Welcome to Our Test Kitchen

Allison started her culinary career by plating desserts, from shaping tuiles to un-molding molten chocolate cakes at Rialto restaurant, in Cambridge, MA. She then moved to New York City to work at Eleven Madison Park, where she was up to her elbows in foie, and had the privilege of working in their private dining kitchen. In 2012, she joined the Food52 test kitchen, and she's been making the site's recipes better ever since. These days, Allison makes sure our test kitchen is a well-(olive)-oiled machine, whether that's overseeing the cooking for a photoshoot, gathering her mise en place for a cake, or searing steaks to a picture-perfect golden-brown. After work, she goes home to her husband and daughters in Brooklyn—and on Fridays, she can be found rewarding herself with a burger and a boulevardier.

César Pérez is a cook, recipe developer, and retired barista. With his start in some of the best coffee shops and outdoor food markets of NYC, his trajectory in the culinary world has been anything but traditional. César’s cooking style is heavily influenced by his Puerto Rican heritage and his Brooklyn upbringing. At Food52, you can find him cooking for shoots and events, testing recipes, and playing the best music for everyone.

Anna was born and raised in New York City. She has degrees in both photography from Purchase College and culinary arts from The Natural Gourmet Institute, making her the perfect person to ensure that every strand of spaghetti that comes out of our test kitchen is ready for its close-up. Before joining the Food52 team in 2018, she worked a million food jobs—private chef, pickle pickler, school lunch lady, and oyster shucker, to name a few. When she’s not artfully arranging herbs over a grain salad or getting that swoosh right on a meringue, she’s trying out an old New York haunt before it goes out of business, ordering a wedge salad, or hanging with a small dachshund named Lily.

Emily Ziemski brings every chapter of her life to her role at Food52. From growing up in New England to studying at CIA, then working as pastry line cook, chef instructor, freelance food writer, and recipe editor, she's always loved having her hands in as many pots as possible. Now, she's the driving force behind our Test Kitchen-Approved recipes, edits our Residents' recipes, and creates recipes for her own monthly column, Plus One (where she tries to sneak in as many mushroom and martini references as possible). Stay tuned for her show: No Substitutions, where she reworks community-favorite recipes for all.

Nicole Davis is Food52’s Managing Editor, Content & Community. She’s worked in media for over a decade and founded the NYC newsletter Brooklyn Based (RIP). She lives in the lower Hudson Valley with her family (which includes two dogs, one cat, turtles and koi fish). She is still perfecting her pie crust using tips from Food52 Resident (and baker-in-chief), Erin Jeanne McDowell, and our Genius recipes.

Julia is the Commerce Editor here at Food52. She grew up in Arkansas (yeehaw), lives in Brooklyn, and despises writing in the third person. You can usually find her at dinner with friends, attempting to improve her tennis game (no luck yet, still awful), or behind the bar (she spends her weekends bartending). Aside from the shopping-centric content across the site, her work can be found in New York Magazine, Byline, The Cut, Grub Street, Food & Wine, Edible Brooklyn, and more.

Anabelle Doliner is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn. Originally from Los Angeles, she’s been an avid (some might even say “obsessive”) home cook since childhood. She brings this energy to Food52’s editorial team, where she’s had the opportunity to interview cookbook authors, write about family recipes, edit work from freelance contributors, and much more.

Paul Hagopian believes there are two perfect foods: oysters and hot dogs. A former line cook, his opinions on food were largely informed during his time working for chefs like Stephanie Izard, Luke Venner, and Drew Keane. At Food52, he uses his cooking expertise to curate recipe roundups, interview food professionals, and explore his passions (oysters, mainly).