Only 9 Black Michelin-Starred Chefs
Out of the 3,479 Michelin-starred restaurant in the world...
Welcome back to another Greasy Pen entry. Thank you for allowing me to grace your inbox.
I found a story that gave me the chills.
Once again, Michelin and their famous stars come to disappoint. I wrote about them several times including the history and their new “Green Star concept” but this one is appalling.
Here is what gave me the chills. New York City, The Big Apple has received their first Black Michelin-starred chef. Where am I, and what decade are we living in!?
Charlie Mitchell of Clover Hill.
Charlie is the executive chef and co-owner of Cloverhill in Brooklyn Heights. And let me repeat that again. Charlie Mitchell is the first Black chef in the history of New York City to receive a Michelin Star. I find that wild.
To receive a Michelin star as a chef is the highest honor and one that is at the pinnacle of gatekeeping to fame. Charlie is from Detroit, Michigan, and worked for the famous Eleven Madison Park and other renowned restaurants. He was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award Emerging Chef and worked his ass off until he got a Michelin star. Bravo!
Michelin still needs to understand that representation matters.
So far, I’ve only found 9 other Black Michelin-starred chefs in the world. Compare that to the other 3,479 Michelin-starred restaurants.
He is only the second chef in all of the United States to have received a Michelin star, the other is Gerald Sombright.
Gerald Sombright of Ario
Gerald Sombright was the first Black man in America to win a Michelin star. Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri he started working his way up at 18 from prep cook and dishwasher He continued and worked with celebrity chef Michael Mina at the acclaimed Wit & Wisdom restaurant at the Four Seasons Baltimore Waterfront.
He later earned his Michelin star at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida and now works at Ario at the Marriott Hotel in Marco Island, Florida.
Adejoké Bakare of Chishuru
First black female in the UK to win a Michelin star. Nigerian-born Adejoké grew from home cook to restaurant owner within months after winning the Brixton kitchen competition in 2019. She is what some would call raw talent, she only ever cooked for friends and family but at the competition, her food blew the judges away and won the amateur category. After that, she grew her fanbase with her various pop-ups in Brixton Market and then opened her restaurant, Chishuru in London and received a Michelin star for her evident talents.
Michael Caines of Lympstone Manor
Michael Caines has a strong story. After attending Exeter Catering College in Britain he went to London to work at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons under chef Raymond Blanc. He fell in love with French cuisine and moved to France where he worked with chef Bernard Loiseau and later, Joël Robuchon. Micahel returned to Britain in 1994 and became head chef of Gidleigh Park which already had a Michelin star.
At the age of 25, he was in a grave car accident that required the amputation of his right arm. Four weeks later he was back at Gidleigh Park working full-time and in 1999 he earned Gidleigh Park a second Michelin star. As well as running the ship at Gidleigh Park he worked with colleagues to open Abode Hotels in Exeter, Glasgow, Canterbury, Chester and Manchester, each with a Michael Caines Restaurant inside. He also has a restaurant in Abu Dhabi and has catered for the Williams Formula 1 team since 2011.
He held his two Michelin stars for 18 years then decided to run his hotel, Lympstone Manor which won its own Michelin star just six months after opening.
Giorgiana Viou of Rouge
Giorgiana left Benin to pursue her dream as a conference interpreter. She continued her studies in foreign languages at La Sorbonne in Paris, but her other passion came knocking on her door. She landed a job in a communications agency in Marseille and she took part in culinary competitions such as Taittinger Cordons Bleus and the famous show Master Chef, where she climbed among the finalists.
She gained experience in reputable kitchens both in Marseille and Paris and eventually opened her own, first at L'Atelier de Georgiana, then Chez Georgiana, and at La Piscine. She earned two toques from Gault & Millau and was selected among its Young Talents of 2015. In 2021 she joined the team at Rouge and was awarded a Michelin star in 2023.
Mory Sacko of MoSuke
Mory Sacko is a samurai in the kitchen. On his internet site, he even puts up a quote from the anime character Sanji from One Piece - “Cooking is a gift from god, spices a gift from the devil… I think it was a little too spicy for you.”
Born in the east of Paris, he was raised in a large family and was the sixth child. He has an adoration of Japanese culture and cooking. He earned his baccalaureate in culinary arts in 2011. From there he started working at the Hötel du Collectionneur as a commis, and then he moved on to Le Royal Mondeau in 2012 and earned the luck to work beside Nobu Matsuhisa. He then worked at the Shang Palace at the Shangri-La with Christoph Moret for 3 years. If that isn’t enough, he finally worked at Sur Mesure at the Mandarin Oriental as Thierry Marx’s sous chef.
The name of his restaurant, MoSuke is a slick surprise. The first part is the beginning of his name Mory, and the second part refers to Yasuke which is the name of the only African samurai in Japanese history. As you can see, Mory had a mission and earned his Michelin star in 2021.
Marcel Ravin of Blue Bay
At the age of 20, Marcel Ravin, originally from Martinique, moved to France to work in Alsace at the Château d'Isenbourg in Rouffach. He gained further experience in Brussels and numerous Michelin-starred establishments. In a newly updated interview by the Blue Bay Hotel in Monte Carlo where he has been working since 2005, Marcel said “Some customers have already cried in my restaurant after eating a dish because I awakened an emotion deep within them, it’s wonderful!”
More importantly, he is a firm believer in “Never forget where you come from to know where you are going!”
He earned both stars at the Blue Bay in Monte Carlo.
Mariya Russell of Kumiko and Kikkō
From Springfield, Ohio, Mariya Russell became the first black woman to be awarded a Michelin star in September 2019 while working as a chef at Kumiko and Kikkō.
She attended Le Cordon Bleu Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago in 2008 and from 2008 until 2018 she worked for 10 different restaurants the last one being Oriole, a two-star Michelin restaurant since 2017. She worked at Oriole for three years and was asked to work at Kumiko/Kikko.
Shortly after winning a Michelin star, she decided to take a break to focus on her well-being. She moved to Hawai’i and focused more on pop-ups and collaborations with chefs.
Ayo Adeyemi of Akoko
Chef Ayo Adeyemi and founder of Akoko, Aji Akokomi come together as a powerhouse team.
Chef Ayo was born in Scotland and grew up in Poole, in southern England. At 16, Ayo enrolled at the University College of Birmingham to study culinary arts, and through his studies he was able to work across America. Once he graduated he returned to America to join the Michelin-starred Campton Place in San Francisco to work under chef Srijith Gopinathan. Afterward, he returned to the UK to join Heston Blumenthal’s The Hind's Head in Bray and learned Bluemnthal’s specialty of molecular gastronomy.
Ayo moved on to Singapore to work as a sous chef at Esquina and then head chef at The Study. That’s where he met chef Ryan Clift and hired Ayo to work at the award-winning Tippling Club. where Ayo says his career took off and he developed the patience and empathy needed to run your kitchen.
In 2022, Ayo met Aji Akokomi founder of Akoko restaurant. Ayo focused on West African cooking with its menu fueled by three main elements; fire, spice and umami.
Finally, in 2024, Ayo was awarded a Michelin star.
Better late than never, but the fact that Michelin is just now opening their eyes to talent outside of their gatekept comfort zone of fine dining is shocking. In hopes of many more diverse culinary talents to come, I am proud to share these hard-working chefs because their stories are historic.
Moi-moi-ly yours,
The Greasy Pen.
P.S.
Regretfully I couldn’t find any copyright-free pictures of the restaurants or chefs, so it might look a bit dry but I tried to attach as many links as I could. And I wrote this all out in one evening, good night!