Meet Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja

Restaurant: Shuka/Shukette in New York City 

Niman Ranch Products: Beef 

Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja likes to say that she was born into a house of food. “My house was the original cast of “Chopped,” she laughs. “My dad was a chef and my mother is the greatest cook I know, and they would battle it out at the stove. I didn’t grow up knowing how to cook, but I definitely grew up knowing how to eat.” 

When she reached young adulthood, she realized not knowing how to make her own meals was a problem, so she started watching Lidia Bastianich on PBS. Nurdjaja was destined for the practice of law, but, inspired by Bastianich and her “grandmother hands,” she postponed her first year of law school to instead enroll in culinary school. And were her parents happy with the choice? “They were the least excited they’ve ever been,” Nurdjaja says, but adds that they eventually came around. 

Nurdjaja was able to spend time in Bastianich’s kitchen at Felidia while she was in culinary school, and that cemented her desire to be a chef. “I was in this kitchen and watching the symphony of pots and pans and five people on the line working together to produce these beautiful, gorgeous dishes, and I knew I had to be a part of it,” she says. 

At Shuka and Shukette, the focus is on Eastern Mediterranean food with a local and sustainable ethos, and the atmospheres in both places are, like the chef herself, high energy. “It’s like a Middle Eastern feast party,” says Nurdjaja. “You walk through the door and the music is loud, the food is delicious ,and you feel like you’re walking in on someone else’s party, but by the time you leave, you feel like the party was your own.” 

When Nurdjaja started with Shuka, she told her purveyor she didn’t want to buy commodity meats. The rep told her about Niman Ranch. She felt that Niman Ranch’s principles were in alignment with hers, but she insisted on tasting the beef. “That’s definitely a driving factor for me. It has to be delicious,” she says. Niman Ranch met her quality standards. 

She appreciates Niman Ranch’s focus on sustainable and humane practices, and the fact that hormones and antibiotics aren’t part of the protocol. “To be honest, you can taste it in the meat,” she says. 

The menus at Shuka and Shukette change regularly, but Nurdjaja keeps the kebabs, which use sirloin flap, as a constant. “We cut the steak for kebabs and it’s very juicy and there’s marbling to it,” she says. “But I just love how each individual piece retains its flavor.” 

Nurdjaja says both Shuka and Shukette are integral parts of their respective neighborhoods and communities. “People can eat there on a first date or solo at the bar, you can take your in-laws there, you can celebrate your birthday. They’re real neighborhood restaurants.”