Kwame Onwuachi is a James Beard Award-winning chef, restaurateur, and author of the critically acclaimed memoir “Notes from a Young Black Chef,” which is being adapted into a feature film by A24. Kwame’s resume is incomparable as he has been named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs, Esquire Magazine’s 2019 Chef of the Year, and is a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes. He was featured on the TIME 100 Next 2019 List and has been named the most important Chef in America by the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana, Onwuachi was first exposed to cooking by his mother, in the family’s modest Bronx apartment. He took that spark of passion and turned it into a career. From toiling in the bowels of oil cleanup ships to working at some of the best restaurants in the world, he has a dynamic collection of skills and experiences. Onwuachi trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City and has opened five restaurants before the age of thirty; including the groundbreaking Afro-Caribbean restaurant, Kith/Kin, in Washington, D.C.

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Kwame appeared as a judge on season 18 of Top Chef in April 2021. He first appeared as a contestant on the show in season 13.

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Kwame currently serves as Food & Wine’s Executive Producer. In this recently-appointed role, Kwame collaborated on big brand moments and events including the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, where he hosted cooking demonstrations and events. He also serves in the new role of Food & Wine’s pro ambassador to the hospitality industry and creator of “The Family Reunion: Presented by Kwame Onwuachi,” an annual multi-day event that takes place in Middleburg, Virginia and celebrates diversity in the hospitality community. In September 2021, Onwuachi hosted the esteemed James Beard Awards in Chicago.

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Kwame recently released his first-ever, critically acclaimed cookbook “My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef.” Featuring more than 125 recipes, the book is a celebration of the food of the African Diaspora, as handed down through Onwuachi’s own family history, spanning Nigeria to the Caribbean, the South to the Bronx, and beyond.

His restaurant concept, “Tatiana” opened at the Lincoln Center in November 2022. Tatiana celebrates the culinary spectrum of his  New York upbringing, while being rooted in his foundation of the African Diaspora. Since its opening, Tatiana has received numerous accolades, including: the “#1 Restaurant in New York” by the New York Times, and “The One to Watch” by World's 50 Best Restaurants.

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In the Spring of 2024, he will partner with the Salamander DC hotel, to open his newest restaurant concept.