In her Brooklyn kitchen, those meals take shape course by course. It’s a space where tradition meets experimentation, and where the rhythms of seasonal cooking guide what comes to the table.

Through The Baodega, Charlene transforms time-honored practices — like curing and smoking málà sausage for Lunar New Year or making summer ice jelly — into communal, story-driven experiences centered around the table.

Their earliest pop-ups paired Rowan on music and Emma in the kitchen, drawing from Rowan’s work across music, writing, and branding for spaces like Public Records, Colbo, and the Wythe Hotel, and Emma’s background in art and design focused on communal spaces. Over time, their roles blurred — shaped by shared time in kitchens, studios, and creative communities across New York.

Today, we’re stepping into their home kitchen, now shared with their baby son, Amir. It’s where professional instinct softens into everyday ritual, where traditions overlap, and where the meals that shape their days begin and end.

They both come to food through family and culture. Sumaiya grew up in a Muslim South Asian household in Southern California, surrounded by women who cooked for their communities with care and generosity. Danny, born and raised in Brooklyn in a Dominican and Puerto Rican family, knew food as the anchor of every gathering — a way to bring people together, again and again.