Kwame Onwuachi Biography – Kwame Onwuachi Wiki
Kwame Onwuachi is an American chef based in Los Angeles, California. He was a contestant on Top Chef (season 13) in 2015. He has been recognized by Food & Wine magazine, Esquire magazine, and the James Beard Foundation as “Rising Star Chef of the year.” He is cast in the cooking show ‘Top Chef Amateurs’ as a judge. In ‘Top Chef Amateurs’, he will be part of the ‘Top Chef’ alum to help the amateur cooks overcome challenges. He will also be a part of the judge’s panel this season, alongside Richard Blais, Jennifer Carroll, Shirley Chung, Stephanie Cmar, Tiffany Derry, Joe Flamm, Gregory Gourdet, Melissa King, Eric Adjepong, Dale Talde, and Isaac Toups.
He was expelled from a number of schools for behavioral issues and eventually graduated from a high school in the Bronx. He enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, from which he was expelled after several months for dealing and using illegal drugs. He then moved to live with his mother in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was hired to cook on a boat serving crew cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
He returned to New York City in 2010, waiting tables at Tom Colicchio’s Craft before opening his own catering business, Onwuachi’s Coterie Catering. In 2012, he enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. During culinary school, Onwuachi worked an externship at Per Se, and after graduation, he worked as a line cook at Eleven Madison Park.
After taking part in Top Chef in 2015 he opened his own restaurant in November 2016 in a converted townhouse in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., called the Shaw Bijou, serving a 13-course tasting menu. The reviews were mixed, and critics questioned whether it was worth the price. After two months, he scaled back the menu and reduced prices, but the primary investor closed the restaurant in January 2017.
In late 2017, he was hired to open a restaurant in the new InterContinental Hotel on D.C.’s Southwest Waterfront. He named it “Kith and Kin”, serving Afro-Caribbean cuisine influenced by his family ties to Louisiana, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Nigeria. The restaurant received positive reviews from the Washington Post and the Michelin Guide. In July 2020, Onwuachi resigned from his position at Kith/Kin.
Food & Wine magazine named him one of its Best New Chefs in 2019. At the 2019 James Beard Awards, Onwuachi was named Rising Star Chef of the Year. Esquire named him its Chef of the Year for 2019, identifying Kith/Kin as one of the Best New Restaurants in America. In February 2021, Onwuachi joined Food & Wine magazine as Executive Producer.
Kwame Onwuachi Age
He was born on November 11, 1989, in Long Island, New York, and grew up in The Bronx, New York, United States.
Kwame Onwuachi Family
He is the only son of his parents Jewel Robinson and Patrick Onwuachi. His mother became a chef and caterer after she lost her job as an accountant. His father, Patrick Onwuachi, is an architect whose own father was a respected professor at Howard University, prominent in the Pan-Africanism movement. His roots trace back to Nigeria. At the age of 10, he was sent to live with his grandfather in Nigeria for two years. After graduating from college, he then moved to live with his mother in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was hired to cook on a boat serving crew cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Kwame Onwuachi Girlfriend
He is engaged to his fiancée Mya Allen. They met in Boston just before Mya headed to ICC for culinary school in New York.
Kwame Onwuachi Book
In 2019, Onwuachi published a memoir, Notes from a Young Black Chef, with Joshua David Stein. The book tells the story of his childhood in New York and Nigeria, and the opening of the Shaw Bijou.
Kwame Onwuachi Instagram
He is active on Instagram at his handle @chefkwameonwuachi.
