Our sister site LGBTQNation recently took a big bite into how queer chefs are rewriting the recipe for success, and it got our taste buds tingling for more.
While the stereotype of the tyrannical chef treating the kitchen like a dictatorship and staff like minions still exists in varied forms, the food industry has evolved to allow for more diversity to flourish. That’s not to say there isn’t still work to be done, or that the road to success for these 20 LGBTQ chefs was easy, but they’ve all managed to establish themselves in the culinary world while still staying true to themselves. And the more they shine, the more they help ensure there will be open seats at the table for the next generation of queer talent.
Oh, and if the opportunity presents itself, run, don’t walk, to taste these standout queer chefs’ creations:
1. Telly Justice
Couple Telly Justice and Camille Lindsley opened NYC restaurant HAGS in the East Village 2022, where Justice is executive chef and Lindsley is Beverage Director. They set out to create a space that is “queer first, restaurant second.” HAGS shares its recipes online for home cooks, and even offers a sliding scale Sunday menu for those who couldn’t otherwise access fine dining.
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2. Rob Connoley
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James Beard-Nominated Chef Rob Connoley opened fine dining hot spot Curious Kumquat in a not so hot spot — a small town in New Mexico that required a three hour drive from the nearest airport. That didn’t stop foodies from making the long trek just to taste his creations, though they have a much easier time accessing his latest restaurant, Bulrush in St. Louis. “Ever since I came out, I’ve felt a freedom to express myself despite cultural norms,” he told LGBTQNation.
3. Gregory León
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Gregory León cooked for years in San Francisco favorites like Zuni Café and Universal Café before opening his own restaurant in Milwaukee, WI with his husband, Orry. At Amilinda, the couple pair Spanish and Portuguese flavors featuring fresh, local ingredients. In 2022, he was a James Beard Foundation Best Chef Midwest Finalist.
Related: How queer chefs are rewriting the recipe for success
4. DeVonn Francis
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DeVonn Francis’ creativity crosses genres, but his passion is consistent in everything he does. The first-generation Jamaican-American artist and queer chef founded Yardy in 2017 in New York City, a studio space to explore his heritage and culture. Whether it’s throwing Caribbean-inspired dinner parties or hosting creative salons with local artists, Francis’ approach to food and community is distinctly queer.
5. Roberto Santibañez
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Roberto Santibañez is the gay chef and owner of modern Mexican restaurant Fonda, with three locations throughout New York City, along with Mi Vida and The Grill (culinary director), both in Washington D.C. The Mexico City native forged his culinary foundation by helping his mother and aunt prepare meals, and pays homage to classic Mexican dishes through his modern interpretations. “I think most queer people, we’re very creative,” he said. “I think it’s because we have a different vision of the world ever since we were very little.”
6. Dominique Crenn
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Not only is Dominique Crenn a multiple James Beard award-winner, she’s also the only female three-star Michelin chef in the U.S. Her modern French restaurant, Atelier Crenn, is located in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, where local foodies mix with in-the-know tourists. Well, the ones who are lucky enough to get a reservation. “I walk the walk, and talk the talk,” Crenn said. “Atelier Crenn is my life and my emotions on the plate. I feel that we can’t truly be ourselves until we share our story.”
7. Jo Chan
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After competing in season 19 of Top Chef and making it to the seventh episode, Jo Chan found herself at something of a crossroads. During filming, she reconnected with her Asian roots in the kitchen, but she also admittedly loves making pasta and cooking Italian cuisine. She took some time off after the show, which wrapped in 2022, to travel and marry her partner, Leah Schwebel, an English professor at Texas State University. The former Eberly executive chef may choose to open up her own shop, but whatever she does, it’s going to be delicious.
8. Silvana Salcido Esparza
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Silvana Salcido Esparza’s specialty is regional Mexican cuisine, and together with her partner, she opened the wildly popular Barrio Café in Phoenix, Arizona over two decades ago. The gifted lesbian chef is all about preserving and honoring her culture, and stepping inside her restaurant is like walking into an art gallery. Esparza regularly hires local Latinx artists to paint–and repaint–her walls with murals.
9. Surbhi Sahni
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Surbhi Sahni may have come out later in life, but the chef-owner of Manhattan’s TAGMO is a queer force to be reckoned with. She serves authentic Indian dishes that celebrate home-style cooking outside the mainstays of Americanized Indian cuisine. She told QNation: “Talking about the importance of these regional dishes and how [they] connect to who I am and to my soul, where there’s a bit of crossover. That is queer … and more inclusive.”
10. Lazarus Lynch
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When Lazarus Lynch was 10 years old, his father Johnny Ray Lynch opened the soul food restaurant Baby Sister’s Soul Food in Queens, NYC. It was a crowd favorite, and the inspiration for Lazarus’ popular 2014 cookbook, Son of a Southern Chef. When the book was released in 2014, he slipped into some leather pants, put on a blue-and-purple wig, and with his book in hand, took to the streets of New York with a five-piece marching band. That’s the kind of chef he is, and we love to see it. The two-time Chopped champion also hosts Snapchat’s Chopped U and Food Network Digital’s Comfort Nation, and his dedication to building up the next generation of chefs by sharing his own passion is nothing short of inspiring.
11. Kristen Kish
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Kristen Kish was cooking by the time she could reach the stove. Her culinary drive led her to attend Le Cordon Bleu, and her creativity and skillful execution made her a most deserving Top Chef champion when she won season ten. The former Chef de Cuisine at Barbara Lynch’s Menton in Boston now hosts 36 Hours on Travel Channel and Fast Foodies on TruTV. In 2021, Kish married her longtime partner Bianca Dusic.
12. Gregory Gourdet
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Gregory Gourdet is another Top Chef alum who appeared on the twelfth and seventeenth seasons of the Bravo reality series. He made it to the finals both times, often wowing the judges with creative takes on Haitian food. He doubled down on these culinary connections to his roots when he opened the Haitian restaurant Kann in Portland, Oregon. Gourdet’s book, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, is a national bestseller.
13. Gaby Maeda
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Gaby Maeda has dreams of opening up her own “California-driven restaurant with ‘snapshots of Hawaii,” but the Honolulu native is in no rush. Named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s ‘Best New Chefs’ in 2021 at just 31 years old, Maeda is still honing her skills as chef de cuisine at San Francisco hotspot State Bird Provisions. There, she has creative reign to explore the many styles of cooking she grew up around–Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Hawaiian food. The proudly queer chef lives by the simple rule that kindness pays dividends. “There’s a difference between leading by fear and working when you’re scared versus leading with respect and wanting to work hard for someone because you actually respect people,” she told GayCities.
Related: How out celeb chef Gaby Maeda helps San Francisco stay a world-class dining destination
14. Alex Koones
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Alex Koones is the queer friend you wish you had — and hey, you still can! In 2016, she founded a popular pop-up dinner series called Babetown in NYC, which welcomes queer women, non-binary people, and trans folks for a night of incredible food and equally-incredible connection. Her food is often inspired by her Jewish heritage, so don’t be surprised if you show up to one of her dinners and have the best kugel of your life.
15. Yotam Ottolenghi
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Yotam Ottolenghi is an established restauranteur and chef who co-owns six London eateries and has written several bestselling cookbooks. The Israeli-born culinary businessman is also a loving husband and father. He penned an essay for The Guardian in 2013 called “Why I’m Coming Out as a Gay Father,” detailing the surrogacy process he and his longtime partner, Karl Allen, went through to start their family.
16. Deborah VanTrece
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Chef Deborah VanTrece has done it all. The celebrated chef has cooked for dignitaries, catered for the Olympics, and opened multiple businesses throughout her career. In 2014, show opened Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours in Atlanta, serving her takes on different kinds of “soul food” from around the globe. Her dishes have been featured in the American Cuisine Cookbook and at the James Beard House.
17. Tara Monsod
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After working her way up through fine dining kitchens in spots like Pizzeria Mozza, Burlap and Herringbone, Tara Monsod has found a home as the executive chef of Animae steakhouse in San Diego. She uses influences from her Filipino-American upbringing to give her own, unique spin on classic steakhouse dishes. If you know, you know–her creations keep diners coming back again and again.
18. Ashleigh Shanti
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The fourth Top Chef alum to appear on our list, Ashleigh Shanti has been one to watch in the culinary scene for a while now. She was a 2020 finalist for the James Beard “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award despite not yet being 30 years old at the time. Shanti opened up a fish fry pop-up in Asheville, North Carolina called Good Hot Fish in Asheville, and just thinking about it makes us want to book a ticket yesterday.
19. Laine Myers
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After landing a plum gig as executive chef at Nota Bene restaurant in 2019 in Richmond, VA, Laine Myers simultaneously launched her own pop-up called Oro. While both jobs were satisfying, it was at Oro where Myers could truly shine, cooking what she loves most: fresh pasta and even fresher seasonal vegetables. She eventually left Nota Bene to run Oro full-time with her partner, where the couple make queerness integral to how they operate.
20. Margot McCormack
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Margot McCormack’s unlikely path to opening her own restaurant began when she was studying English at UT Knoxville and took a job as a line cook. She moved back home to Nashville after graduating to write, but ended up taking another restaurant gig at Faison to make ends meet. There she discovered a passion for cooking and wound up attending the Culinary Institute of America to pursue her new dream. After sharpening her skills at Danal in NYC and F Scott’s in Nashville, McCormack opened Margot Cafe, where she focuses on French-inspired dishes using local ingredients.
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Driven features stories and interviews highlighting the thrill of the queer journey, celebrating tenacious LGBTQers whose courage to be themselves fuels their drive to succeed.
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Where’s Melissa King? She’s an amazing chef and business person, with a fantastic new series on Hulu.