who we are & our values
Comfort Kitchen is a Black-owned, immigrant-owned, and woman-owned business. We seek to live out our values in everything we do: collaboration, cross-cultural understanding, and community building.
We believe that food is a vital aspect of community building. We envision a place that is actively engaged in the celebration of art and history of our local community. We're seeking to partner with individuals, groups, and organizations who want to make a positive impact.
Biplaw Rai
Managing Partner
A Nepali-born culinary entrepreneur and community builder, Biplaw channels his passion for food, culture, and community to create intentional, collaborative spaces that connect people from all walks of life.
Biplaw fervently supports those who share his love of food as a member of the Advisory Board for Future Chefs, a nonprofit that provides teens with culinary training, and by offering management, construction, sourcing, and financial coaching to fellow entrepreneurs.
He is also an accomplished public speaker, sharing his stories of immigration and advocacy to educate audiences on culture and food, how to build community spaces, and equity in the food industry.
Biplaw speaks three languages: English, Nepali, and Hindi and resides in Dorchester, MA with his wife Nyacko, son Justice, and two dogs, Momo and Moxie.
Nyacko Pearl Perry
Organization Development Partner
Nyacko is an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Consultant specializing in leadership development and organizational change. As Comfort Kitchen’s Organization Development Partner, Nyacko brings an equity lens to the restaurant’s business development and strategy via internal and community-driven initiatives.
Nyacko has supported Comfort Kitchen with her vast experience and insight since its inception – advising on fundraising strategies, cultivating partner and community relationships, and helping to build a strong internal team.
Nyacko is also Managing Partner at All In Consulting, a diverse team of consultants, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion leaders, and coaches committed to creating culture change that works.
She resides in Dorchester with her husband Biplaw, son, and two dogs, Momo and Moxie.
Kwasi Kwaa
Chef Partner
Kwasi has honed his craft in restaurants and catering for 12+ years. In 2016, he launched The Chop Bar pop-up with now CDC Shelley Nason as a way to explore global street fare. The pop-up was hosted in multiple restaurants in the Boston area, including Dudley Cafe in Roxbury, where Biplaw and Kwasi again crossed paths after working together at Hi-Rise cafe & bakery.
A native of Ghana, Kwasi is passionate about connecting with people through the food that reminds him of home. He shares this passion with others through local cooking demonstrations and competitions.
At Comfort Kitchen, Kwasi collaborates with a talented culinary team to develop dishes that celebrate the untold stories of ingredients from the African diaspora and the spice trade.
Aside from English, Kwasi speaks his native tongue Twi and has also picked up Spanish and Portuguese through the years of working in kitchens. He lives in Cambridge with his wife Rita and their two cats.
Shelley Nason
Chef de Cuisine
From childhood memories of cooking with her grandmother, auntie, and mum to 10+ years working in catering and fine dining restaurants, the kitchen has always been a place of gathering and comfort for Shelley.
She is moved by the bonds people build in the kitchen. This sense of community drove her passion for cooking as she worked her way through the culinary world, eventually partnering with Kwasi to create The Chop Bar pop-up and, ultimately, leading her to Comfort Kitchen.
As Chef de Cuisine, Shelley spearheads the research, development, and testing of all menu items , while leading catering and private event efforts.
She is deeply committed to bringing food forward in ways people haven’t thought about before, developing dishes that tell the story of their history, create connections, and transcend cultures.
Kyisha Davenport
GM & Beverage Director
Kyisha is an acclaimed mixologist and community activist. Pursuing bartending after high school, she soon married her passions for hospitality and activism to become a food service union leader and organizer in Brooklyn.
After moving to Boston, Kyisha transitioned to cooperative ownership as a worker-owner at Tanám in 2018, becoming the first Black woman to receive Boston’s Restaurant of the Year Award, a James Beard nomination, and several other honors and accolades.
Furthering her personal practice of Diasporic Mixology, Kyisha relaunched BarNoirBoston in 2021, a hospitality collective she founded three years earlier to address unequal access, education, and progress for Boston's Black hospitality workers.
As Beverage Director at Comfort Kitchen, Kyisha employs mixology to make a place for her community at the table – or, more aptly, a seat at the bar.
Rita Ferreira
Branding Partner
With over a decade of brand design experience, Rita’s portfolio includes work for hospitality, real estate, cultural, and non-profit organizations.
Rita immigrated with her family from Portugal to the United States in 1998, where she completed most of her education, including a BFA in graphic design from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design.
In 2019, she created the Comfort Kitchen brand in collaboration with Brendan McCabe. As Branding Partner, she oversees the design and management of the restaurant’s website, printed materials, photography, and social media channels. She is currently teaching in the Communication Design program at her alma mater, MassArt.
In addition to her freelance and contract design work RitafDesign, Rita gives back to her Portuguese-speaking community through music and youth mentorship at her church. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Kwasi and their two cats.
Our Story
from pop-ups to permanent
Our story starts with Biplaw Rai, our managing partner. In 2013 he connected with Kwasi Kwaa, our chef partner, where they worked together at Hi-Rise bakery in Cambridge. Their paths crossed again in 2015 at Dudley Cafe in Roxbury where Biplaw was a partner at the time and invited chef Kwasi to bring the Chop Bar pop-up along with chef Shelley (now our CDC) and Hope Inc. to host monthly open mics and serve global street eats.
Both Biplaw and Kwasi share a love for community, culture, and food. They also share an immigrant story that through different paths lead them both to jobs and a home in the food industry. Biplaw is originally from Nepal and Kwasi is from Ghana. They both immigrated to the US in their youth. This connection came full circle in late 2019 when they partnered to launch Comfort Kitchen along with their spouses, Nyacko Pearl Perry and Rita Ferreira. As we got ready to start construction and eventually open our doors, the pandemic hit in 2020. It was devastating on many levels, including to the restaurant industry.
When Comfort Kitchen's opening date was delayed due to the impact of COVID-19, the team took the extended timeline as an opportunity to refine the menu and business strategy, and to begin sharing our food and story through pop-ups and other collaborations around the city of Boston and beyond. This was possible thanks to years of relationships and friends in this industry: Sweet Basil on Moody, Tanám at Bow Market, Mei Mei, Popportunity, The Urban Grape, and Exodus Bagels.
From 2020 to 2022, our series of pop-ups included an extended 8-month residency at Little Dipper in JP that landed us on Boston Magazine's 50 best restaurants in Boston (even before having our own brick-and-mortar) and Eater Boston's Best New pop-up. We continued to face pandemic-related delays and challenges that affected the build-out construction and raising funds.
Finally, on January 25, 2023, we opened our doors at 611 Columbia Road for the first public dinner service in our permanent home. In 2024, we were nominated finalist for the James Beard Foundation for Best New Restaurant.
We’re proud to be in Upham’s Corner, Dorchester! To work with family and friends. To serve our community and neighborhood. To see familiar faces from the pop-ups. To meet new friends from near and far. We are home.
James Beard “Best New Restaurant” Finalists
The 25 Best Restaurants in Boston, 2024 New York Times
Restaurant of the Year, 2023 Boston Globe
Best New Restaurant, 2023 Boston Magazine
The 50 Restaurants We're Most Excited About Right Now, 2023 The New York Times
Top 50 Restaurants in Boston 2023 Boston Magazine
Headshots & team photos by Stefanie Belnavis of The Diahann Project (@thediahannproject)
