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EBONY
Kickin’ Back at Chef Kwame’s Cookout
By DeAnna Taylor,
6 days ago
Chef: a professional cook, typically the chief cook in a restaurant or hotel. There are many iterations of the word, with some holding very high prestige. For those in the industry, like Chef Kwame Onwuachi, it can be argued that it's an art form, often requiring an exceptional level of creativity beyond just the skill of whipping up a dish on the stove.
Historic scholars say it's a term of French origin but across the diaspora, we know that—although they may have never been formally recognized—many of our ancestors were the blueprint for it. Sustaining entire generations from the very crops their hands picked and pulled, the culinary industry wouldn’t be where it is today without us.
And thankfully, we have folks like Onwuachi ready and willing to continue carrying the torch and telling those stories through our ancestral foodways.
“Delicious, exciting, unapologetically me,” Onwuachi tells me on the way to his EBONY July 2024 cover shoot when asked to describe his cooking style in just three words. And, honestly, they’re the perfect descriptors for this juncture of his career as well.
Serving as the brains behind one of the country’s hottest restaurants, Tatiana in New York City, the Nigerian-American chef is simply doing things his way and having fun in the process. At just 34 years old, he’s already managed to build a resume that rivals—if not exceeds—some of the world’s best. James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2019, Esquire's Chef of the Year in 2019, Tatiana was named “The #1 Restaurant in New York City” by The New York Times in 2023 and 2024, not to mention it was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant Award in 2024. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.
“Authenticity makes receiving someone’s expressions a little bit easier. There’s a realness that’s associated with the things that I do, and it’s just unapologetically me,” Onwuachi shares from the car heading to the private shoot location in Brooklyn. “It has shaped my career in a way that I’m proud of everything I do. Good or bad perception-wise, I stand by it. I’m able to put my all into what I do because I’m not wavering on any minor or major detail.”
Kwame Onwuachi wears a Homme Plissé Issey Miyake top and trousers and Sebago loafers. Image: Kendall Bessent for EBONY.
"How can it be a comeback story if I never left?”
Kwame Onwuachi
Even with running one of the nation’s most coveted spots and solidifying himself as one of the industry’s greats, the young entrepreneur isn’t letting up. Later this year he will open his newest concept, Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi, along the capital's revitalized Southwest waterfront of Salamander DCl. Many critics are calling it his comeback attempt in the District after things didn’t go as planned with a previous restaurant. But, according to the former Top Chef star, “How can it be a comeback story if I never left?”
Always moving with intentionality, Dōgon will not just be another upscale restaurant curated by Onwuachi. It’s also a nod to his homeland and the Black history deeply rooted in the very soil in which the concept will sit. From the contributions Black surveyor Benjamin Banneker made to the area and paying homage to Nigeria’s Dogon tribe, he’s gearing up to give us another lesson in storytelling through an expertly crafted menu.
“Without the west side, we wouldn’t even have a capital, or the capital would look very different. This is my way of telling that story while highlighting African-Caribbean cuisine through the lens of DC and DC’s culture.”
EBONY spoke further with Chef Kwame in which we delve into everything from his time in Nigeria as a youngster and how that shaped his career to the song that currently gets him in the zone before a busy day. Get to know the accomplished cuisinier a little better as we kick back at his cookout.
Image: Kendall Bessent for EBONY.
EBONY: You’ve accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, overcoming a lot in the process, including racism. What is your why? What drives you to keep pushing?
Kwame Onwuachi: My family for one. To have this gift of life, tomorrow is not promised. So, to not give my all is such a disservice and disrespect to the people who are not here anymore and don’t have that opportunity.
I want to leave the world a better place than how I found it. That means I have to get up a little earlier and push harder, and I always have to answer the question of what’s next for Kwame Onwuachi because it's not just a disservice to the people who aren’t here but also to the ones who still are. Representation matters and having an opportunity to push forward is a blessing in and of itself. So, I’d be remiss not to honor that and give it my all every single day.
Your mom, a chef herself, taught you a lot of the recipes that you’ve now made into your own in your restaurants. Why was it important to preserve your culture and family legacy in this way?
It’s about telling stories through food and preserving traditions that were passed down, in order for them not to get lost. I think we need to continue to honor them, cook them and preserve the gospel as much as we can, so those people and what was happening during that time and place aren’t forgotten.
How do people unfamiliar with African-Caribbean cuisine receive your menus? Do you have a favorite dish right now?
I love all of my children equally. But, I feel like they receive it [the menu] well. I package it in a way that is easily digestible, no pun intended, but it’s easy to receive. There’s a familiarity associated with it, even if they don’t know what it is. Every nation has its rice dish, braised beef dish or grilled meat dish. It’s just about introducing them to new ingredients with familiar items.
Take my suya recipe: I made it into pastrami and instead of the normal bread, I used coco bread. So, there are still the nuances of my culture within, but they're wrapped up in a bow that makes it easier for people who are unfamiliar with it to explore.
Kwame Onwuachi wears a top from The Elder Statesmen, Winnie New York trousers and Gucci loafers. Image: Kendall Bessent for EBONY.
Turning to your annual “Family Reunion” at Salamander Resort, in conjunction with Sheila Johnson. The event is deeply rooted in Black traditions like the cookout and gathering around food. Why are these gatherings important to our culture as Black people?
So that we can feel free, essentially. I hate to use that word so loosely. But free to just be our authentic selves without the gaze of others judging or putting restrictions on what we can and cannot do within our joy. That’s why I created it. I’ve done food festivals around the world, and this one just feels different; it feels inviting. Maybe it’s the music, maybe it's the food or the congregation—but at the end of the day, it feels important and necessary. No matter how hard it is, I do it every single year. Not just because of the joy it brings, but for the freedom and cultural equilibrium, even if just for a day.
In your opinion, what truly makes the perfect cookout?
A cookout has to have a good group of people, and the right people have to be cooking the right dishes. I'm not saying everyone has to be well-versed in everything, but the person who normally does the grilling should be on the grill, and the person who normally does the potato salad should bring that and we don’t need any new variations of it. You need alcohol, that’s key. Maybe a couple of cousins with some weed. Some dance floor action. I always like it to be in a park, so that we can run a few games of basketball at some point, or some type of sport.
As for the dishes on the table, it depends on where you’re at in the world. In the north, we like hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, potato salad and maybe some chicken. If somebody really wants to go crazy, they may bring mac and cheese. In the south, though, they're going all out: jambalaya, fried fish, everything.
Gladimir Gelin, Pierre Serrao, Kamat Newman, Ms. Melba Wilson, Lucy Lamboy and Alexander Smalls partake in "The Cookout." Image: Kendall Bessent for EBONY.
We know you’re a big Hip Hop fan. What’s on your playlist right now and what song currently gets you in “the zone?”
Man, there’s so much on my playlist right now. I like real chill R&B and 90s Hip Hop—Jay-Z, Nas— and then sprinkle in some ratchetness. Also, Future and all the recent diss tracks by Drake and Kendrick Lamar are probably on there, too. It gets the kids pumped up these days, so we gotta play it.
As far as the track that gets me in the zone currently, it’s the song by The Roots featuring Erykah Badu, “You Got Me.” That song has really been hyping me up, although it's chill and mellow. It’s got something in it. Then the drum solo by Questlove is fire.
Kwame Onwuachi wears a Mackage top and Issey Miyake trousers. Image: Kendall Bessent for EBONY.
So, beyond the famed chef, who is Kwame Onwuachi outside the kitchen?
I think that’s a growing question that I’m still trying to figure out. I work a lot, so my life is mainly work. But outside of that, I like to have fun, play golf, hang out with my family when I can, and do dope shit with my friends.
DeAnna Taylor (@brokeandabroadlife) is a North Carolina licensed attorney turned journalist, author, digital producer, and senior-level editor.
Special thanks to Gordon Chambers, Gladimir Gelin, Pierre Serrao, Kamat Newman, Ms. Melba Wilson, Val Guerra, Lucy Lamboy, Madisyn and Trinity Steed-Fox, Alexander Smalls and AM PR Group.
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