Raheem Sealey shares his approach to menu innovation at Kyu

Raheem Sealey is the corporate chef of Kyu Restaurant, which has locations in Las Vegas, Miami, and New York City. Sealey is based in Miami, where he moved from the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix in 2009. He attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and worked in a variety of restaurants, including Caribbean concept Sugarcane and Zuma, which offers modern Japanese food in a stylish setting, as well as Pao by Paul Qui, which, similar in a way to Kyu, also offers Asian-inspired cuisine from a wood-fired grill. He eventually landed at Kyu in 2016 as a sous chef, and has been there ever since. There, Sealey offers items like smoked brisket rubbed with a shichimi pepper-based spice mix and served as a lettuce wrap, yakiniku baby back ribs, and whole roasted cauliflower in green chile vinaigrette.Sealey discussed his menu development process and shared that the restaurants will soon have a crispy duck salad and a grilled pork chop with sweet chile sauce and smoked eggplant relish. He also shared a trick for catering to customers who don’t like cilantro.