In this episode we head to Queens for an Argentinian dinner party and cooking class with Mirta Rinaldi, a cooking instructor, yerba mate sommelier, and owner of Mendulicina bakery. We make Argentinian specialties like grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce and pears poached in Malbec, as Mirta tells us about growing up in a family of amazing cooks, how she went from working in a coat check room to hosting parties for celebrities, and how food allows her to express her creativity.

Try Mirta's Argentinian recipes and restaurant recommendations in NYC.

Buy her delicious alfajores cookies from Mendulcina.

Sign up for a cooking class with the League of Kitchens.

Brooklyn-based cooking instructor Mukti Banerjee invites us into her home for an Indian cooking class. As we learn to make dishes like a spicy lamb vindaloo and creamy chana masala, Mukti tells us about developing a nose for spices and following her happiness from the biology lab to the kitchen.

Try Mukti's Indian recipes and restaurant recommendations in NYC.

Sign up for a cooking class with Mukti's Kitchen.

We sit down with NYC Filipinos Founder Deirdre Levy at Kalye for “merienda” — the Filipino version of tea time. As we sample some classic Filipino snacks, Deirdre talks about her teaching career, her community activism, her run for New York City Council, and how Filipino food has been a thread through all of it.

Eat Filipino food at Kalye on the Lower East Side.

Try Deirdre's Filipino recipes and restaurant recommendations in NYC.

Buy a copy of Bodega Princess.

Follow NYC Filipinos for info about Filipino food and culture events.

Give back through Project Barkada.

Damira Inatullaeva invites us into her home for an Uzbek cooking class. We learn how to make mashhurda and sambusa while Damira tells us about growing up in Uzbekistan, living through the fall of the Soviet Union, and restarting her life in the United States.

Try Damira's Uzbek recipes and restaurant recommendations in NYC.

Sign up for a cooking class with the League of Kitchens.

In the first episode of Our New York Table, we sit down for a Dominican meal with cookbook author Vanessa Mota to talk about how preserving family recipes has helped her stay connected to her Dominican roots, and to pass those traditions on to her children.

Eat Dominican food at Puerto Viejo in Brooklyn.

Try Vanessa's Dominican recipes and restaurant recommendations in NYC.

Buy her cookbook The Dominican Kitchen.

Find more recipes at My Dominican Kitchen.

Food is a universal language. In our increasingly polarized society, it’s something that brings all of us together. And we're exploring why.

Throughout the series, we share meals with New Yorkers from around the world, learning about the flavors and ingredients that make each cuisine unique. And we explore the personal and cultural connections we have to food — what brings all of us to the table.