Behind the Scenes with Luisa Caicedo

Colombian native Luisa Caicedo knew she wanted to be in the food business at a young age, cooking alongside her grandparents and mother on her family's farm. 

An ICE graduate of the Culinary Arts career program, Chef Luisa has traveled the world, working at restaurants including Vong Kitchen in Jakarta, Indonesia and Mondoux in Dubai. Now the Executive Chef of Cédric Vongerichten's Wayan restaurant in New York City's Soho neighborhood, she serves up creative Indonesian dishes using French techniques.

At Wayan, you’ll find satays like scallops with chiltepin butter and pork with pickled radish, while small plates include octopus a la plancha with roasted fennel and escargot rendang with toasted brioche. You'll find roasted cauliflower with coconut curry, crispy pork ribs with soy-tamarind glaze and lobster noodles with black pepper butter and Thai basil under large plates. Wayan's signature dishes include Dungeness crab with sauce pandang and a 32-ounce dry-aged rib eye with roasted shishitos, bell pepper purée and sambal hijau.

This summer, Chef Luisa helped open up Wayan’s sister concept, Ma•dé. The term for “second born” in Balinese, Ma•dé’s menu draws inspiration from Bali, and is focused on fresh seafood and vegetables. Currently on the menu, you’ll find lobster dumplings with caviar sauce, mussels with sauce poulette, furikake and salsa matcha; and New Zealand trout with ginger flower and mentaiko-garlic toast.

We stopped by Wayan for a pre-shift catch-up with Chef Luisa. See what inspires her and where she’s headed in the video below.

More from Chef Luisa: ICE's International Women’s Month Panel