Ayesha Curry Takes Pop-Up Eatery to Next Level, Plans to Open Brick-and-Mortar Spot

Ayesha Curry hosts “Ayesha’s Home Kitchen”
on the Cooking Channel (Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images)

After the success of her pop-up restaurant last year, Ayesha Curry is stepping into the restaurant business permanently.

“I will be opening up my first restaurant in [San Francisco]!!!” The Cooking Channel host revealed on Instagram Sunday, May 7. “I can’t scream loud enough how grateful and humbled I am by this blessing! Thank you, Jesus! It’s been so hard to keep this to myself and I’m so happy to finally share the news. This will be our flagship #InternationalSmoke restaurant. The pop-up was so successful and I am excited to turn my dreams into a reality with [chef Michael Mina] and The Mina Group.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTzowjnA0bV/?taken-by=ayeshacurry

Curry’s International Smoke restaurant with Mina launched June 4 and was meant to run through the end of summer but ultimately went on for six months, thanks to high-profile guests like Drake and Curry’s Golden State Warriors point guard husband. In August, the eatery found a permanent home in Hawaii as part of Mina’s 12,500-square-foot food hall in Honolulu, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“The food was so delicious at the pop-up. But that didn’t even scratch the surface,” Mina told the newspaper. “We got to try out a lot of stuff that was great, but we didn’t have the firepower and equipment and the space that we’ll have now.”

International Smoke’s permanent San Francisco location will open this fall.

Online, many congratulated Curry on her newest food-related business venture, which follows the July announcement of her home meal-kit delivery service, “Gather.”

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