ICE Graduate Brings Turkish Breakfast to New York’s Hudson Valley
Cheeses, pastries and Turkish coffee are among the many delights at Nilüfer's Home Kitchen.
Hudson Valley residents and NYC weekenders now have a place to experience a full Turkish Breakfast in Beacon, New York. They must, however, sit down to enjoy it.
That’s because Nilüfer’s Home Kitchen, the cozy Turkish restaurant owned by Institute of Culinary Education graduate Nilüfer Goodson, doesn’t serve the tea part of Turkish breakfast to-go.
“Turkish tea is meant to be drunk in a glass,” Chef Nilüfer says. “If you put it in a paper cup, it changes the flavor, texture, everything. People are asking if they can take the tea to go, and I say ‘no.’”
For Chef Nilüfer, who got her start working as a waitress in the casinos of Istanbul, and who would eventually work across Afghani fine dining and restaurants serving wood-fired pizza, these exacting standards have been present throughout her culinary career.
It was in New York City, however, that Chef Nilüfer hit her stride. Her confidence, both in the English language she had come to the U.S. to learn and in her decision to make cooking her career, was rising. Unfortunately, not everyone saw that career’s potential.
She remembers her family asking if she could pursue any other career. Their skepticism, according to Chef Nilüfer, wasn’t unfounded.
“[In Turkey,]” she says, “this job — being a chef — was just a man’s job.”
There was one person, though, who believed in her. Contemplating the merits of two distinct life paths — the first, attending ICE’s Culinary Arts program; the second, accepting a sizable scholarship to attend Pratt Institute’s fine arts program — Chef Nilüfer asked her mother-in-law for advice. Her mother-in-law, in turn, asked her whether she liked cooking or making art best.
“'You like to do both, but with one you can actually make money,'" Chef Nilüfer remembers her mother-in-law saying. "'And the other… maybe your art will be worth something after you die.'"
It was the assurance Chef Nilüfer needed. She enrolled at ICE and threw herself into her studies, quickly bonding with her Chef-Instructors and embracing every aspect of culinary student life.
“ICE was… the best thing I did in my life,” she says. “I never wanted my schooling to finish. If I could have continued in school forever, I would have.”
While studying, Chef Nilüfer worked in unique cooking environments, including as a private chef for Park Avenue families and in the famous Bloomingdale’s department store restaurant. As Head Chef at Beacon Natural Market in upstate New York, she gained unique insights into prepared foods and planted the geographic seed for what would become Nilüfer’s Home Kitchen.
But the home of her youth beckoned — as it does for many expats — so she packed up her life and returned to Turkey. She soon landed the role of Head Executive Chef for the Divan Hotel Group, a major player in the Middle East’s hospitality scene. As far as homecomings go, it was a bold reentry.
“[They] had interviewed seven men before me,” Chef Nilüfer says, “and they asked me to cook for them, like four courses.”
Upon tasting her dishes, the management team hired her on the spot. As the first ever Turkish female executive chef in the country, the publicity that accompanied the announcement of her hiring caused a stir, and she thrived in the role.
Years later, the familiar beckoning of a home elsewhere returned. This time, that beckoning came from Beacon, NY.
I cannot even describe how helpful ICE was for me.
She thus returned to upstate New York, and after a brief stint working once more at Beacon Natural Gourmet, opened Nilüfer’s Home Kitchen. The experience was illuminating. Applying for loans; creating a business plan; accommodating various town, county and state rules—they were daunting to the first-time restaurateur.
“That was the most surprising part,” she says. “I always thought, 'It’ll be easy, I have so much experience, what could be that hard?’”
Still, Chef Nilüfer persisted, and her restaurant has since become a beloved destination for Turkish bread and pastry fans far and wide. It also inspired Chef Nilüfer’s burgeoning private chef business and planted the seed of opening a second, more formal restaurant.
Ultimately, she credits her time at ICE and the adrenaline of actually working in kitchens for her success.
“I cannot even describe how helpful ICE was for me,” she says. “It's not just about getting the diploma, it's getting the experience, it’s meeting different people, different chefs. And that atmosphere–it gives you confidence, you know? Like ‘Yes, I can do it.’"
To the aspiring chef, Chef Nilüfer offers two important pieces of advice. First, start out washing dishes.
“Do every job in the restaurant, because then you know how the people doing that job feel... You have to do every job, A to Z," she says.
Second, work in an array of different businesses.
“Don’t just get stuck in one place," Chef Nilüfer says. "Every chef has their own style. There’s not just one way to do something.”
And of course, don’t give up.
“Our job is a very hard job, but it’s fun, too,” she says.
