i used to hate cooking. no, fucking despise it. whatever the quickest way to get food into my stomach ……. that was my ideal way of cooking. i know, what a way to intro you to a culinary brand. stick around though, character arc loading…
that changed in 2018, when i fell in love with cooking because of anthony bourdain. not just the food, but what it represented: curiosity, culture, connection, and the idea that some of life's best conversations happen around a table.
so i started teaching myself to cook through any resource online i could find. during the pandemic, i cooked 3 meals a day for anyone willing to eat. Over the next few years, i worked when i could, in professional kitchens across new york City, montreal, and Orlando, and finally got into private cooking. then after nearly 20 years building brands in the advertising and music industries, i said “fuck you” to corporate america, and i decided to build a brand of my own. in something that actually fulfilled me.
mdk is built on a simple belief:
NYC doesn't do boring, and neither should your plate.
Our mission is to get people out of repetitive, impersonal meal prep, offer private cooking that feels personal, not catered - built around the people, stories and details that make a meal yours - ... and most importantly ... remind people they're not alone, in the kitchen or anywhere else, through food, community and storytelling.
NYc cuisine is my love letter to new york, on a plate.
born from a blue-color, union housing, brooklyn-queens upbringing, where you didn’t need to seek out diversity, all you had to do was walk up the block. where you learned about different cultures and communities through food and conversation, because travel to those countries wasn’t in your family’s budget.
it’s cooking without shame, without exclusivity, without ego.
it’s faking it till you make it, feeding people you love, and figuring it out with what you’ve got.
it’s deep flavor layered from every corner of the world, with inspiration from immigrant kitchens, bodegas, jewish delis, italian red sauce joints, local curry shops, Chinese takeout spots, street carts, Caribbean cooking (and about 120755 - yes that’s an exact figure - other melting pot influences).