Kwame Onwuachi

KWAME ONWUACHI is a James Beard Award–winning chef, restaurateur, and author. He has been named a Food & Wine Best New Chef, an Esquire Chef of the Year, a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes, and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025. He is the author of the memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef and the cookbook My America, has twice hosted the James Beard Awards, and regularly appears on TV shows such as Top Chef, Chef’s Table, Billions, and Somebody Feed Phil.

Raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana, Onwuachi’s culinary journey began in his mother’s modest Bronx apartment. He trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City and, by the age of thirty had opened five restaurants, including the groundbreaking Afro-Caribbean eatery Kith/Kin in Washington, DC. Today, Onwuachi has restaurants across the country, in New York, DC, Miami, and Las Vegas. His restaurant Tatiana was named the number one restaurant in New York by The New York Times two years in a row, and his DC restaurant, Dōgon, earned a spot as one of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants.