy to try a variety of things -- and hopefully discover something interesting. Leticia Salama, owner of Leti’s Catering, enjoyed experiencing something “new and fresh,” she said.

“I got to meet a wide variety of people -- from chefs, owners of start-ups, food photographers, journalists, brewers, investors, to Melba people,” she said. “I guess you can meet all those people in a restaurant too, but the ambiance was much different. I felt like it was more a community of people. All of us gave a little something to make it happen.” Tenorio said the event was like those held in London, where Melba launched five months ago. Tenorio, who enjoys cooking and was inspired by Anthony Bourdain’s travels, said Melba feasts allow people to interact with the people behind the food -- unlike most restaurants. Melba also gives cooks the chance to express their cultures, he said. “I don’t want to be stuck in a corner cutting carrots,” he said. “I want to cook what I want to cook.” The meal concluded with a light dessert of fresh pears and pineapple. For an irresistible take-home treat, HIM in the Kitchen’s Armando Rafael presented his cardamom, cayenne, sea salt and chocolate chip cookies. Packed in brown paper coffee bags, it was hard to wait until home to enjoy this incredible experience of a cookie -- especially when it was such a fantastic pairing with New Clarendon’s cardamom saison. “It was nice to mingle with new people and try all these different foods and drinks,” Rafael said. “I liked meeting new people equally as interested in food.” After a day of hard labor, Donahue-Schiller finally left the kitchen and lounged on a couch, still in good spirits thanks to many helping hands from Melba staffers and volunteers -- with a glass of wine in hand. She was pleased to see people “slow down” and chat with each other throughout the night. “I think tonight was a lovely event,” she said. Looking at the cheerful faces as they exited the dinner party, we couldn’t agree more. Look for more Melba events coming your way soon in New York City, or host your own!

by Beth Kaiserman, guest writer for Melba, foodie and writer taking in Brooklyn, one bite at a time. Thanks to all our sponsors, volunteers, and staff for making our New York launch so successful!

Check out more photos of Melba's New York launch party on Instagram at #MelbaNYC

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#MelbaNYC launch dinner party.

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TONIGHT: dinner & drinks to celebrate the launch of Melba in New York. Join us in the kitchen or at the dinner table!

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Meet Melba New York Hosts: Michael & Ayo, owners of Bed-Vyne Wine

Melba goes live in New York this February and we’ve got a dinner party hosted by some of the finest up-and-coming Brooklyn cooks, bakers, brewers, and winos to kick things off right. Below, meet Michael & Ayo - Brooklyn wine shop owners serving wine pairings at the Melba New York launch party. Get to know the stories behind Bed-Vyne and other hosts at one of their upcoming feasts, too!

Michael Brooks tasted about 15,000 wines before implementing the 200-250 offerings at Bed Vyne Wine Shop, a neighborhood store he co-owns in Bed-Stuy since 2011.

Their wine selection isn't categorized by region, but instead by taste. Labels throughout the store, such as “sparkling,” “fruit,” “sweet,” “toast,” and “earth” are “helpful for folks,” Brooks said. 

Bed-Vyne also offers a $10 and under table, and more high-end wine in the back. Some offerings change every season. They also hold art exhibits in the gallery space next door. There’s something here for everyone.

“People in this community are very thorough, very critical,” Brooks said. “They don’t warm up to you right away. . . We realize that this is a relationship.”  Luckily, the shop provides an interactive wine buying experience -- one that doesn’t involve bulletproof glass, as buildings nearby suggest. “It’s nice to be able to look around and not have to point at what you’re looking for like in a liquor store,” co-owner Ayo Akinnuoye said. Just a few years later, Bed-Vyne now sees more regular customers, and offers a discount program for cases of wine. It's certain to say the Bed-Stuy community has embraced them.

by Beth Kaiserman, guest writer for Melba, foodie and writer taking in Brooklyn, one bite at a time. She can be found slowly savoring her food and also on Twitter @Bak251. Meet Beth and Bed-Vyne owners, Ayo & Michael at Melba’s New York launch party on February 18th!

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Meet Melba New York Hosts: Stone & Geordie, New Clarendon Brewing Company

Geordie Wood and Stone Dow like beer.

Geordie’s parents let him brew some beer when he was 18. He doesn’t know why, but he's grateful. Now he’s a freelance photographer living in Brooklyn. Stone has been in Brooklyn for four months after living (and drinking) in Portland, where “there’s a brewhouse on every corner,” he said. He now does freelance work in film. The two “adventurous spirits” met at Syracuse University, and after college they began brewing together when Stone made visits to New York.

Now, the two minds behind New Clarendon Brewing Company concoct brews in their Carroll Gardens apartment, providing specialty batches for events, upon request. It takes about three weeks to create a specialty beer. This approach allows them to be “somewhat small and unique,” Stone said. They grow hops in their backyard. For a recent Ethiopian ale, they searched for Ethiopian grains and honey at an African market in Clinton Hill.

The two prefer to “cater their own curiosities in the craft,” rather than distributing largely. In December, New Clarendon Brewing Company had their first keg featured at 61 Local. The brew? Bangasser Stout. The stout is a celebration of the first beer they brewed at Syracuse in 2006 with their roommates, one of whom was James Bangasser. “We want to pay homage to where we came from and where we’re going,” Geordie said. They lived on Clarendon Street in Syracuse, and are looking forward to their future -- the “New.” We’re here thirsty and waiting.

  by Beth Kaiserman, guest writer for Melba, a foodie and writer taking in Brooklyn, one bite at a time. She can be found slowly savoring her food and also on Twitter @Bak251. Meet Stone and Geordie at Melba’s New York launch party on February 18th!

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Meet a Melba New York Host: Brooklyn cook, Marilyn Donahue-Schiller

Melba goes live in New York this February and we’ve got a dinner party hosted by some of the finest up-and-coming Brooklyn cooks, bakers, brewers, and winos to kick things off right. Below, meet Marilyn - Brooklyn home cook - who is our chef at the Melba New York dinner party. Get to know the stories behind Marilyn and other social chefs at one of their upcoming feasts, too!

Marilyn Donahue-Schiller took a bite of the Big Apple (literally) by tasting and asking questions of the guys from Phillips Farms in Milford, New Jersey. It’s all research for Melba’s launch party menu.

    The Union Square Greenmarket can seem bleak on a Monday afternoon in January. But a cook on a mission can change that.

Marilyn is no classically trained chef. But she grew up around food, and even “cooked for cowboys” when she was little. She helped her aunt cook big lunches for the cowboys on her ranch in New Mexico, where Marilyn visited each year. Back in Long Island, where she grew up, Marilyn and her dad went into the city a lot, eating from street vendors and at midnight Chinatown dinners.

“I was really proud of being from New York City,” she said.

She moved with her mom and brother to Long Beach, California and stayed through junior high, high school and college at UC Santa Barbara for Pharmacology. She remembers hosting small potlucks for college friends, and then eating free happy hour food as a “poor scientist” in Chicago.

“A lot of people don’t sit down for meals,” she said. “If people don’t have it, they don’t realize all the gifts that they’re missing.”

After living with a “teeny weeny” kitchen in Chicago, Marilyn missed Cali life. So she spent sixteen years living in San Francisco, where she had two ovens and six working burners, and started a graphic design business.

In the early 2000s, she moved to Prague with her husband, Ben. Then Brussels and London. She worked in sustainable education, started East Dulwich SNUB (Say No to Unwanted Bags) and took nutrition classes. She was also a cycling instructor. Marilyn wants to continue working with kids in growing food, cooking and learning where it comes from.

After all her journeys, Marilyn might like living where there’s more land for growing things, she said. But for now, she’s here and ready to cook.

“I’m lucky to be in Brooklyn,” she said.

  by Beth Kaiserman, guest writer for Melba, foodie and writer taking in Brooklyn, one bite at a time. She can be found slowly savoring her food and also on Twitter @Bak251. Meet Beth and Marilyn at Melba’s New York launch party on February 18th!

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Meet a Melba New York Host: Baker, Photographer Armando Rafael

Melba goes live in New York this February and we've got a dinner party hosted by some of the finest up-and-coming Brooklyn cooks, bakers, brewers, and winos set to kick things off right. Below, meet Armando - baker and photographer - who is our cookie man at the Melba New York dinner party. Get to know the stories behind Armando and other social chefs at one of their upcoming feasts, too!

He takes photos. He travels. He bakes.

Armando Rafael daydreams about spice combinations, and how he can use them to create delicious sweets.

       His cardamom and cayenne chocolate chip cookies, topped with sea salt, took a year to perfect. And they’ve made him a local foodie celeb at coffee shops like Beaner Bar in Williamsburg and De Luxe in Park Slope. He also provides cookies for comedy shows at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in the East Village in Manhattan. Might I add he hand delivers these yummy morsels in coffee bags and sells them on Etsy, too. He’s the Hebrew Hammer of the spicy/sweet combo. Armando spent his childhood summers working in his aunt’s bakery in Portugal. There, the “seed was starting to be planted,” he said. After studying photography at Pratt and assisting on some photo shoots, Armando got back to baking with 1300 hours of work for the Institute of Culinary Education’s pastry program. Then, he spent six months working at Sullivan St. Bakery, after which he decided to combine his two loves: food and photography. He now assists in photo shoots, including a December shoot for the Food Network, and also photographs food on his own. For now, he bakes as a hobby, but hopes to make his brand, HIM in the kitchen, official eventually. “I’ll test out another one soon,” he said.

by Beth Kaiserman, guest writer for Melba, foodie and writer taking in Brooklyn, one bite at a time. She can be found slowly savoring her food and also on Twitter @Bak251. Meet Beth and Santiago at Melba's New York launch party on February 18th!