Chef Niven Patel and Mohamed Alkassar Had a Productive Pandemic

Mamey, which opened in August 2020, is an island-inspired eatery, with menu items like Jamaican short rib empanadas, Key West pink shrimp taquitos and key lime cheesecake flan. Orno, which opened in October 2021, focuses on New American cuisine; think wood-roasted summer squash, grass-fed ribeye and Alaskan halibut.

The seemingly disparate menus have something in common. Both feature ingredients from Niven’s two-acre Homestead farm, Rancho Patel.

In this conversation, Niven and his business partner Mohamed Alkassar chat with Dalia about which vegetables are worth growing yourself and which are better to buy, how to create a restaurant that appeals to both locals and tourists, and why okra is underrated. The guys also lament a precious menu item that's gone missing, and Dalia speculates that their clam dealer may be up to no good.

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