Mashama Bailey
Mashama Bailey | |
|---|---|
Bailey's restaurant, The Grey, in Savannah, Georgia | |
| Born | Mashama Bailey |
| Education | Francis Lewis High School Sullivan County Community College Brooklyn College Institute of Culinary Education |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Southern cuisine French technique |
Current restaurant(s)
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Previous restaurant(s)
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Television show(s) | |
Mashama Bailey is an American chef trained in French technique who is currently cooking Southern cuisine. In 2019, Bailey was awarded a James Beard Award as best chef of the southeast.[1] In 2022, Bailey was awarded a James Beard Award as Outstanding Chef.[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Mashama Bailey was born to David and Catherine Bailey in the Bronx.[3] She was the eldest of three with one sister and one brother.[4] Bailey moved to Waynesboro, Georgia at the age of 2, Savannah, Georgia at 5, and then to Queens, New York when she was 11.[5] Bailey learned to cook from her mother and grandmother.[4]
After graduating from Francis Lewis High School, Bailey attended Sullivan County Community College[3] where she studied physical therapy and later switched to social work.[6] Early in her career, Bailey worked at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, New York. As the project underwent changes she was let go, an experience that became a catalyst for her to explore the culinary arts. [7] She enrolled in Peter Kump's New York Cooking School, and after graduating began her culinary career at Aquagrill in SoHo. [7]
Bailey, interested in exploring the wider range of careers available in the culinary arts, took a break from the restaurant industry, during which time she worked as a personal chef on the Upper East Side.[8] This left some of her family concerned with the racial and class dynamics, as it seemed a return to how her grandmother migrated from Georgia to Manhattan and worked as a maid. Bailey's grandmother worked within several households, one of the more famous being that of Art Carney.[3]
Working as a personal chef did not inspire Bailey as she had hoped, and during this time she applied for a work-study program that led her to Château du Fey in Burgundy, France.[4] There she was mentored by Anne Willan who advised her to continue cooking in restaurants instead of exploring a culinary writing career. [9]
Career
[edit]Bailey started her career as an intern at Aquagrill in 2001, and also worked at David Burke and Donatella, and the Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel.[10] In 2010, Bailey was hired at Prune, where she was quickly promoted to sous-chef and worked for four years.[11]
Startup entrepreneur John O. Morisano heard about Bailey through the chef and owner of Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton, and reached out to her about a long-abandoned, former Jim Crow segregated Greyhound station he'd bought in Savannah, Georgia.[12][13] Across the street from the property is the Chatham County Courthouse where Bailey's parents were married in the 1980s.[14] The restaurant, named The Grey, was nominated for the 2015 James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant.[15]
On October 15, 2018, Morisano and Bailey opened The Grey Market in Savannah inspired by Southern lunch counters and New York City bodegas.[16] Since 2017, Bailey has served as chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation, which works to "revive, preserve, and celebrate the rich history of African-American cookery by cultivating a deeper understanding of Southern food and culture in America."[11][17]
Awards
[edit]- The Grey was named one of Food & Wine's best restaurants of 2019.[18]
- Winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southeast in 2019.[1]
- In 2018, she was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Southeast.[19]
- The Grey was one of Food & Wine's best restaurants of 2015.[20]
- The Grey was the 2017 Restaurant of the Year from Eater[21]
- The Grey was chosen as one of the best 100 places in the world by Time in 2018.[12]
- Winner James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2022. [2]
Television
[edit]She was a featured chef in the sixth season of Netflix's Chef's Table and was a guest on season 14, episode 6 of Top Chef.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Zusel, Yvonne. "Mashama Bailey of Savannah's The Grey takes home James Beard Award". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ a b Fabricant, Florence. "Mashama Bailey and Owamni Win Top Honors at James Beard Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
- ^ a b c Glock, Allison (January 2016). "Mashama Bailey's Home Cooking". Garden & Gun.
- ^ a b c Bailey, Mashama (2018). "It's Not All Fried Chicken and Greasy Greens". In Franklin, Sara B. (ed.). Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original. UNC Press.
- ^ Fishman, Jane (2014-10-25). "New Savannah restaurant turns strangers to partners". Savannah Morning News.
- ^ Deruy, Emily (2015-10-07). "Breaking Into The Boys' Club from a Kitchen in Savannah". The Atlantic.
- ^ a b Day, Ashley (2018-10-26). "Mashama Bailey's Big Year". Institute of Culinary Education.
- ^ Morabito, Greg (2019-03-01). "'Chef's Table' Recap: Mashama Bailey Tells a Fresh Story About the South". Eater.
- ^ Kinsman, Kat (2016-04-25). "Sauté It Forward". Tasting Table.
- ^ Klein, Danny (January 2016). "Into the Grey". FSR.
- ^ a b Harrison, Olivia (2019-02-28). "Everything You Need To Know About Chef Mashama Bailey From Chef's Table". Refinery29.
- ^ a b Rockwood, Kate (2018). "The Grey". Time.
- ^ Gordinier, Jeff (2015-07-27). "At the Grey in Savannah, History Takes Another Turn". New York Times.
- ^ Bonney, Grace (May 2015). "A Tour of The Grey in Savannah + Chow Chow Recipe + Weekly Wrap Up". Design Sponge.
- ^ "The 2015 Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists". James Beard Foundation. 2015-02-18.
- ^ Yagoda, Maria (2018-11-09). "Mashama Bailey Opens The Grey Market Just Blocks From Award-Winning Savannah Restaurant The Grey". Food & Wine.
- ^ Figueras, Ligaya (2018-02-07). "Georgia chef fosters legacy of Southern food dame Edna Lewis". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- ^ Rodell, Besha (August 20, 2019). "These Are the World's Best Restaurants: North America, South America, Africa and Middle East". Food & Wine. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- ^ "The 2018 James Beard Award Semifinalists". James Beard Foundation.
- ^ "Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year 2015". Food & Wine. 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ Addison, Bill (2017-11-28). "The Triumph of the Grey". Eater.