Mashama Bailey
Bailey's restaurant, The Grey, in Savannah, Georgia
Born
Mashama Bailey

Bronx, New York
EducationFrancis Lewis High School
Sullivan County Community College
Brooklyn College
Institute of Culinary Education
Culinary career
Cooking styleSouthern cuisine
French technique
Current restaurant(s)
Previous restaurant(s)
    • Prune
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

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 beings that of Art Carney. [3]

Working as a personal chef didn't 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

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

  • 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

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

  1. 1 2 Zusel, Yvonne. "Mashama Bailey of Savannah's The Grey takes home James Beard Award". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 Fabricant, Florence. "Mashama Bailey and Owamni Win Top Honors at James Beard Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Glock, Allison (January 2016). "Mashama Bailey's Home Cooking". Garden & Gun.
  4. 1 2 3 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.
  5. ↑ Fishman, Jane (2014-10-25). "New Savannah restaurant turns strangers to partners". Savannah Morning News.
  6. ↑ Deruy, Emily (2015-10-07). "Breaking Into The Boys' Club from a Kitchen in Savannah". The Atlantic.
  7. 1 2 Day, Ashley (2018-10-26). "Mashama Bailey's Big Year". Institute of Culinary Education.
  8. ↑ Morabito, Greg (2019-03-01). "'Chef's Table' Recap: Mashama Bailey Tells a Fresh Story About the South". Eater.
  9. ↑ Kinsman, Kat (2016-04-25). "Sauté It Forward". Tasting Table.
  10. ↑ Klein, Danny (January 2016). "Into the Grey". FNR Magazone.
  11. 1 2 Harrison, Olivia (2019-02-28). "Everything You Need To Know About Chef Mashama Bailey From Chef's Table". Refinery29.
  12. 1 2 Rockwood, Kate (2018). "The Grey". Time.
  13. ↑ Gordinier, Jeff (2015-07-27). "At the Grey in Savannah, History Takes Another Turn". New York Times.
  14. ↑ Bonney, Grace (May 2015). "A Tour of The Grey in Savannah + Chow Chow Recipe + Weekly Wrap Up". Design Sponge.
  15. ↑ "The 2015 Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists". James Beard Foundation. 2015-02-18.
  16. ↑ Yagoda, Maria (2018-11-09). "Mashama Bailey Opens The Grey Market Just Blocks From Award-Winning Savannah Restaurant The Grey". Food & Wine.
  17. ↑ Figueras, Ligaya (2018-02-07). "Georgia chef fosters legacy of Southern food dame Edna Lewis". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ "The 2018 James Beard Award Semifinalists". James Beard Foundation.
  20. ↑ "Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year 2015". Food & Wine. 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  21. ↑ Addison, Bill (2017-11-28). "The Triumph of the Grey". Eater.
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