Feeling of Belonging: Head Chef Jessica Masanotti on Food, Culture, and Community

By Julia Gamolina

Jessica Masanotti is a former private chef now serving as an Executive Chef in NYC. She is passionate about food, people, connection and that sweet spot in the middle when all three collide. In her interview with Julia Gamolina, Jessica talks about her “couch-to-Chef” journey in just a year-and-a-half, advising architects to focus on the flow of the spaces they create, and advising those just starting their careers to chase joy instead of financial gain.

JG: You studied graphic design and communications, and had a whole career track in these realms before pursuing a career as a chef. Tell me about what you learned the most in working in communications, and what you bring to your work now from these years.

JM: Yes! My degree was in Visual Communications from the University of South Carolina. For years, I worked to design pieces that could effectively communicate various messages through thoughtfully curated visuals. My designs couldn't be simply artistic and pretty, they had to be visually appealing and be able to communicate the message we wanted to convey. Similarly, I've found that in cooking and food in general, we first eat with our eyes. If a dish doesn't look appetizing, I want no part of it. As a chef, I strive to create dishes that are beautifully executed, cooked with love, and are thoughtfully edited down to create a feeling of belonging to the one eating. Food is simply food until we put our energy into creating and manipulating it.

Now tell me about your transition to becoming a chef! How cool!

My love for food and cooking began when I was twenty-two. What began as a beginner's interest in learning to cook more than just scrambled eggs and ramen from a packet, grew into a little “Julia-Julia” experiment of my own where I cooked a different recipe almost every day for six months. My interest became more of a beautiful obsession as I found myself reading cookbooks cover to cover like trashy romance novels. Any free moment, I was in the kitchen experimenting with recipes, eating any and all types of food, curating trip itineraries based on exciting restaurants and food experiences. I took all the cooking classes available in Charlotte, NC, from knife skills to pie baking to Southern classics and more.

I started documenting my food experiments on Instagram and became involved in all the food experiences I could find. I started putting myself out in the world as a home cook, hosting dinner parties, catering small scale events and attending Charlotte Food Blogger restaurant events. The more and more I did, the stronger I felt…in my bones…that I was meant to do this on a grander scale. I loved my career as a designer, but I had this deep rooted love growing inside of me for food, the culture and the community. I knew that I was designed to be a connector of people through food, and I wanted to start pursuing that passion on a grander scale.

Finally, I knew it was time. It was time to take the leap and risk it all to change careers and pursue cooking on a professional level. Sure, it might have been easier to take that leap in Charlotte, surrounded by our closest family and friends and our enormously supportive community. However I knew myself and knew that I wouldn’t jump “all in” with that safety net. I had always wanted to move to New York City, and I felt I might have an easier time getting into a restaurant as a line cook in a bigger city. I moved to NYC in May of 2020 with my husband at the time, and our daughter.

“As humans, we all long for connection. I want to be a connector for people, especially through food and conversation. I believe food can heal and a good meal can help build bridges.”

— Jessica Masanotti

How did you get to North Miznon and the Freckled Fork? What are you focused on these days in both roles?

With the pandemic and the catastrophic effect on the restaurant industry in particular, my dream of working in a restaurant was delayed for about a year. Finally in January 2021, I was hired as a private chef with Meal Prep Chef. Each week, I curated customized dinners and meal plans for five to six clients. One of my fellow Meal Prep Chef friends, Zikki, invited me to assist her catering event. We clicked and afterwards, she invited me to interview at the restaurant where she also worked.

I interviewed the very next week at North Miznon with the Head Chef and General Manager, and they invited me to join their kitchen as a line cook. I started in October 2021 with a notebook and sharpie in hand. I wrote down everything and soaked up all I could. I became overwhelmed with the feeling that my dream was slowly coming true. From my first day on the line, I battled. I showed up, I asked questions, I entrenched myself on the line to understand everything.

For six months, I worked hard and in April 2022, I was promoted to the full time position of Sous Chef. In May of 2023, I officially became Head Chef of North Miznon. With the full support of my family, friends, my kitchen team and my colleagues, I stepped up to the challenge of building on the wonderful foundation set before me and continued to grow North into a truly special place.

In September of 2023, we got the news that our restaurant group would close North Miznon, but only to bring in a new and highly anticipated Kosher concept to the Upper West Side, and they wanted me to be the Head Chef. So I went from no experience at all in 2021, to becoming a Head Chef in less than 2 years to now facilitating the opening of a brand new restaurant in less than 2 months. We had our official grand opening recently, and we are officially Malka.

Congratulations! Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you both manage through perceived disappointments or setbacks?

Becoming a chef at this stage in life has been incredibly happy and bittersweet for me. In all the happiness and validation, it meant my already limited time with my daughter and then-husband would be even less. It meant even harder work and higher stakes. With all of that, I knew I wanted and needed to keep pushing forward and further...peeling back layers of who I used to be to discover the woman I was meant to be.

Despite the many challenges and losses along the way, within my family and within myself — I literally broke my leg at the restaurant on my birthday and had to take a two-month hiatus — I somehow managed to grow stronger and more determined. Sometimes you have to burn shit to the ground in order for something new, something better to have space to grow.

My life looks very different than it did before 2020. My new normal consists of sixty-plus-hour-work-weeks at the restaurant as well as splitting time and graciously navigating co-parenting with my ex-husband, all while trying to be the best mother I can be to our eight-year-old daughter. My new normal is a beautiful mess and I am exactly where I was meant to be for this season of life. I see the woman I am becoming and I am really proud of her. I pinch myself every day when I think about this amazing journey of going from “couch to Chef” in a year and a half. My dream is being realized and I am incredibly grateful.

“You are the only you in the world and no one can do it like you can...Find your way to contribute to making this world and the people in it better than before.”

— Jessica Masanotti

What have you also learned in the last six months?

From the logistical side of managing people, payroll and schedules to the creative side of cooking through new menus, new dishes and more, I've learned so much and grown more confident in my ability to be Head Chef over the past six months.

On a personal level, I am learning how to better celebrate and advocate for myself. For the first time in eighteen years, I am single and navigating this life all by myself. The realities of being so far away from my family in the Carolinas and of not being able to celebrate any of these successes with "my person" leave me feeling a new type of way. I'm discovering these new feelings and emotions, and even though they aren't always pleasant, they are all part of my growth journey.

I hope when my daughter looks at me now or looks back and thinks of me when she’s older, she sees what passion, hard work and determination can get you in the midst of the seemingly impossible. That sometimes in life, we have to make choices and decisions that might not be popular, but in the end, are for the better. I am a mother. I am a co-parent. I am a chef. And hopefully, I am better.

What are you most excited about right now?

I am so excited about our new restaurant, Malka. Kosher cuisine is completely new to me and I've dived head first into the challenge of it all. I love cooking all kinds of food and a common goal of mine, no matter what I'm cooking, is for the food to be approachable, unpretentious and interesting. This is my new challenge with Kosher cuisine, I want to elevate Kosher cuisine and make it approachable and exciting for those who keep Kosher and especially for those who don't. We are trying to build a place where people can come and feel like they are dining in an extension of our home. I hope Malka can be a place where diners can come and for a moment, feel like they are seen, that they belong and have a place at our table in New York City.

Funny and ironic enough, I came to NYC from Charlotte, NC, and Charlotte is lovingly referred to as the Queen City, so it's apropos that "Malka" means "Queen" in Hebrew. A fun little full circle moment for me.

Who are you admiring now and why?

My dear friend and former Meal Prep Chef, Nicole Bassis, is buying and opening her dream restaurant in Andes, NY, with her husband Raoul. Together they will open a beautiful Finnish and Dutch spot with gorgeous pastries, traditional snacks and amazing food. I cannot wait to see their dream become a reality. I love seeing my friends take risks and pursue what they love.

What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?

As humans, we all long for connection. I want to be a connector for people, especially through food and conversation. I believe food can heal and a good meal can help build bridges. I want people to feel joy, to feel seen and known...whether that's through a meal I feed them or a simple interaction we have.

Whether it's in a restaurant setting like I'm currently in or in my future dreamscape of a running bed and breakfast with built-in food experience, I want to provide an escape in a beautiful setting where I feed people and connect them with the joy of a delicious impactful meal and engaging conversation that makes them feel their worth and value in this world.

It’s a good thing you’re now connected to our community of architects to help you with your future bed and breakfast. Speaking of which, since such a large part of our readership is the architecture community, tell me about the ideal space you'd love to have as a chef—- both for your kitchen and for your guests' experience.

I've been extremely lucky to have every professional kitchen I've worked in be an open kitchen. There's something so magical that happens when diners can sit at the bar and watch their food being prepared for them. You can interact with the chefs and see the effort, the love, the determination and intention that go into each step of their meal.

Similarly to what I said earlier about visual communications, a kitchen designed to just be pretty isn't going to work as well as a kitchen space that is both beautiful and optimally functional for efficient cooking. There's an intuitiveness that comes with cooking...does the flow of the space and components make sense with the normal steps of the cooking process...is there adequate and functional storage for the tools needed...and for visual learners like myself, is it also beautiful enough to inspire a sense of calm, curiosity and creativity? These are all necessities for creating an amazing meal.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?

Don't chase the money. Money doesn't bring happiness. Unfortunately in our world, it's a necessity, but it doesn't have to be the motivation. Alternatively, find what brings you joy. When you love what you do and it brings you joy, you will find a level of fulfillment that no amount of money can bring. There are most likely millions of people that can or already doing what you want to do. However, you are the only you in the world and no one can do it like you can. We are all individuals and unique and just like an arm can't be a foot, we all have our purpose and our specific contributions to this world that no one can replace. Find your way to contribute to making this world and the people in it better than before.

For women, specifically, it would be to think outside of the gender roles that we ourselves put on...it's entirely possible to be a "career woman" and be a mother and a wife. With the right kind of support and flexibility, "both" "and" are possibilities. We don't have to choose one over the other. And for the love of all womanhood, please stop with the judgement of each other's choices. If you want to stay at home with your children and not have a conventional job, all good! Motherhood is a hell of a job in the first place. If you want to work and not have children at all, it doesn't mean that you're missing out on anything. If you want to do both, fucking do it.

As women, we are only going to be good at whatever we choose to do if we are doing it with truth, authenticity and joy. And all three of those things come from within. If we are our best selves, we will be our best selves no matter what role we decide to take on. And for the love of Pete...we can fucking change our minds along the way. Whatever worked for us ten years ago may not work for us now and that is okay. It's called evolution and we should all strive to evolve and get better each and every day.