Kwame's coming
Award-winning celebrity chef and author heads to Houston for two special events
One of America's most prominent chefs will be in Houston next week for two special events. Top Chef star and James Beard Award winner Kwame Onwuachi will be in town to promote his new cookbook, My America: Recipes From a Young Black Chef.
The first event is a book signing that will be held on the Skylawn at downtown's Post Houston mixed-use development on Thursday, June 2. Organized by Kindred Stories, a bookstore in the Third Ward that specializes in Black authors, the event will feature snacks and drinks prepared by ChópnBlọk, the West African restaurant that operates in Post Houston's food hall.
The event itself is free, but tickets are required to attend. Attendees may also purchase a $35 ticket that includes a copy of the book for Onwuachi to sign (he will only sign books purchased at the event). Register via this link.
On Friday, June 3, Onwuachi and Amosu will be collaborate on a five-course dinner at Kulture as part of the downtown restaurant's Black Chef Table dinner series. The meal will utilize recipes from My America. Tickets, priced at $175 or $225 for the VIP chefs table, include a copy of the book.
Top Chef: Houston viewers will recognize Onwuachi from his two appearances this season. In episode seven, he joined Amosu to judge a Quickfire Challenge where the cheftestants created a dish using West African ingredients. He returned for episode nine — arguably the season's best episode — in which the cheftestants created soul food for a group of Houstonians in Freedmen's Town.
Nationally, he's known for his time at Washington D.C. restaurant Kith/Kin, where he won the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef in 2019, as well as his critically acclaimed first book, Notes from a Young Black Chef. He's also been named Chef of the Year by Esquire and is one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs.
In My America, Onwuachi celebrates the food of the African diaspora. The book's 125 recipes include Nigerian jollof rice, Puerto Rican sofrito, and Southern favorites like baby back ribs, jambalaya, and red velvet cake. In between recipes, Onwuachi adds stories that connect the dishes to the people and places behind them.
