- Welcome to Atlanta, where the city's diversity is celebrated through its unique culinary landscape.

Today our talented SCAD students unite with award-winning culinary writer and SCAD grad Osayi Endolyn to enrich their senses at Forough Vakilis Le Bon Nosh Following an enjoyable meal, they'll visit Diamond Hill Farm to collect an array of florals that they'll bring back to the SCAD kitchen, where Chef Vakili will teach them how to create a signature dish from the first bite to the last.

We're discovering the soul of the city one dish at a time.

This is chefATL.

- So I'm a SCAD alum.

It's great to have you here with - Us.

How long has the been since you've been back in Atlanta?

- It's probably been over a year.

- Oh.

- But it always feels like home.

Since I lived here for so long, I've been in the world of food and culture storytelling.

Okay.

Traveling around a lot, meeting chefs and doing books and media projects.

It's been great.

- That's so cool.

- Yeah.

- I love that.

- I hear we are going to a restaurant called Le Bon Nosh, which I've not been to.

- You haven't.

So this is the first time and you're experiencing it with us.

It's the first time.

It's gonna be great.

It's gonna be - Great.

-You're gonna love Forough -Thank you - When I'm having a rough day, I'll have a guest stop me and tell me, look, I just wanna tell you how happy coming in here makes me.

And that just means the world to me.

This is, this is why I created it and it has a soul and an energy to it.

This is the medium that's bringing us together.

It's us as individual, our open hearts that are gathering and wanting to feel a connection with one another.

I could be pulling up to work and be all in my head and I open the door and I am immediately lifted.

How are you?

Nice to see you.

All right.

Bon Appetit everyone, - I think we should pass this crudité around.

Well, we enjoy.

Please do some conversation, - Start with that and then dig into everything else.

And there's more of everything.

So please help yourself.

It's called crudité on the menu, but I call it an organic garden.

It really is a bit of veggies that we get from the farmer's market and then we serve that with two dips.

One is the avocado, hummus, the green, and in the middle is our labneh that we spice with a dukkah mix that we make in house.

Let me know what you think.

- That is really delicious and it's so fresh.

You can really tell that these are in season if you were saying, and it's such an interesting dish 'cause like as we were talking, it really changes.

So I would love to like come back and see like how it changes some, right.

The different vegetables you can throughout the - Seasons.

Yeah.

- Very crunchy.

I didn't expect to have that much of a crunch.

I know that you mentioned earlier when we met that you had staying a longer time in the US than being in Iran.

What is it like keeping that connection that you have to your heritage and keeping true to it while being in this restaurant?

- Honestly, I think your heritage is not something that you ever lose.

It's in your blood, it's in your bones.

I feel like home is wherever you make it, right?

So for me, I now have my kids and my husband and that my, also my siblings that all live here.

So this is to an extent home.

We definitely still bring in a lot of our cultural touches to our home table, be it speaking to the kids on Farsi, be it having a Persian dish for dinner on a Sunday or on a Monday, or seeing the grandparents, at least from my husband's side.

All of that just makes this place feel as much as like home as it can be.

When I came - In it, it almost felt like I was getting a house tour.

It doesn't feel like a restaurant.

'cause like the fabric you use for the cushions or the pieces of art, you have hung up.

It just feel like I'm like in someone's house, like it's a housewarming party.

- No, that was that.

That's very intentional.

Like even down to the art, there's that piece of art over on that wall in, in the communal as side of the restaurant that was done by my daughter.

And if you really look closely, it's a, a collection of hearts.

And she said, you know, I feel like in this part of the restaurant, so many hearts are going to be coming together because it's, it's long tables and communal tables.

And, and she was like, I just thought that was appropriate.

I drew a bunch of hearts.

So yeah, all of it was very, very intentional.

Here I have made you an eggplant ratatouille, or as we like to say in Farsi, and this is layers of eggplant, tomato, potato, onion.

But again, that is a very close kin to a ratatouille that you could just add zucchini to and squash.

And then there you have ratatouille.

- Well, this ratatouille is, is gorgeous.

It is such a concentrated dish of flavor.

- Definitely this is something that you could have with root vegetables later on as seasons change.

But for me, this is something unique that I made for you guys to try, because again, we're talking about you getting a taste of really what's super dear and authentic to me.

Yes.

And so that's something that we at home a lot and I make it for my family, but only in the summer because that's when we get beautiful eggplants and tomatoes and Yeah.

That's, that's the only time you should have it - With me.

I'm, I'm from a Vietnamese household and our country's very agricultural.

Right.

And so we use a lot of like, of the vegetation depending on season.

And I love that you've made these dishes like almost customizable.

Like you can customize them to whatever season and that's just like, what a great use of like the nail nature in our world.

So it's amazing.

- Do you think that presentation and just the way that you go about it with, is it part more of like you being a host or more so also something that you take from your culture?

- No, I think it, that just has to do with me.

I have, I have a very deep passion for life and it, it has to come through in everything.

It's not necessarily a, a a huge moment that will create a, a lasting memory for you.

It's, it's little elements added together that will do that.

And sometimes it could just be one moment of realizing, you know, someone went through extra work to to, to make crackers from scratch.

For you, a hosting to me comes from genuinely wanting to create a memory for you and an experience for you and, and I put my heart into it and I feel like that love comes through in the full experience.

- So this duck confit is delicious You have, as you said, the lemongrass, carrot puree such a beautiful blend.

The carrot's kind of mute some of the brighter aspects of the lemongrass, but it's a great blend and there's just like a marmalade.

- It is, it's probably one of the very few things that isn't local is the kumquat.

We made them into a little jam and that's what goes on top of the duck.

That's great.

- Something that I find so interesting about these dishes is that it's, I can identify what it is.

I, I feel like I've had it before, but not quite - In that same - Composition maybe.

Yes.

It has something special about it, which is just, that's called love and heart.

I put into it.

I can feel the love, - Surprisingly.

I've never had duck before, but I really like how the skin goes from like being really soft and smooth into like to Very - Crispy.

- Yeah, very crispy.

Yeah, it's very textured.

Yes.

Which I actually really enjoy how you have done that transition like so Well.

- Thank you.

- I'm looking at these flowers here or these from the market as well.

- Yes.

You know, I source them local from a farm partner.

Diamond Hills, to me, fresh flowers means there's, there's life, there's passion on the table and we get them weekly.

And that's same as the food changes.

They grow flowers based on what's in the season.

And then we'll go through a phase in the winter where there are, there are no flowers to be harvested.

So yeah, that comes from a local farm.

I know some of you're still nibbling, but I thought to give you a taste of the cake while we're still here.

Let's do it.

- Can we acknowledge how beautiful the cake actually looks before we cut into it?

- This is a cardamom cake.

It's the closest thing I could come up with to my mother's recipe.

- It's really fluffy.

I love this.

- I think it's the perfect cake for tea in my mind.

Anytime I smell cardamom, I think of tea.

- I was gonna say, I definitely think me and Jonathan made eye contact and we were like, this is definitely for tea going with team because it's also so fragrant and I feel like it just pairs well with the right, the cardamom, the rose, all of that right.

Goes really well with tea.

- Forough this was delightful.

- Thank - You.

- What an outstanding meal.

Thank you for having us.

Of course.

- Thank you.

This was so amazing being in your space and your hosting skills are immaculate.

So that's inspired us to actually - Host you and come by scad.

I will be there with my apron knife and hand and we'll create something together.

Yeah.

- Yes.

I think I have a few ideas about what we can do.

- This majority of my inspiration and what really was at the core of creation of le Bon Nosh is from my childhood growing up on a farm, I always have fresh flowers in the restaurant.

I am a stickler from day one in my home.

There has to always be a fresh flower to me that that says that there's life and this is a home, it's not a house.

I think that fresh flowers at a table is such a huge part of that art, of hosting flowers have life to them and that is just adding more life to the tables.

I wanna be able to touch your different senses.

I want you to leave the restaurant and go home and say, you know, that was a good bite.

I call it the art of hosting.

And I, I used to use this term even when I didn't have a restaurant, when I would at home invite friends for dinner.

It was that I wanted them to have, like we said, a a holistic experience and that goes thinking about everything.

You know, I would think about, okay, what am I going to prepare so that when they arrive, I am not all frazzled.

There could be a ton of things going wrong, but I will stop and say hello to people that I know in the restaurant because it's, it's not for them to sense any of that.

It's for me to be able to still have a welcoming face on and process the rest of the things that are happening later.

But it's what I grew up knowing.

- Iranian culture is so celebrated for rituals around meals.

I mean, you think about Persian history.

- Yes.

- So much ornate presentation, a lot of symbolism in the food.

Yes.

You know?

So was that something that you were conscious of growing up or was it only after you left - Exactly.

Iran.

Exactly.

It was looking back - Yes.

- That you then it registered, I think back, one of probably my fondest memories is when we get ready for Persian new year, - Nowruz - Nowruz.

Exactly.

So for Nowruz we would literally take the entire house apart.

And when I, I mean it looked like you, you are moving to that extent.

You are going to welcome the new year and welcome all these guests to your home.

And with that comes preparation for food.

- Nru has so many treats and it does, and just little gifts and yes, there's just so much detail.

- Yes.

- And we should say too, that new year, the person new year is in the spring, so it really is ushering in the natures New Year.

The Natures new Year, which I feel like is the correct New Year.

Yes, I agree with you.

Yes.

So like being here in the United States, you came directly from Iran too to here in Atlanta?

- No, I lived in Vienna.

So I went from Iran to Vienna, Austria and lived there for six months, just about six months and then came directly to Atlanta.

- And your intention was - Education - And what were you - Studying?

Yes, chemical engineering.

Yeah.

- And your goal, what kind of future did you envision for yourself?

- Iranians, I always say have three job options.

You can be a doctor, a lawyer, and at the very least an engineer.

So I knew I don't wanna be a doctor.

Lawyer was kind of still up for debate and I said, well, chemical engineering, you can go into manufacturing of tons of different things and food specifically.

So that's what I will do.

- But that's not what happened.

- No, no.

- So what happened?

- I am not made to sit behind the desk and I wasn't having enough human interaction.

Oh my gosh.

My soul was just aching, talking for being around people.

I was sitting at home and looking at Yale, Yale Law School and looking at the application and at the same time I pulled up quote on Blue Paris's website and I looked at the program and I just turned to my husband and I said, wouldn't this be a dream come true if, if I one day went here?

So he looked at me and said, you know, you will get this law degree, you will put it on top of your engineering degree and you'll still be unhappy because you are not following what your heart is telling you to do.

Forget your family, forget what people are going to think.

Go do what you love to do.

And I never filled out that law school application.

I did the quote on blue application the following day and nine months later I packed up and moved to Paris.

- When you came back to the US was it clear for you what your next step would be?

- When I returned here I said, you know what, no matter how difficult it's going to be, I'm going to find the farmers that are local here.

I'm going to build relationships and that's who I want to get things from and cook with.

They were asking me, Hey, what are you going to have on your menu and what do you want us to grow for you?

And I said, no, nothing actually, I want you to tell me what you grow every season and I'll work that into my menu because that's how it should be.

I'll take what you have and create something with it.

- You said you wanted to build a multifaceted space where people were guests navigated it differently than a standard restaurant where you might be seated and have a server come to describe that space.

If you could walk us through, what am I gonna find when I walk in?

Yes.

- Yeah.

I wanted you to walk in and be greeted by smells.

What's straight in front of you is what we call a demo kitchen.

It's where I do cooking classes, but it is wrapped with a case that we do present a lot of our food in.

I kind of built it so that it is a communal casual side and then there is a more one-on-one intimate space.

I know that restaurants these days have massive bars and I said, I really don't want that.

I, I want the bar to be beautiful.

I also want it to be very feminine.

I bars are typically very masculine.

I have a piece of art in the restaurant, which I specifically went for that piece because it's a puzzle piece.

What is very, very symbolic about that piece for me is that my life, it was always a puzzle.

I always was wondering what, where am I gonna end up?

What am I gonna do?

Like I had tons and tons of questions and I feel like opening La Bon Nosh was kind of, that puzzle got completed.

I mean, I know now I have a lot of questions about where, where I'm going next, but I look at that painting and I, it reminds me of, of the journey and the - Arrival, how far - You've come.

Yes.

- Wonderful.

All right.

Are you ready for some rapid fire questions?

Let's go.

Lavender or saffron.

- You know the answer.

You do seen my curtains with the saffron.

- I I do.

We're just mad about saffron fruits or veggies?

- I think veggies.

- Yeah.

Like more savory options.

- Yes.

- Yeah, I'm with you on that.

Cardamom cake or creme brulee.

- Ooh, okay.

Really depends on what I am drinking.

If it is a cup of tea, cardamom cake every day.

But if it is a glass of wine or if it is a coffee, then creme brulee - Roses or daisies.

- Daisies.

- Really?

Yeah.

Huh.

I would not have thought.

Shout out to the daisies.

Yeah.

Cooking class or dinner - Party cooking class.

I love cooking classes.

Yeah.

- So you described Le Bon Nosh as being the space where you foster community, you are educating, you're celebrating.

What does the actual definition of Le Bon Nosh mean?

- It translates to the good bite.

Le Bon being French and then Nosh is Yiddish.

We and Farsi, when somebody eats something and they say thank you, or when you put food in front of someone, like in French you have bon appetit We have Noosh e jan, - Just briefly about what the good bite means to you philosophically in your space.

- Yeah.

I think the good bite goes, goes beyond just the food and it translates to me as, as an entire experience.

You know, I want you to leave the restaurant and leave one of the tables and feel like you ate at my dining room table and you were in a, a warm space that felt like more like a home than it did a commercial space.

So yeah, it's been a journey of educating, but it has registered and I, I have seen so often people saying when I eat this food I just know that I'm doing something good for my body and that means the world.

Wow.

Team, I am so impressed with everything you've done here.

I of course just from the get go recognize the flowers and I know where you went.

All right.

So are you ready to learn my very favorite childhood dish?

- Yes.

Let's go for it.

- Very excited.

Where I come from, we call this baladi and baladi means just layers and layers of ingredients being put together.

So here we have Persian ratatouille.

One of the things about this dish is that you can get it going while you're also prepping.

So just when you cook, think about what is it that's going to take the longest.

Let's get started on that first.

Pour me, it's on olive oil.

I'll tell you when - As a student, do you think it's like easy to like find a farmer's market near you?

Like a fun activity that you did with your roommates or like, - I didn't source at farmer's markets when I was at Oh you didn't?

No, when I was at school just because I was so bombarded with schoolwork that now in retrospect then looking back, I would say that take a break actually do go to the farmer's market.

Yeah.

You know, make it something that you'll spend your Saturday morning having a coffee if you can, you know, it'll just create a little bit of diversity in your day.

I always like having a bowl to use for the trimmings.

Exactly.

So this is what we would call mis on past, right?

Getting every single one of your ingredients in order and having all of your prep work done.

Having your station perfectly clean.

We do this to organize ourselves and get ourselves really prepared for what's about to come.

- And where specifically did you learn to like have that practice to like have everything laid out like - That?

It's a part of your training when you're going to culinary school.

But also if you've never gone to culinary school, any chef that you walk into their kitchen, we'll make sure you know to do that.

Gotcha.

So it's not really necessary to get everything cooked all the way through because it will cook later as we put everything together.

So this is just adding a bit more flavor to the dish.

As we're doing this, we'll add the onions too.

So these rings are gonna break and that's perfectly fine.

One of the necessary things to do if you're trying to speed up the process, is to add salt that will pull out some of that liquid from the onion and help it soften faster.

We're going to start assembling our dish.

Are you - Ready?

Yes.

- Yes.

Okay.

I know I said I won't do any more oil but just a touch here.

But I always love to start with a touch of the caramelized onion.

So let's go and add a touch of this and then here is our eggplant.

And we're going to do really don't get too caught up on how perfect this looks because it's going to all cook down, it's going to kind of melt into each other.

Next.

I like to add, I'll do a tomato i'll, I'll actually tuck in some potatoes here and there too.

Now the reason that I actually transferred everything and created it in this because it becomes a much more beautiful visual dish.

When you bring this to the table, you lift off that, lift up the lid, and also it kind of becomes an individual size.

- 'cause that tomato will shrink down.

- Exactly.

That tomato will shrink down.

And now we're going to do another round of seasoning.

Do you have a preference on like how spicy - You like - It?

I, I do like spicy food and this actually, I like it a touch spicy so that it, not that it burns your mouth but you feel it that the, the end of your palette and we'll do our saffron last.

That's so fancy.

So very fancy.

All right, so you see as I said, we'll go slow on our spices so that we can get them.

Now you - Hear it bubbling, - All of the veggies still have a ton of water in them.

So you want that, you wanna relieve room for that to release as well.

So you close, close this.

Give yourself a couple minutes and then lower the heat and then leave it alone.

Awesome.

Yep.

Okay.

Are we ready to taste very much?

- Oh wow.

That looks so good.

How can you not, how can you say no to that?

Sweet.

- It's so nice seeing the final products and knowing how to make it now when you break it down it looks really achievable.

It's very achievable.

- Yeah.

Not - Only that, it also look, it's so shareable and like it's perfect for hosting.

- This dish is always one of those things that you might think you've seasoned it enough but you, you almost always need, always you will need a touch of salt.

So don't feel bad to add a bit of salt and see what you think.

- Wow.

The bread dipping really changes everything.

It's so good.

- Hmm.

Yeah.

I see why you said that.

You eat more than you expect.

'cause it's a very light meal.

It's very light.

Yes, exactly.

But like it's still filling - Us.

Hosting you.

I think you allowing us to be able to make this dish and see the process really brings that idea of like hosting and gathering.

- Yeah.

- And like to community together.

- Yeah.

Thank you far for thanks for sharing your story.

It's been a really beautiful time.

Even though this comes from an experience that is many miles away from where we are.

- Yes.

- These are all ingredients that are readily available here and that narrows the gap I think between a lot of our story.

It - Makes us absolutely.

It makes us all one really it brings, brings us much closer.

You so much.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

No, thank you.

- It's great - To keep the plants clean and the water to last longer.

So how do you know so much bot here?

I think it's also important to add like the ones that are like more and less.

Yes.

Yeah, I was just thinking about that.

Let's try that.

That ones so I love one.

Sorry.

I think we should add more than one yellow flower.

Like all of together.

The ones, - Oh, look at this one.

Oh, it looks like a worm - That looks so professional.