Meet Nebi and Lindsay Berhane | Chefs/Owners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nebi and Lindsay Berhane and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nebi and Lindsay, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
​Sugar Loaf is the manifestation of a long time dream of ours since we first met. We met while working as professional dancers, and have since been honing our skills as culinary professionals in kitchens throughout Atlanta, Chicago and New York. ​We both have a close connection to the food of our cultural heritages (Ethiopian and Albanian) from cooking alongside our moms growing up. While traveling as professional dancers, we were exposed to a variety of street food around the world, and took a lot of inspiration from that as well. Nebi was raised in Georgia and Lindsay in Virginia, so that is why our food is southern inspired with a global influence. The name of our business was inspired by the street Lindsay grew up on in Virginia, Sugar Loaf Court.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Nebi worked as a professional dancer for over 20 years. In between doing shows, he supported himself by working in various kitchens, ranging from assistant pit master at Honkey Tonk BBQ in Chicago, to baker at Levain Bakery in New York City, and even a short stint as a Japanese robatayaki chef at Robataya in New York’s East Village. Learning about and experimenting with flavors felt familiar, almost like dancing to a favorite song. Aging as a dancer and having to constantly evolve really helped prepare him for being a business owner.

Lindsay also worked as a professional dancer for over 20 years. Throughout her dance career, she worked in kitchens as a pastry chef to support herself financially and fuel her creativity. Her culinary career started at Molly’s Cupcakes in Chicago working as a cupcake decorator. She then went on to work as sous pastry chef at The Bristol in Chicago, and later as the head pastry chef at Molly’s Cupcakes in NYC. She had the honor of running a non-profit community cooking school with Peterson Garden Project in Chicago, where she gained a wide range of knowledge from the diverse instructors she worked with. Her professional culinary career has been a practice in following her passions down whatever road they take her, and adapting to new environments constantly.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would absolutely have to take them to Buford Highway, for obvious reasons. If you’re from Atlanta, you know you pretty much have to drive to get anywhere. That being said, we’d create a tasting crawl of sorts, going to to as many different neighborhoods as possible, hopefully catching a pop-up or two along the way. We’d also have to hit up a few of the great farmer’s markets throughout the city, and spend some time outdoors enjoying our favorite parks, such as Freedom Park, the Beltline, Grant Park, or Piedmont Park.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would both like to give a shoutout to our moms, for teaching us that feeding someone is one of the purest acts of love.

Website: sugarloafatl.com

Instagram: @sugarloafatl

Facebook: @sugarloafatl

Image Credits
Max Shirley John Justiniano Ryan Bourque Lindsay and Nebi Berhane