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[ABOVE] Emily & Alon Shaya at the 2015 James
Beard Awards in Chicago, IL.
[LEFT] Machane Yehuda
with 16 other people last summer, then
back again in October. What is the food
scene like in Israel?
ALON: Restaurants are a new thing in
Israel. It was falafel and shwarma stands in
the sixties and seventies; restaurants didn’t
really start popping up until the eighties.
Even now Israel’s restaurant scene is kind
of like 20 years ago in America.
EMILY: You get a lot of late night street food
there too. On our last trip, we all went to
eat and drink at the Machane Yehuda in
Jersualem one night. Machane Yehuda has
been around forever. It’s a market during
the day with all of these fresh produce and
meats and cheese stands, they even have
cooking workshops, but at night all these
great bars and restaurants open up.
COURNTEY: There have been terrorist
attacks there, talk to me about that.
EMILY: Israel is really similar to New
Orleans in that even when there are crazy
things going on, people still go out and
enjoy themselves. So even though things
were a little tense there, there were tons of
people at the market.
COURTNEY: That’s a good thing. Emily, I’m
curious about being married to a chef, one
with a lot of celebrity and accomplishment,
what’s your take on food?
EMILY: I would say I was an amateur
foodie before I met Alon and now I have
my graduate degree. I’ve honed my kitchen
skills.
ALON: She makes the best red beans and
rice you will ever have. Better than any other
red beans and rice I’ve ever had in my entire
life.(Find the recipe at )
COURTNEY: Is that going to make it on a
menu at some point?
ALON: Maybe. And it’s a Monday, so she’s
probably got her beans soaking right now
for beans tonight.
EMILY: I went back to Georgia for a year and
I missed New Orleans so much so I started
cooking red beans. When we got married,
I decided I was going to start that New
Orleans tradition in our have 4-20
people over every Monday. I get the Chisesi
ham shank and beans and rice and sausage
and everything else at Rouses on Sunday.
ALON: It’s an open invitation sort of thing.
Monday’s we’re Prêt á Fête.
EMILY: Prêt á Fête means “ready to party.”
That’s the name of my business, too. We
rent antiques and unique furniture and
accessories.
ALON: On Mondays she sets up the room
in a really gorgeous way — it’s always a
big beautiful display — and we sit around
with our friends and eat red beans and rice.
Emily is also in charge of the music.
EMILY:We have a record player now, and we
have old country music like Loretta Lynn
and Emmylou Harris. That’s good cooking
and entertaining music for us.
COURTNEY: I think people are interested in
what you do in your private life with food,
how you cook at home, especially since you
have both become so entrenched in the
New Orleans culture and lifestyle.
ALON: Our relationship has kind of
followed New Orleans as it’s been rebuilt.
We lived in the French Quarter and then
Bayou St.John. Emily introduced me to
Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. She took me
to an Allen Toussaint concert with the
Philharmonic when we first started dating.
She was really my tour guide into New
Orleans culture and still is …
COURTNEY: Emily, do you have a favorite
thing for Alon to cook for you?
EMILY: He’s never cooked me the same
thing twice. Like, he’ll do fried rice but
with different things in it every time.
ALON: I have a hard time cooking for two
people. I tend to make food for probably 12
every time and people will always be really
happy when you give them food to eat so we
feed our neighbors and stuff like that.
COURTNEY: Emily, what’s your favorite
thing to eat at Shaya?
EMILY: They just added this new brisket ...
ALON: Bastilla.
EMILY: It’s like a brisket in a crispy phyllo
wrapper and it’s crazy good. It has carrots…
ALON: And raisins and almonds.
COURTNEY: Let’s talk for a minute about
winning the James Beard Award, Best Chef
South. You were nominated three times
before you won.What’s it like for the two of
you to go to the ceremony?
EMILY: The awards are on a Monday night
— the Monday after Jazz Fest, so he’s always
coming off a crazy restaurant week in New
Orleans. But it’s always fun.
ALON: We stick around for three days and
plan a bunch of meals around the parties.
EMILY: It’s great to see all the chefs and
culinary people from all over, friends from
food festivals, food writers from all over the
country.
COURTNEY: Is it intimidating at all?
ALON: The first year was very intimidating
because you’re at a cocktail party and
ISRAEL