Zahra Tangorra and Bobbie Comforto

Bobbie and Zahra are mother and daughter, and share a background professional cooking and a deep love of food. Bobbie Comforto has worked as a psychotherapist specializing in bereavement and trauma for over 30 years. Her career has included hospice social work, serving as Bereavement Director for a World Trade Center 9/11 Family Program, Holocaust survivor group facilitator, grief & trauma educator & consultant, and EMDR specialist. Before entering the world of grief counseling, Bobbie was a culinary entrepreneur by the age of 21, beginning her cooking career as the chef and owner of a specialty food shop and catering business called The Lovin’ Oven in Huntington NY. The Lovin’ Oven was beloved by the community and featured in The New York Times, Newsday, and Gourmet Magazine. Bobbie lefr the restaurant business to pursue psychotherapy 30 years ago, but she has continued to cook with gusto and enthusiasm for the ones she loves and is a culinary mentor to her daughter Zahra. Zahra Tangorra is a Brooklyn-based chef and restaurant consultant. Zahra is previously the chef and owner of Brucie, a beloved Italian restaurant in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood. She opened Brucie in 2010 at age 25 on her own, with no partners or experience working in a restaurant. In the seven years that Brucie was open, she and her staff ran a daily changing menu, threw over-the-top fundraisers and events, and garnered the attention and praise of media outlets like The New York Times, The Daily News, TIME Magazine, Glamour, VICE, MTV, The Martha Stewart Show and many more. Zahra learned to cook not only from her mother, but also her father, John Tangorra, who was the co-chef and owner of The Lovin' Oven along with Bobbie. John passed away in 2018 aer a 10 year battle with cancer, and it was his passing, along with her cooking and care for him over the last decade of his life, that ignited Zahra’s desire to connect with Bobbie and explore this fascinating overlapping of food and grief. Zahra is also the co-host of Life's a Banquet, a weekly food comedy podcast on HRN.