NYC Chefs Turn Mango Seeds, Shrimp Shells and Corn Cobs Into Restaurant Week Specials
What if the ingredients most kitchens throw away became the stars of the plate? That is the idea behind Make Food Not Waste Restaurant Week, a citywide New York City dining event running from September 28 through October 4, 2026, where restaurants are creating special dishes, menus, cocktails, and pairings using overlooked ingredients such as trimmings, shells, seeds, rinds, bread crumbs, herb stems, and other kitchen byproducts.
Organized by the event, it brings together restaurants across New York City to highlight creative cooking techniques that give discarded ingredients a second life.
Instead of treating scraps as waste, participating chefs are transforming them into carefully designed dishes, from shrimp toast made with shell-based cream to pizza topped with corn-cob cream and pasta built around leftover bread crumbs and cheese rinds.
Here are some of the most unusual dishes appearing during the week.
A Bluefin Tostada Made With Mango Seeds
At Corima, chef-owner Fidel Caballero is turning an ingredient usually discarded into a centerpiece.
The restaurant’s Bluefin Tostada with Mango Seed Sikil Pak replaces the pumpkin seeds traditionally used in sikil pak, a Mayan-inspired pumpkin seed dip, with mango seeds, which are often thrown away.
The dish pairs the unexpected mango-seed preparation with bluefin tuna on a tostada, creating a menu item that challenges what counts as a “leftover” ingredient.
Corima is also serving other event dishes, including a sope with quelites and a fire-grilled hamachi collar inspired by Japanese zarandeado-style cooking.
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Shrimp Toast That Uses the Shells Too
At Bangkok Supper Club, chef Max Wittawat is using more than just the shrimp meat.
The restaurant’s Botan Ebi Toast features smoked-brown-butter-brushed toast, raw sweet shrimp, coconut chile cream made from botan ebi shells, and a fried shrimp head served separately.
The dish shows how shells and other commonly discarded seafood parts can become sources of flavor rather than waste.
The Botan Ebi Toast is listed at $24, according to Time Out’s independent reporting on the event.
Corn Cob Cream Pizza
Pizza is getting a waste-conscious makeover at Ops. The restaurant’s Corn-Centric Pizza uses corn in multiple forms, including corn cob cream, scallion tops, espelette pepper, and young Taleggio cheese served with the rind intact.
Instead of treating corn cobs and scallion tops as scraps, the dish uses them as ingredients that add flavor and texture.
A Burger Made With Beef Scraps and Bones
At Bar Chucho, chef Fidel Caballero is applying the same philosophy to meat. The restaurant’s Hamburguesa is a dry-aged beef burger inspired by Northern Mexican carne asada.
It includes a housemade dry-aged beef garum created by fermenting beef scraps and bones for six months, along with burnt onion and bone marrow mayo, queso Chihuahua, and chile toreados.
The dish demonstrates how parts normally overlooked during preparation can contribute deep flavor.
Pasta Built From Bread Crumbs and Cheese Rinds
At Raf’s, chef Mary Attea is turning leftover bakery and kitchen ingredients into pasta.
The restaurant’s Passatelli with Parmigiano Reggiano Brodo & Oyster Mushroom uses leftover bread crumbs to form the pasta dough, while Parmigiano Reggiano rinds and oyster mushroom trim help enrich the broth.
It reminds us that ingredients often considered unusable can still contribute flavor long after their original purpose is finished.
A Potato Dish Inspired by Previous Leftovers
At Somssi, chef Ahris Kim created Gamja (Potato) Sujebi, a Korean hand-torn noodle soup inspired by leftovers from the restaurant’s Potato Potato Potato dish.
The dish includes crisp chicken skin and potato crunch made with nutritional yeast, Parmigiano, chives, and parsley oil.
More Restaurants Joining the Event
The citywide event includes restaurants across Manhattan and Brooklyn, with participating venues including Corima, Chambers, Ops, Bangkok Supper Club, Bar Chucho, Bar Susanne, Cleo, Cynthia, Family Meal at Blue Hill, HAGS, Oberon, Somssi, Strange Delight, Raf’s, Rhodora Wine Bar, and The Musket Room.
Other featured creations include: Shrimp Cocktail at Bar Susanne, featuring shrimp-shell aioli made from removed shells and heads. Fish Scale Rice Crackers at Family Meal at Blue Hill, using leftover fish scales, tuna trimmings, and herb stems.
Idle Bloom at Oberon, a nonalcoholic cocktail made with oleo saccharum from salvaged citrus scraps. Leafy Green Salad at Rhodora Wine Bar, featuring pickled radish greens.
Why These Dishes Matter
The event aims to spotlight how chefs can rethink ingredients that are often overlooked. Mill says the program is designed to raise awareness about food waste while showcasing creative cooking that uses ingredients thoughtfully.
Chef Fidel Caballero of Corima, Vato, and Bar Chucho summed up the approach by saying: “Every ingredient represents the work of farmers, producers, and our team. Using it thoughtfully is a way of honoring that work.”
A New Way to Look at Food
From mango seeds and shrimp shells to corn cobs and bread crumbs, these dishes show that flavor can come from unexpected places.
Make Food Not Waste Restaurant Week turns ordinary kitchen remnants into creative dining experiences and gives New Yorkers a chance to see food waste differently, one plate at a time.
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