Redefining Mobile Dining

by Lucky Ahmed

How did you find your passion for cooking?

I come from a long line of people who... were cooking for large groups of people. I feel I’ve always been around that. When I was in elementary school we had to write a letter about who we wanted to be. My letter was [about] me wanting to be a chef. I don’t know why, but I always found them [chefs] very interesting. I was always watching Food Network for hours at a time—I chose that over cartoons. I would also love to watch my grandma cook for hours, and we had the best moments in our family when we gathered around the dinner table. People gathering around food has become embedded in who I am, how I grew up.

Do you think if you hadn’t been exposed to food in that way in your youth, you might be pursuing a different career now?

My passion for food, my passion for feeding people, has really helped me through a lot of challenges. There are kitchens where I can go and enrich myself in cooking, and in the food, the ingredients, the learning experience. I feel like there’s nothing else that I was ready to do other than this. So, I think I would be doing this either way.

I read on your website that you loved to do 30 minute recipes when you were young. What about the cooking did you enjoy?

I think the adrenaline that you get. I like challenges, like getting things done in a short amount of time. Organizing what you’re going to make, as well as moving at an urgent pace to execute something is really enticing to me. I just love that. Also, what I love is the idea of feeding people. Being able to bring people joy and love for food.

Did you see yourself opening a restaurant someday, or did you simply want to work in one?

I’ve always had the personality to want to do things my own way. I would always be the odd one out in class. Like, if something wasn’t done my way, I didn’t really want to do it. I was always interested in things, and challenging my teachers. I’ve never really seen myself working in a restaurant—I’ve always seen myself doing more than that...I know I want to create something that’s unique and different, and I want to be able to take the creative [path].

You said you love to challenge yourself. Do you think any challenge is possible, or are some impossible?

Personally, I think all challenges are possible. I think challenges are made to be overcome. I don’t think there’s anything that can be put in your way that you won’t be able to maneuver around… especially with the support of [those] around us. Since you’re an alumni from Food and Finance High School, how would you say your time at FFHS helped you prosper in this career?

In my time there, I [knew] two people who played a pivotal role, my chef instructor and my assistant principal. They were two people that took interest and took a liking to me and kind of helped me through my career. Through my journey at FFHS..they really molded me into the person I need to be to get to the next level.

What advice do you have for current students seeking to open their own business?

Good question! My advice is, do the research. Once you do the research, start reaching out to your community and ask for support from people who want to help. Also reach out to those who are doing something similar to you. You can ask for direct guidance and information, whether it be a mentorship or a new collaboration. Reach out to the people in your lane, and do something that you want to do.

Why did you decide on opening a mobile restaurant rather than a brick-andmortar?

I’ve always been a person who enjoys traveling. I enjoy the idea of being flexible with where I live, so the idea of a brickand-mortar never really sat well with me. I don’t see myself being in one state or city for five, 10 years. But [I decided on] the idea of doing a food truck because you can travel with it, you can go state to state and see different cities. I’ve always liked the idea of a dine-in restaurant experience, something elegant, intimate, and bring’s a grandma’s grandma’s house type of vibe. Combine fine dining and

Sunday dinners at grandma’s, but in a way where I can travel throughout the country... But then after I got injured in 2020...I really needed to figure out what to do. I felt this entrepreneurial urge that I wanted to pursue. After my injury, I realized a food truck wouldn’t really work for me because it isn’t accessible. So I decided to research accessibility options and...I came up with the idea to renovate a bus, because the MTA buses we ride [in NYC] already have a ramp built into them. I thought, “Why not take that? I’d take out all the chairs and we’d renovate it into a nice, intimate dining experience. That was my idea, and I feel like it hasn’t been done before. It’s really unique, and the industry could use something different that is valuable to people with different disabilities and mobility issues. I’d be able to cater to different areas of the country, and hopefully the world.

What’s your biggest inspiration?

Really taking your life circumstances and challenges, and turning them into positives, to not only uplift your own life, but to uplift and impact others. I think the biggest inspiration is to go through the trials and tribulations that altered your career [and set me on] a different trajectory. Since I suffer from a spinal cord injury, I feel like there’s not much space for me in the industry anymore. It always was a challenge for me to feel that I’m needed in the industry, to give them a Black woman who kinda doesn’t want to fit in the norms of what a chef looks like. I’ve always felt like an outcast, and now with my injury making me even more of one, it’s important for me to create a community and a space where I can be successful regardless of how mobile I am, or the way I’m speaking, or what color my skin is. All these things that matter to me, make me who I am.

What kind of message do you hope to communicate to people?

No goals are unattainable. Never let any circumstances dictate your life and the trajectory of your life and career. If something happens to you, or the path that you thought you wanted to go down isn’t the same, it’s not all over. Where I am now is where I chose to be, and where I’m dreaming of going is obtainable.

What would your younger self say about you if she were to meet you right now?

She would say that she’s happy I didn’t let my life circumstances make me a bad person, happy I’m still pursuing my dream to be a chef, happy that I didn’t change too much.

Going back to your business, what made you decide on selling African, Asian and Caribbean cuisine?

I would say my food is inspired by AfroAsian and Caribbean cuisine. I’m African American and the African diaspora is what I’ve grown to know, to love, and to eat. My grandma is from North Carolina, so we grew up on Southern food, Southern cooking, and Southern hospitality. That’s important to me to showcase and it’s an intricate part of who I am as a person. I also grew up in Queens, which is a melting pot of all different cultures, foods, and cuisines. Asian cultures are very, very prominent in Queens… I feel like if there was one part of the world I had to eat from for the rest of my life, I would choose Asian cuisines. My first professional restaurant job was at Morimoto, a Japanese fine dining restaurant, which taught me a lot about the force of ingredients, and how to great them in a meticulous way. It’s also in my soul for me to be able to pull from Asian cuisine, my mom is Chinese. I also realized that Caribbean food is from the African diaspora as well, so I pull from Africa and the Caribbean as far as the spices. I cook a lot of fish and vegetables, and I think Caribbean, Asian, and African cultures really work together.

Would you say it was ever hard for you to adjust to different restaurants and make different kinds of cuisine?

Well, it was different in [terms] of ingredients, but not so much in how to care for the food... Restaurants in general are different from home — different energy… different environment. I can honestly find my way in any environment. I can get used to the way things are. I told you before, I’ve always been a thinker and someone who wants to know why things are being done a certain way. A lot of times the restaurants just don’t have time to explain every detail to you… or… they have their tone, demeanor, or their delivery doesn’t work for me. That’s really the adjustment for me in restaurants— being able to swallow my pride, like about the way people are talking to me, or people yelling for things. As far as the culture of restaurants, it’s something I was used to, since I went to a culinary high school. It wasn’t too much of a culture shock.

How do you define success?

For me, career success means not giving up. When something isn’t working, maybe you go a different route, but you don’t lose sight of the idea. I feel like I’m successful when I push through any obstacle that comes my way. I don’t really feel it’s how much I have, or how much money I have.

Where do you see your business five years from now?

In five years, I hope to have at least two mobile restaurants, because I would like to be bicoastal... I really enjoy being in California, but [as someone] born and raised in Queens, New York is also very important to me. I want to be able to see people in multiple cities, for my business to be growing in multiple establishments... [I want to] create communities to be able to connect and grow, to feed off each other and help each other... In five years, I hope to have a cookbook, or my memoir, or some book that’s [a combination of the two]. In five years, I hope to have touched and changed and inspired many people.

Do you think you’d ever go international with this business?

I would love to go international. I would definitely want to go to Japan and Africa and learn more about the cultures, and the cuisines and ingredients they use. I also want to have some sort of Bed and Breakfast resort (not based in the U.S.) that highlights and emphasizes the importance of accessibility, and the importance of farm-to-table food. Of course, I would like to have another one here in the U.S. too, but it just seems like I would want to do that somewhere more tropical, somewhere the weather is often beautiful.

What Queens neighborhood is your go-to for good food?

Astoria/Long Island City, in that area. There’s a lot of street food and Greek food that I enjoy. There are also some Asian spots that I enjoy too.

You can follow Chef Lay Alston at @soulandwheel

Lay Alston is a celebrated chef born and raised in Queens, New York. She aspired to be a chef since the age of 8. Alston attended Food and Finance High School and Monroe College, where she joined the Culinary Competition Team. She worked in many restaurants in New York, such as Morimoto NYC and Cafe Boulud, before joining the Institute of Culinary Education as a chef instructor. Chef Lay is now developing her mobile restaurant concept, Soul&Wheel.