Chefs on TV, From Julia Child to Top Chef
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With Kelsey Barnard Clark, Stephanie Izard, Melissa King, Kristen Kish, Mei Lin & Brooke Williamson
Moderated by Nilou Motamed | Introduction by Nancy Pappas
No packing your knives here! We had a special treat for Top Chef fans. Six of our favorite champions from the high-stakes show talked about the food TV they watched growing up and what it was like being on—and winning—Top Chef. Recurring Top Chef guest judge Nilou Motamed moderates the conversation, which also explored how Julia Child helped pave the way for women cooking on TV today. With Top Chef winners Kelsey Barnard Clark, Stephanie Izard, Melissa King, Kristen Kish, Mei Lin, and Brooke Williamson. Introduction by Cherry Bombe Art Director Nancy Pappas.
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READ THE TRANSCRIPT
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NILOU MOTAMED
Nilou Motamed has been shaping the conversation in food and travel for more than 20 years. She is an Emmy-nominated TV personality and has been named one of AdWeek’s 30 Most Influential People in Food. Raised in Tehran, Paris, and New York—and fluent in four languages—Nilou brings a genuinely global perspective to her work, informed by a love and understanding of foods from around the world.
Nilou most recently served as Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine, where she highlighted global foodways. She previously served as Editor-in-Chief of Epicurious.com and as the longtime Features Director & Senior Correspondent at Travel + Leisure, where she oversaw the brand’s award-winning coverage of restaurants, hotels, culture, and trends in luxury travel.
In 2017, Nilou leveraged her global network and food and travel expertise and co-founded Story Collective, a consultancy specializing in brand voice, strategy, and storytelling for the world’s top brands, luxury hotels, restaurants, and destinations. You can watch Nilou on preeminent food TV franchises including Bravo’s Top Chef and Food Network’s Chopped, where she appears as a recurring judge. She can also be found wherever delicious food is being made—and on Instagram @niloumotamed.
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Kelsey Barnard Clark
Kelsey Barnard Clark is a born and raised Gulf Southerner from Dothan, Alabama. She has developed an impressionable resume including being the fifth woman and first southerner to win the title of Top Chef and was also voted fan favorite following her season 16 win.
Kelsey got her start in the food industry working for a high-end caterer and catered her first solo wedding at age 15. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America’s, she worked savory & pastry in several Michelin-star restaurants in New York City including Cafe Boulud under Gavin Kaysen, and Dovetail under John Fraser. Her signature southern-French cuisine is inspired by family recipes and classic French techniques.
In 2012 Kelsey moved back home to open her catering company, Kelsey Barnard Catering. Today, she runs her catering company and restaurant, KBC, in historic downtown Dothan while also taking her chef talents on the road, appearing and cooking at events as often as possible.
She has a book coming out this fall and a new restaurant concept in the works. She lives in Dothan with her husband and two children, Monroe and Evelyn June.
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Stephanie Izard
Stephanie Izard, James Beard “Best Chef: Great Lakes” recipient 2013 and 2011 Food & Wine “Best New Chef,” is the Executive Chef and Owner of five Chicago restaurants: Girl & the Goat, Little Goat, Duck Duck Goat, Cabra, and Sugargoat, along with the forthcoming Girl & the Goat in Los Angeles. Izard also won the coveted title of Iron Chef in 2017 and was the fourth winner of Bravo’s Top Chef in 2008.
A 2011 James Beard “Best New Restaurant” nominee, Girl & the Goat has been praised by high-profile publications such as Saveur, New York Times, Food & Wine, and Better Homes and Gardens. Little Goat, Stephanie’s highly successful follow-up to Girl & the Goat, features classic, Americana cuisine in a diner setting. In March 2016, Stephanie opened her third restaurant, a Chinese-inspired concept called Duck Duck Goat in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. In 2019, Stephanie’s Peruvian-inspired eatery, Cabra, opened on the rooftop of The Hoxton, Chicago and most recently Izard opened Sugargoat, an imaginative sweets shop and bakery.
Izard also has a product line called “This Little Goat,” consisting of globally-inspired cooking sauces and spice mixes for home cooks and currently ships her sweets from Sugargoat nationwide in partnership with Goldbelly. Izard’s first book, Girl in the Kitchen, was released in 2011 and her second book, Gather & Graze, was released in April 2018.
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Melissa King
Chef Melissa King is best known as the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars: Los Angeles Season 17. She holds more challenge wins than any other competitor in the history of Top Chef, including the winner of All-Star’s Fan Favorite. She placed as a finalist on Top Chef: Boston Season 12. She has been recognized as “one of the best female chefs in San Francisco” and “40 under 40: Rising Star.”
King completed a B.A. in Cognitive Science at UC Irvine and attended the Culinary Institute of America, graduating at the top of her class. She is also a certified level 1 sommelier. Her unique style of cooking combines modern California cuisine with Asian flavors.
With over 15 years in the industry, King has helmed several Michelin-starred kitchens in San Francisco (Campton Place, Luce, and The Ritz Carlton Dining Room) under acclaimed names, such as Dominique Crenn and Ron Siegel. She has cooked for notable figures, including Oprah Winfrey and Al Gore.
As a proud Asian-American, queer woman, King has a passion for supporting the community — working with non-profit organizations and LGBTQI charities, such as The Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, Black Visions Collective, Asian Americans For Equality, and more. She was honored as a Celebrity Grand Marshal for San Francisco Pride, modeled for Levi's Strauss Co. in a global campaign advocating for the LGBTQ community, and is featured in GAP’s 2021 Spring Campaign to celebrate diversity and advocacy. She was selected as one of Williams-Sonoma’s Chefs’ Collective. Along with being a chef, television personality, and brand partner, she actively participates in speaking panels supporting women’s empowerment, sustainability, food education, and entrepreneurship.
King currently lives in San Francisco where she runs her own company focusing on partnerships and culinary experiences. She has a product line called King Sauce, a small-batched sauce and spice line available in her online shop. She also has an apparel line and offers online cooking experiences.
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Photo by Travis Hallmark
Kristen Kish
Kristen Kish was born in South Korea and adopted into a family in Kentwood, Michigan. She showed an affinity for cooking at a young age. Her mother suggested she go to culinary school and since attending Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, Kristen has never looked back.
After moving to Boston, Kristen worked in many high-profile restaurants including Michelin-star Chef Guy Martin’s Sensing and Barbara Lynch’s Stir as Chef de Cuisine, overseeing all back of house operations, including the design and execution of nightly menus and demonstration dinners for 10 guests. Kristen competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Season 10 where she won the coveted title, becoming the second female chef to win the prestigious competition. She went on to become Chef de Cuisine of Menton, Chef Barbara Lynch’s fine dining restaurant. She left this position in 2014 to travel the world and write a cookbook.
Kristen was co-host of 36 Hours, a Travel Channel show that partnered with The New York Times to bring the hit newspaper column to television. In October 2017, Kristen launched her first cookbook, Kristen Kish Cooking.
Currently, Kristen partnered with Sydell group to launch her first restaurant, Arlo Grey. A collaboration between Executive Chef Kish and Sydell group, the restaurant reflects Kristen’s playful yet refined cuisine pulling inspiration from a French and Italian cooking background paired with a nostalgia of dishes from her upbringing to her love of travel that helped her gain an outlook on how people cook to tell their story. Kristen is thrilled to use the ingredients of Texas and the Gulf and marry it with her style to create a place for diners to enjoy.
Up next for Kristen, she will be co-hosting a new TV series, Fast Foodies, in early 2021 on TruTV. Additionally, Kristen will be part of a rotating judging and dining panel for season 18 of Bravo’s Top Chef, set to air spring 2021.
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Mei Lin
Born in Guangdong, China, Chef Mei Lin grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, working alongside her mother and father at their family-owned and -operated Chinese restaurant. It was there where she learned the fundamentals of being a well-rounded cook and how to run a restaurant. At her restaurant Nightshade, opened in 2019, the menu features a concise point of view, showcasing an elegant elevation of classic Asian dishes. Nightshade is the culmination of Lin’s personal culinary history and is on full display, which garnered rave reviews from Food & Wine and GQ’s 2019 Best New Restaurants lists and 2020 James Beard Foundation Best Chef California and Best New Restaurant nominations.
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Photo by Nomadic Reverie
Brooke Williamson
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Brooke Williamson has carved out an impressive résumé full of leading roles and professional achievement, such as being the youngest female chef to ever cook at the James Beard House, winning Bravo’s Top Chef Season 14 in Charleston, and most recently, being crowned the first winner of Food Network’s Tournament of Champions in spring 2020. Although officially beginning her career at the young age of 17, Williamson always wanted to be a chef for as long as she can remember. “I love creating things that make people happy, and I’ve found that food genuinely does that,” she explains.
Williamson began her culinary career as a teacher’s assistant at the Epicurean Institute of Los Angeles, followed by her first kitchen position as a pastry assistant at Fenix at the Argyle Hotel, under the tutelage of Michelin-starred Chef Ken Frank. Her undeniable star quality and concentrated creative energy brought her to Chef Michael McCarty’s nationally acclaimed restaurant Michael’s of Santa Monica, where she worked her way up from line cook to being their youngest sous chef. Williamson later staged at the renowned Daniel restaurant by Chef and Owner Daniel Boulud in New York City. Two years later, Williamson was appointed her first executive chef position at the notable Los Angeles restaurant Boxer. Following that, she opened the Brentwood eatery Zax as Executive Chef, where she began to develop her signature California-inspired cuisine—infused with local ingredients, global flavors, and centered around the idea that simplicity goes a long way. While at Zax, she also met her husband and business partner Nick Roberts. The two have owned and operated several restaurants since, including their fifth establishment, Da Kikokiko in Playa Vista. In 2020, Williamson was certified by The Court of Master Sommeliers.
During her day-to-day operations, she works alongside Roberts creating new menus and running the front and back of house, takes her chef talents on the road to local and national food events and festivals, and regularly participates in philanthropic efforts with No Kid Hungry. When she finds time outside of her many ventures, Williamson stays active by running, bike riding, and playing with their 11-year-old son, Hudson.
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Nancy Pappas
Nancy Pappas is an illustrator and designer based in Seoul and Brooklyn. She is Cherry Bombe’s Art Director. @nkpcreate
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