A Culinary Star's Rise And Fall

There are so many celebrities in today's culinary landscape.They stand out because of a signature dish or a larger than life personality. One, Kwame Onwuachi , is different. He has gone from the lowest depths to the acmes of success and back down again. Now his star is on the rise again and he is turning heads - along with palates with some new dishes and creativity.

Regular contributor,Priya Krishna, interviewed Chef Onwuachi for today's New York Times Food section. His background is interesting. This former problem child had to be sent back to Nigeria because he could not be disciplined. He returned to his Bronx home two years later, unchanged, joining a gang and selling drugs. He even dropped out of college. Then a kind of miracle happened. He turned things around. He sold candy on the subway,using the money to finance a catering business. After graduating from the CIA - Culinary Institute  of America and worked famed restaurants, Per Se and Eleven Madison Park. Next TV called and he was competing on Top Chef. At 25 he was handed the carte blanche for the Washington DC restaurant the Shaw Bijou. Sadly it flopped. What could he do? Write a memoir  "Notes From A Young Black Chef (Knopf 2019). It was then his life turned around.

Chef Onwuachi is now the chef at Kith and Kin. He is cooking homey Afro-Caribbean food, exploring the legacy of the African Diaspora.It also reflects his Nigerian,Jamaican, Trinidadian and Lousianian heritage.It offers even breakfast with curried crab Benedict and a jerk bacon. His family recipes are also there in the goat roti he ate at his Jamaican grandparents Long Island home.it's served with jollof rice, a staple of Nigeria, enlivened with homemade curry powder and Maggi seasoning cubes.There is also his Philly Wing Fry , with two locations in DC and national expansion to follow. This idea came when he was smoking a joint during his time at Eleven Madison Park. These only serve Philly cheese steaks, chicken wings and waffle fries  along with a mushroom sandwich. They may sound like simple fast food but they're not. The cheese steak has dry aged beef and roasted garlic mayonnaise while the mushroom sandwich is graced with herbed labneh,a creamy yogurt sauced, spiked with olive oil and za'atar. The chicken wings are glazed with a tamarind glaze and garlic and the fries come with berbere ,a fiery Ethiopian and Eritrean spice mix. Chef Onwuachi is definitely upping the fast food game.

Young chefs should buy his memoir. It is a template on how to succeed after failing. He is not only a star but a maverick on the American culinary scene.His star is rising again and fast.