Chefs
Because there’s a first time for everything—even time-honored traditions.
Chef Edward Lee shares how independent restaurants are still struggling to find workers and source ingredients—and why he’s still hopeful.
Edward Lee
Sheldon Simeon wants you to pay attention to the islands.
Elyse Inamine
Yia Vang reflects on how he ran away from his Hmong identity as a kid and what he learned when he returned to it as a chef.
Yia Vang, as told to Elyse Inamine
For Indigenous chef Brian Yazzie, this isn’t a new concept but a way of life.
Brian Yazzie
These takeout- and delivery-only restaurants are suddenly everywhere, which is good news for some struggling food businesses and ominous to others.
Priya Krishna
Some of the most beloved chefs, bakers, and food writers have passed through the doors of this legendary café in Berkeley, California. Here’s what they learned on the job.
Elyse Inamine
Ederique Goudia noticed there weren’t really any formal celebrations of Black food in Detroit, a majority Black city. So she started Taste the Diaspora.
Kiki Louya
Chef Edward Lee on why this could be the end of an era for independent restaurants.
Edward Lee, as told to Ashlea Halpern
What our global brand ambassador is doling out this year.
Marcus Samuelsson, as told to Emma Wartzman
In the wake of chaos and closures, food industry folks have found each other to do the thing they miss through a new wave of pop-ups.
Emily Wilson
We were total opposites, but we shared the same vision in life: having fun, working hard, gathering people, and making sure they were happy.
Belinda Leong, as told to Elyse Inamine
At Cafe Ohlone in Berkeley, cofounders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino make a deliberate choice to cook dishes that their elders would recognize, including these duck-fat-laden potatoes.
Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, as told to Christina Chaey
Chef-owner Myo Moe introduces diners to the flavors of her Burmese childhood, starting with one iconic comfort dish.
Hilary Cadigan
What needs to change, according to chef-owner Francesca Hong.
Francesca Hong
The crisis forced him to stop, reflect, and start making the food that inspired him to become a chef in the first place. Now, his Cambodian pop-up Touk has lines down the block.
Chanthy Yen, as told to Joanna Fox
Chef-owners Tom and Mariah Pisha-Duffly loved Oma’s Takeaway, their restaurant’s pivot in response to COVID-19, so much they gave it its own permanent brick-and-mortar location.
Tom and Mariah Pisha-Duffly, as told to Woesha Hampson-Medina
Chefs Eric Sze and Lucas Sin both make Chinese beef noodle soup—but they are nothing alike.
Meryl Rothstein and Jesse Sparks
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Anthony Salguero, chef-owner of Popoca in Oakland, is spreading the gospel of Salvadoran cuisine.
Last year’s Hot 10 have weathered the pandemic with resiliency, creativity, and grit. Here’s how each of them met the moment.
The Bon Appétit Staff
Simileoluwa Adebajo started feeding the food insecure at her SF restaurant Eko Kitchen, and she's not going to stop even once the pandemic is over.
Simileoluwa Adebajo, as told to Brittany Hutson
Navigating a decades-long culinary career, Deborah VanTrece has encountered racism at nearly every turn. And she’s done keeping quiet about it.
Deborah VanTrece, as told to Hilary Cadigan
The food was bland, sparse, sometimes non-existent. But five years in Guantánamo Bay drove chef Ahmed Errachidi to create the most vital meals of his life.
Tim Wild
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a lifeline for restaurants. But it's also a big risk. Mason Hereford, the chef and owner of Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans, is wondering if he should take it.
Mason Hereford