πΊπΈ United States Β· American cuisine Β· b. 1989
The Bronx-born chef redefining Afro-Caribbean fine dining in the United States.
Kwame Onwuachi is one of the most influential young American chefs of his generation β and one of a small number to have placed Afro-Caribbean cooking firmly within the American fine-dining conversation. Born in the Bronx to a Nigerian father and a Jamaican-Trinidadian-Creole mother, he was sent to live with relatives in Ibadan, Nigeria, between the ages of 10 and 12, an experience that became foundational to his identity as a cook.
He trained at the Culinary Institute of America and cooked in some of the most ambitious kitchens in New York β Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, and Tom Colicchio's Craft β before competing on Top Chef Season 13 in 2015, where he placed in the middle of the field but became a recognisable figure. He opened the Shaw Bijou in Washington DC in 2016 to enormous press attention; it closed within 11 weeks amid front-of-house issues, an experience he discusses with painful candour in his 2019 memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef.
He recovered through his role as executive chef of Kith/Kin in Washington DC's Wharf neighbourhood, where his Afro-Caribbean menu won critical acclaim and made him James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2019 β at age 29, one of the youngest recipients in the award's history.
In 2022 he opened Tatiana at Lincoln Center in New York β named after his sister β serving a menu that fuses his Bronx upbringing with his Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian and Creole heritage. The New York Times awarded Tatiana its three-star review and named it the best new restaurant in New York City of 2022. It earned Onwuachi the James Beard Outstanding Chef Award in 2024.
Cook your full story. Onwuachi rejects the idea that a chef must choose between cuisines or simplify their identity for the diner. His menus deliberately layer dishes that draw on his Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Creole and Bronx influences β sometimes within a single plate β because, he argues, that complexity is the truth of his cooking and of American food itself.
Afro-Caribbean fine dining; New York Times 3-star review, named NYT Best New Restaurant 2022.
Afro-Caribbean restaurant opened 2024.
These recipes from our database reflect the american cooking tradition that Kwame works in. They are not direct reproductions of Kwame's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
βI am not trying to make Caribbean food fancy. Caribbean food has always been fancy. I am trying to make it visible.β
β Kwame Onwuachi, Notes from a Young Black Chef
βThere is no such thing as fine dining without a story. The plates that move people are plates that come from somewhere.β
β Interview, The New Yorker
Begins selling food on the Bronx subway as a teenager β a stint he later describes as his first 'restaurant'.
Graduates from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.
Cooks at Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, and Tom Colicchio's Craft in New York.
Competes on Top Chef Season 13.
Opens the Shaw Bijou in Washington DC; the restaurant closes after 11 weeks.
Becomes executive chef of Kith/Kin in Washington DC under the Salamander Hotel group.
Wins James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year at age 29; publishes Notes from a Young Black Chef.
Opens Tatiana at Lincoln Center, New York; New York Times awards it 3 stars and names it Best New Restaurant of the year.
Wins James Beard Outstanding Chef Award β the most prestigious individual honour for an American chef.
Kwame Onwuachi is a Bronx-born American chef of Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian and Creole heritage, widely considered one of the most influential young chefs in the United States. He is the chef-owner of Tatiana at Lincoln Center in New York and won the James Beard Outstanding Chef Award in 2024.
Onwuachi's cooking draws on his African (Nigerian), Caribbean (Jamaican, Trinidadian), Creole (Louisiana) and Bronx upbringings, often in the same dish. He uses classical fine-dining technique β much of it learned at Per Se and Eleven Madison Park β to elevate ingredients and dishes from these traditions that have historically been excluded from American fine dining: jollof rice, curried goat, egusi, jerk seasoning, plantains, escovitch fish.
Tatiana is the restaurant Onwuachi opened at Lincoln Center in 2022, named after his sister. It serves an Afro-Caribbean tasting menu in a relaxed, family-style room. The New York Times awarded it 3 stars and named it the best new restaurant in New York City in 2022; the award is widely credited with helping reshape what 'American fine dining' is taken to mean.
Yes β Onwuachi competed on Bravo's Top Chef Season 13 in 2015, where he placed in the middle of the field. He later returned as a judge on the show. He also recounts the Top Chef experience in his 2019 memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef.
The Shaw Bijou was Onwuachi's first restaurant, opened in Washington DC in 2016 with significant press attention. It closed within 11 weeks amid front-of-house, pricing and personnel difficulties. Onwuachi discusses the closure with painful candour in his 2019 memoir and has cited the experience as the most formative of his career.
Read more on Wikipedia