NOCHI chefs Gael Moya (left), Jordan Jones, Ciera Turbinton, Marita Blevins, Nick Valentino, Olin Gasper and Nathalie Clerone created Yatai.
Photo by Will Coviello
Every graduating class of chefs at the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI) creates a pop-up restaurant at the school near Harmony Circle. Ciera Turbinton, Marita Blevins and Jordan Jones are on the team that created Yatai, a Japanese street food concept serving a menu of skewered shrimp, udon noodles, chicken katsu and more. The pop-up is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday Nov. 10-13 & 17-20 and Dec. 1-4 & 8-11. Visit nochi.org/yatai for the full menu and reservations.
Gambit: How did you get interested in cooking and NOCHI?
Marita Blevins: I started cooking as a kid. When I was 10 years old, my parents would let me do whatever I wanted in the kitchen. I would come home from school and watch the Food Network and take recipes from there and play around. One of the first meals I ever made for my parents was a Cajun chicken Alfredo.
I originally went into accounting. But after eight years, I decided to switch and start over. I just moved here in April. I am originally from Florida.
Jordan Jones: Cooking has always been a big thing in my family. If you asked who’s the best cook in my family, I’d probably tell you my dad. We will sit down and watch the cooking shows.
Me and my dad sat down and he asked me “What do you want to do after high school?”
I didn’t want to go to college. That wasn’t my thing. I told him I wanted to go into cooking. He said, “I know a school. We can look into it.”
I came here straight out of high school. My high school had a culinary program. We made simple stuff like biscuits and king cake.
I worked at a couple restaurants. My first job was at Southerns in Metairie. After I came here, I worked at Morrow’s for a little bit. Now I am working part-time at La Petite Grocery. I am the pastry chef. We bake cookies, and one of my cookies is on the menu. It’s an oat white chocolate chip cookie.
Ciera Turbinton: I am born and raised in New Orleans. I grew up in the kitchen. My mom is the best cook in my family. I took the role of best hair stylist. I was the family hair stylist. I graduated from Paul Mitchell.
I decided to pivot. My mom would give me her clients. I was like if she trusts me to do what she can do, I can do this. I decided to trust myself more in the kitchen and sharpen my edges by coming to culinary school.
To get my feet wet, I worked at Li’l Dizzy’s on the weekends. It gave me experience. I had never been in a commercial kitchen.
Right now, I am working at Commander’s Palace. I am in garde-manger. I am on hot apps. I do shrimp and tasso, escargot, which has a lot of components, and we have a tasting that is a play on an oyster po-boy. That’s really interesting. They are trying me at different stations.
I would like to build a legacy for my family and pass it on to my kids some day.
Gambit: How did you come up with the Yatai concept?
Blevins: Jordan was really excited about Japan from the moment we discussed what our options were.
Jones: I love Japanese culture. Since I was a kid. I watched a lot of anime, I read a lot of manga.
There aren’t a lot of straight Japanese spots (in New Orleans). If there is, it’s fusion with something from here, like Cajun and Creole. There’s not a lot of traditional Japanese food.
Turbinton: We agreed we were going to do something from Japan, but we narrowed it down to one region.
Blevins: We identified a hole in the New Orleans market. There’s a lot of sushi, but not a lot of Japanese street food.
Turbinton: As far as the name, it resonated with what NOCHI has given us an opportunity to do with a pop-up. Yatai is a pop-up station in Japan. It’s like a wooden cart. They set up barstools.
Gambit: What’s on the menu?
Blevins: The majority of the menu are the heavy hitters in Osaka street food.
Turbinton: We all pitched ideas from our favorite dishes and restaurants. I remember a restaurant from when I lived in Las Vegas, and they had yakitori grills. They would cook in front of you. I loved that. NOCHI was able to provide the grills.
We have shrimp yakitori. We are going to marinate them and put them on skewers. It’s an appetizer.
Blevins: A couple other items are the okonomiyaki and takoyaki. Okonomiyaki is like a cabbage pancake and it’ll have a protein on top. The cabbage is shredded and mixed into batter with green onions. The takoyaki are crispy octopus balls.
Turbinton: We are vegetarian friendly. We want to include everyone. The menu is pretty customizable.
Jones: We have people that are vegan. I want everyone to enjoy it.
Blevins: We have a kitsune udon with a dashi broth, udon noodles and a protein. Or it could be vegan or vegetarian.
Turbinton: We have tofu, chicken katsu and chashu pork and shrimp.
Jones: We are doing a matcha white chocolate chip cookie. We also are testing a chocolate mochi cake and a yuzu tart and an ice cream sandwich.
Turbinton: We hope we can have red lanterns which are traditional with yatai carts. That adds to the atmosphere. We have cool curtain on the door from Japan.
AloJapan.com