CIA alumni are always cooking up something interesting, and with a network of more than 55,000 strong, there’s never a shortage of highlights!
Taste of the NFL
Several CIA alumni took part in Taste of the NFL, an event benefitting GENYOUth, an organization dedicated to ending student hunger. Taking place Super Bowl weekend at the Hibernia in San Francisco, alumni Sayat ’15 and Laura ’14 Ozyilmaz served as members of the advisory committee, and several CIA alumni were among the all-star chefs in attendance, including the Ozylimazes and Cat Cora ’95.
Alumni on TV
Lee Jun ’10, Shim Sung-Chul ’06, Song Hoon ’06, Park Ga-Ram ’10, and An Jinho ’14 competed on season two of Netflix Korea’s hit show Culinary Class Wars. Among 95 other talented contestants, the alumni come head-to-head in classic culinary combat for a grand prize of three million won ($205,000 USD). Marie Claire gave the backgrounds on each of the contestants.
Chef Richard Blais ’98, a restaurateur and James Beard Award-nominated cookbook author, returned as a mentor chef on Season 5 of Gordon Ramsay’s hit TV series Next Level Chef. As reported in Parade, Blais, the first winner of cable cooking series Top Chef All-Stars, has been a strong pillar of the Next Level Chef series since it began.
Jennifer Lee Jackson ’08 and Justin Tootla ’09, a couple who met at CIA, will be among the chef contestants on Season 23 of Top Chef, as announced by Bravo. The couple opened Bunny Bunny in the Detroit, MI, area during the pandemic before shifting to consultant work. They have since been traveling while searching for the restaurant’s next home. Nana Araba Wilmot, who has presented at CIA’s Worlds of Flavor® conference, is also part of the cast.
James Beard Award Semifinalists
Eric Alexander ’01 and Courtney McDonald ’01, a couple who met while attending CIA and together own Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, CA, were named James Beard semifinalists in the Best Chef: California category. Their restaurant serves a combination of French bistro and Eastern European-inspired food. The duo, the only chefs in the Sacramento region to make the list, shared their excitement and surprise with their local ABC affiliate.
Kwame Onwuachi ’13 was named a James Beard award semifinalist in the Outstanding Chef category for his highly acclaimed Tatiana restaurant in New York City. Onwuachi previously won a James Beard award in 2019 in the Rising Star Chef category. I Love Upper West Side shared their excitement for Onwuachi’s most recent achievement.
Austin Sumrall ’12, owner of Sumrall Restaurant Group, was named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award, in the Best Chef: South category. Sumrall was a semi-finalist in the same category in 2020. According to Super Talk, in 2021, he was named “King of American Seafood” after winning the Great American Seafood Cook-Off. Currently, his restaurant, White Pillars in Biloxi, MS, is on Michelin’s list of recommended restaurants in the American South.
New Restaurants and Re-Openings
CIA alumni are opening new eateries in the Hudson Valley. According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, Ed Kowalski ’98, owner of Lola’s Cafe and Lolita’s Pizza, plans to open an additional location of Lola’s Cafe in Poughkeepsie, NY’s Eastdale Village. Also, in Eastdale Village, Bryan Graham ’07 and his wife Dahlia are opening a second chocolate shop. Their Fruition Chocolate Works store was set to launch early in February, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
David Burke ’82 spoke about his new Lake Park, FL, restaurant, Seahawk Prime, on an episode of Restaurant Business’s podcast, Menu Talk, sharing his thoughts on the current restaurant industry.
Kwame Onwuachi ’13, owner of the award-winning Tatiana in New York City, and Dōgon in Washington, DC, is making his way to Las Vegas. The first West Coast restaurant and first black-owned concept to hit the Vegas Strip, Maroon made Bon Appétit’s list of most-anticipated openings. The 125-seat classic steakhouse will focus on Jamaican flavors and offer live-fire cooking. The Robb Report also included Onwuachi’s Maroon as one of its most anticipated openings, calling it a “new take on the classic Las Vegas steakhouse.”
Jason Wallace ’20, owner of The Restaurant Scientist consultancy and a Newark native, opened a new restaurant. NJ.com says that Allettante focuses on a comforting environment while serving family-style Italian classics, including meatballs, calamari, rigatoni alla vodka, and chicken parmigiana.
Annie Gano ’10 opened a new restaurant, The Rumpled Queen, in her hometown of Salem, OH, in the space once occupied by a family restaurant where her parents had their first date. Gano’s deliberately small, seasonal menu ensures she can execute the restaurant’s from-scratch approach. According to Ohio Magazine, she enlisted the help of her sister, a trained interior designer, to create the restaurant’s whimsical yet elegant feel.
Zack Sklar ’06 announced plans to open Bloomfield Hollow, a 30,000-square-foot event space in the Detroit, MI, area. According to Hour Detroit, Sklar plans to design the venue around the existing natural landscape and break ground later this year. Cutting Edge Cuisine, the catering company Sklar co-owns with CIA classmate Justin Kurtz ’06, will oversee the dining program.
Andrew Tye ’16 and his wife, Liz, celebrated their one-year anniversary of opening Brew Peddler Coffee and Catering. According to The Spokesman-Review, the couple highlight local vendors, create their own syrups, and roast their coffee beans in-house.
Kevin Ashade ’08 is bringing back his restaurant Pangea to Dallas after a surprise closure last January after a five-year run. “Pangea 2.0,” as Hoodline Dallas, calls it, is set to open in winter 2026 in a new location, this time near the Majestic Theater. The article noted Ashade’s career milestone of beating Bobby Flay in 2016 with Coq au vin, which became one of Pangea’s signature dishes.
Faculty Alumni in the News
Jesse B. Jackson III ’13, lecturing instructor of Baking and Pastry Arts at CIA’s New York campus, was among the experts quoted in Serious Eats New York about why chocolate seizes and what to do if it does, including ways to repurpose it.
Roshara Sanders ’12/’14, assistant professor of Culinary Arts at CIA’s New York campus, appeared on PIX11 News’s “New York Living” segment in her role as an ambassador for Red Rooster, the legendary Harlem, NY, restaurant of 2025 CIA Leadership Award honoree Marcus Samuelsson. During the segment, Sanders discussed her role creating the African Diaspora concentration at CIA, the new dishes she’s brought to the Red Rooster menu, and the influence of her mom, who just retired from the corporate dining industry.
Interviews, Shoutouts, and Awards
In a roundup of best donut shops around the country, Kamal Grant ’04 was rated as having the top one in Georgia. Tasting Table called out Sublime Donuts for its beautiful and flavorful creations that draw heavily on Grant’s CIA training. Sublime Donuts has two locations in Atlanta.
Kaskara Hasibuan ’24 spoke with The Jakarta Post, part of the Asia News Network, about his international career spanning Jakarta, New York, Napa Valley, and London. The chef and certified sommelier also shared his thoughts on the future of Indonesian cuisine.
Nicholas Leiss ’07, founder of Farm2ChefsTable, an operation that hosts pop-up communal dinners on the farms and fields of the Hudson Valley, sat down with Hudson Valley Magazine to talk about the region, how to stand out as a culinarian, and Oscine—his pop-up dinners.
Gary Giachetti ’04 is making a foray into teaching. A previous contestant on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen, he brings many years of experience to the classroom, where he leads a sushi class every other Sunday. A student reporter for The Huntington News, an independent newspaper of Northeastern University, participated in his cooking class at Selfup Kitchen in Boston.
Grant Achatz ’04, a member of CIA’s inaugural Hall of Fame class, has been inducted into another hall of fame: The MenuMasters Awards, presented by Nation’s Restaurant News, which “recognize chefs who have spent their careers showcasing and promoting excellence in American foodservice.”
Steve Ells ’90 was featured in online food and culture publication The Takeout, which traced Chipotle’s growth from a single 850‑square‑foot Denver burrito shop opened in 1993 by Ells to a fast‑casual powerhouse.
Brigid Washington’s ’12 culinary memoir, Salt, Sweat & Steam, was named by Garden&Gun, a Southern lifestyle magazine, as one of the year’s most anticipated books. Subtitled The Fiery Education of an Accidental Chef, the article says the book recounts the native Trinidadian’s time at CIA as “she escapes the frying pan of heartbreak by jumping into the fire of” the institute.