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Charlotte chef Joya specializes in vegan cuisine.

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Nobody puts vegan food in a corner, at least not where Chef Joya is concerned.

The Charlotte personal chef hosted a Sunday night experience in North Charlotte, bringing together new and familiar faces for a vegan culinary experience. It served as a sample—both in size and concept—for both her cookbook and upcoming dining soirées. She will launch a sit-down dining event in July, which will be limited to 24 people. Event details will be shared this summer. Her cookbook is set for release in the fall.  

“This is a prelude to my exclusive dinner party that I will be doing in July—24 people, plated service,” Joya said. “It is going to be amazing. I get to do even more elevated creative things, and all of the recipes that I did tonight will be in my cookbook.”

Joya’s team kicked off the evening with an icebreaker. Upon arrival, guests received a celebrity identity where, with a nametag that was placed on his or her back. Determining his or her identity required asking only yes or no questions. Celebrity identities ranged from Michael Jordan and Candace Parker to Wonder Woman. As guests tried to unmask their persona, food flowed from the kitchen.

Orange paprika salmon

Joya opened with fried kickin’ mac & cheez with garden marinara, followed by Cajun okra shooters with avocado mango aioli. When an aioli sauce tastes like that, you utilize the celery and carrot sticks on the veggie table to get every drop. Her best item of the night came out next: apricot barbecue short ribz sliders. If you did not know that you were eating a plant-based slider rather than meat, you cannot tell the difference. Other items on the evenings menu included monkey joe chick’n & waffle skewer, crab cake topped with corn maque choux and remoulade, orange paprika salmon on a bed of rainbow zoodles and more.

Joya’s creativity curates a vegan lifestyle where the choice to be vegan does not mean missing out on the best food.

“I don’t do typical vegan food,” Chef Joya said. “I like to step outside the box, and make anything that is not vegan, vegan for you all, so nobody misses anything.”

Chef Joya at her vegan culinary event.

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