Mikaela figured out early that food is art, and Silk is where she gets to prove it. She runs the savory side of the kitchen with the creative freedom to make a plate look as good as it tastes, and she is not interested in choosing between the two. That is most of the job, and it is the part she would do for free.

Ask her for a favorite dish and she will not give you one. There is too much good food in the world to name a winner, and picking one would mean closing a door on everything else. What she will tell you is why she does this at all: food is culture, and culture is how people end up at the same table who otherwise would not be. She got that from Anthony Bourdain, whose curiosity set the standard, and, fairly, from Princess Tiana, who made the same point with better songs.