Enjoy a fun evening dining, sipping and learning as Chef Akhtar Nawab, Brasserie Lundi prepares a four-part small plate menu. Learn new recipes and taste freshly prepared courses and wine.
Schedule: Wednesday, May 20, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Fee: $100 (Members $95)
Deadline: One week before session
About Chef Akhtar Nawab
Akhtar Nawab is an acclaimed chef and the founding partner CEO of Hospitality HQ (HHQ LLC), a creative consulting and management group which offers bespoke solutions for culinary-driven concepts across the country.
The son of Indian immigrants, Nawab grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. He spent a lot of time in the kitchen with his mother, a native of Lucknow, a city in Northern India famous for kebabs, biryani, and korma. A passion for cooking, born in his small Kentucky kitchen, led him to an esteemed career at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country: La Folie, Bizou, Gramercy Tavern, Craftbar, and Craft. The latter received three stars from The New York Times and won the James Beard Foundation’s “Best New Restaurant” Award during Nawab’s tenure.
Nawab received StarChefs “Rising Star Chef” award while serving as executive chef of East Village gastropub The E.U., before striking out on his own as chef/partner of Elettaria in 2008. Shortly thereafter, he began a stint of consulting work with Mexican restaurants, notably at the hotspot La Esquina, where he found he had a kinship with its tradition-heavy cooking style. In 2017, Nawab opened his innovative Mexican restaurant Alta Calidad in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, which earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand rating in 2018 and 2019 and continues to thrive as a neighborhood mainstay. Akhtar is also the chef advisor and partner in Bar Chinois in Washington, DC. In 2024, Akhtar opened Alta Calidad’s sister restaurant, Wayward Fare, located in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
In addition to his work as a chef and restaurateur, Akhtar offers restaurant consulting services in 2019. The team has developed a niche practice in the world of food hall development, management, and innovation. Today, they are widely known as the country’s premier food hall management firms with properties in Orlando, FL. (The Great Southern Box Co.), Silver Spring MD. (Solaire Social), Charlotte NC. (Monarch Market), Houston, TX (Lyric Market), Atmore, AL. (The Market) Wetumpka, AL. (Riverside Market), Wilmington, DE (Chancery Market), and Rock Row, ME. (Rock Row).
Nawab has been featured in various publications including Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, USA Today and Eater, and has appeared on NBC’s “TODAY Show,” CBS’s “This Morning Saturday,” PBS’s “Simply Ming,” as well as Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” and as a regular judge on “Beat Bobby Flay.” He has also been featured in the acclaimed cookbook Coco: 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs (Phaidon, 2009) and J’aime New York: 150 Culinary Destinations for Food Lovers (Ducasse Books, 2012). In 2020, he released his own cookbook, Good For You: Bold Flavors with Benefits (Chronicle Books, 2020). Good For You embodies Nawab’s passion for healthful, delicious cuisine, showcasing his trusted repertoire of wholesome recipes influenced by international flavors and refined by decades of professional training.