Aisha Ibrahim

The highlight of my first meal at storied Seattle restaurant Canlis under chef Aisha Ibrahim’s leadership was a dish of charred eggplant cooked in browned butter along with whipped eggs until crisp on the outside and creamy in the center. It’s an evolution of the tortang talong she grew up eating in the Philippines—the third version of the dish on the menu since she took over the kitchen in 2021. The dish spotlights both the ethos of ­Canlis—flavors from across the Pacific, and a focus on simplicity and execution—and Aisha’s own story as an immigrant, a woman, and a person of color. Her experiences in a notoriously intolerant industry have led her to transform her own kitchen into a place of vulnerability and growth. To support better working conditions, she took a bold gamble this summer—­opening the restaurant only on weekdays. Aisha’s technical brilliance and knowledge of ingredients from around the world are what put her in the ranks of other world-class chefs. Her willingness to challenge the norms of kitchen culture and strive for something better is what sets her apart from them.

López-Alt is a James Beard Award–winning ­cookbook author