How it all happened

My name is Lulu. I grew up in Lebanon and studied architecture, earning a post grad degree as an architect. After interning with architecture firm Thomas Heatherwick and then moving back to Lebanon. I worked on interior fit outs while freelancing on multiple renovation projects.

In 2017, I called it quits! with architecture and went on to follow my passion.

My grandfather and his sons owned one of the oldest institutions in Lebanon called La Cigale. Following the ‘trend’ today, La Cigale would be called La Cigale Market because it had a grocery store, a chocolate shop, a catering booth, a full on French patisserie/bakery, a selection of cheese, an ice cream stand, a few restaurants, a venue, a hotel and a bar.

During my teenage years, I used to hang out at my grandfather’s shop and probably tried everything my eye could catch. I used to also sneak into the kitchen and watch how everyone operated. At that age, it was so exciting.

Fast forward x years later after quitting my initial career in architecture, I decided to get into my father’s business. I felt it wasn’t enough to learn, so I moved to New York to study Culinary arts and Hospitality Management.

After graduation, I worked at Cosme NYC and it’s sister restaurant ATLA. I was drawn by how the restaurant transformed Mexican deliciousness into contemporary fine dining. The kitchen was led by powerful women so I was able to learn from the best! Chef Daniela Soto-Innes.

The covid pandemic put everything to shits. NYC was a ghost town. Everything closed. So I decided to work at Rethink Food, a non-profit that caters to food insecurities.

I left New York soon after the second lockdown happened and moved to Washington DC to work alongside Chef Michael Rafidi at his gem of a restaurant, Albi (which is ‘my heart’ in arabic). It has a wood fire oven and a beautiful hearth ❤️‍🔥. The restaurant was home away from home (home being Lebanon if you didn’t get that yet, lol). I wanted to learn more about my heritage and my own food culture. Chef Rafidi transformed middle eastern food into an elevated culinary experience.

AANND now, here we are! trying to make Lul’s come together!

Cheers xx