She was a smart kid with an aptitude for numbers, perhaps thanks to her mother, but more interesting than doing her homework was acting out. She led a troublemaker's life as a teenager: skipping class, smoking weed, and frequently came back home with feedback from her teachers that said if only Anika would apply herself, well... She did graduate on time for her senior year, after her parents sat her down, but Nika maintains that they never needed to. She understood how important senior year would be.
Even with how much Anil wanted her to go to college, it wasn't to be. Her summer job dishwashing at a tiny bistro ended up with her learning the ropes from a man she saw as a second father figure, a burly man whom the staff only ever called "Bald Bill". The argument she had with her father about college was a scar that only healed after Bald Bill's intervention, a conversation that nobody was privy to except the two men. Afterward, Nika's way of reaching out to her father was to ask him about cooking the authentic food he grew up eating. Food, in a way, was the effective language she'd learn.
She moved from dishwashing to line cook, and eventually left the bistro when it shut down. From the ages of 20-24, Nika spent her time working in other little places, including a year or so stint in a prestigious and 'hip' food truck at a time when food trucks weren't seen as particularly elite. And it wasn't. It wasn't a glamorous job, and she didn't make a lot of money, but it was fast and hard work and she understood how to make 60 burgers in under 15 minutes. Nika was used to the freedom of being able to travel in search of-- well, whatever she was doing, she still wasn't sure what that was --but it probably had something to do with food. She moved to Toronto at the age of 25, and spent the next three years at Chambar in Toronto. With another year working at Bent, before she came back to New York City.
At 28, Nika thought of herself as seasoned, but not particularly interested in cooking for the New York food scene. Money was never really the motivating factor in her lifestyle of never sleeping, of getting up way too early or partying way too late (as most chefs did), but she could admit something steadier sounded nice. She stayed at The Little Owl for three years, the longest time she's ever held down a job.
Parting ways with TLO, Nika had made a quiet name for herself as dependable, whipcrack sharp, and good under pressure, and spent some of her steady job earnings to buy a place in Brooklyn. She spent three months at Luksus, a Michelin star restaurant, and two months at Contra, the kind of places that were interesting to the palate and concerned with, in her words, "charred beets on smoking moss and shit". Despite her cavalier attitude, she learned a lot, and she's grateful for the experience -- even if she disagrees fundamentally with the philosophy of food there. In the last month, she's been working at Olmsted as a sous chef, including but not limited to: waking up at 4am to check farmers markets and feed the chickens, clocking into work at noon for prep, doing dinner service til 10pm, partying until 2am, and falling asleep at 3am. Rinse and fucking repeat.
works hard, parties harder (definitely a side effect of all those years as a chef). cliche in that regard: like other kitchen professionals, she's foul mouthed, a jokester, hates the idea of a 9-5 cubicle job and survives on a diet of liquid caffeine and cigarettes. has been known to indulge in weed or hard drugs (cocaine), but has seen a lot of addicts and burn-outs in her line of work, and tries to limit her use.
an extrovert to her core, but finds it difficult to show affection verbally; she's much more likely to flip somebody off than tell them they're important to her. she will, however, pull out all the stops for a breakfast where the food says that for her.
despite the fact most of her social circles are ones she knows off the clock, nika is extremely responsible and dedicated to her line of work. it's a seriousness that sort of flips a switch into the 'on' position, which is maybe why she lets loose with such intensity. she's never late, does everything to the best of her capability, and these are traits that surface in her friendships. if she makes a promise, she keeps it.
hasn't come out to her parents and has no wish to; she's independent of them. had a period where she was a serial cheater, but is trying to clamp down on her relationships, which is easy to do -- her work takes up a lot of her time.
I've long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we're talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime 'associates,' food, for me, has always been an adventure.
For a moment, or a second, the pinched expressions of the cynical, world-weary, throat-cutting, miserable bastards we've all had to become disappears, when we're confronted with something as simple as a plate of food.
is naturally left-handed, but trained herself through kitchen necessity to be ambidextrous
has many scars, burns, and even a broken bone from her line of work as a chef. she wears them with pride.
has incredibly terrible handwriting
often loses her phone after a night out, so either has her voicemail pre-programmed or leaves post-its on her friends doors. waking up and wondering who the fuck was knocking on your door at 3am last night, and then finding a post-it from nika, happens every once in a while.
father, anil tsering
67 years old, (still) an electrician in boston, ma.
mother, gretchen tsering
59 years old, now a math tutor for highschool students in boston, ma.
mentor, "bald bill"
real name billy hendrickson. first person to take a chance on her. surrogate father. the king.