Chris Scott (chef)

Scott was raised in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.{{Cite web |last=Campbell-Schmitt |first=Adam |date=28 January 2019 |title=You Won't Find 'Gentrified Soul Food' at Chris Scott's Connecticut Restaurant |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/news/chris-scott-birdman-bridgeport-ct-interview |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Rapp |first=Julia |date=2023-02-10 |title=Coatesville Chef's Amish Soul Food Celebrates Black History |url=https://vista.today/2023/02/coatesville-chefs-amish/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=VISTA.Today |language=en-US}} His grandmother helped raise him and taught him to cook.{{Cite web |last=Bilyeu |first=Mary |date=2 October 2022 |title=Chefs explore identity, culinary influences in cookbooks |url=https://www.toledoblade.com/a-e/food/2022/10/08/fusion-fare-blends-beautifully-in-new-cookbooks/stories/20220925001 |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Toledo Blade |language=en}} His great-grandparents moved to Coatesville from the tidewater region of Virginia during the Great Migration to work in the steel mill.{{Cite web |last=Wellington |first=Elizabeth |date=2022-10-18 |title=Coatesville chef Chris Scott talks the sweet and sour flavors of Amish soul food |url=https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/chris-scott-homage-soul-food-amish-20221018.html |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Lin-Sommer |first=Sam |date=2023-02-06 |title=The Sweet and Sour Origins of Amish Soul Food |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/amish-soul-food |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}} His great-great-great-grandmother was enslaved in Virginia and freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

In 2010 Scott and his wife, Eugenie Woo, opened a breakfast and brunch restaurant, Brooklyn Commune, in Brooklyn's Windsor Terrace neighborhood and lived upstairs.{{Cite news |last=Mishan |first=Ligaya |date=2017-03-09 |title=Butterfunk Kitchen Is Driven by Soul Food and Built on Memories |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/dining/butterfunk-kitchen-review-soul-food-brooklyn.html |access-date=2025-04-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In 2017 the couple opened Butterfunk Kitchen in the space next door. They later rebranded Brooklyn Commune as Sumner's Luncheonette. Both closed in 2018. In 2019 they opened Birdman Juke Joint, paying homage to the chicken shacks of Southern cuisine such as Hattie B's and Prince's Hot Chicken, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.{{Cite web |last=Steele |first=Lee |date=22 February 2019 |title=5 questions for Chris Scott, a 'Top Chef' bringing soul food to Black Rock |url=https://www.ctpost.com/living/article/5-questions-for-Chris-Scott-a-Top-Chef-13601593.php |website=Connecticut Post}} Scott operated a ghost kitchen in Soho, Butterfunk Biscuit, and later opened a bricks-and-mortar version in Harlem.{{Cite web |last=Petre |first=Holly |date=16 March 2021 |title='Top Chef' contestant and former Butterfunk owner Chris Scott on closing and reopening and finding new opportunities in ghost kitchens |url=https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/restaurant-concepts-chefs/-top-chef-contestant-and-former-butterfunk-owner-chris-scott-on-closing-and-reopening-and-finding-new-opportunities-in-ghost-kitchens |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Restaurant Hospitality |language=en}}

In 2018 he participated in the James Beard Foundation's first-ever Juneteenth celebration dinner, along with fellow Top Chef contestants Adrienne Cheatham, Tanya Holland, and Brother Luck.{{Cite web |last=Campbell-Schmitt |first=Adam |date=18 June 2018 |title=Chefs on the Significance of Juneteenth: 'There's Room for All of Us' |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/juneteenth-dinner-james-beard-house-8702178 |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}} In 2019 he became an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education.{{Cite web |title=Five Celebrity Chefs Join The Institute Of Culinary Education |url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/five-celebrity-chefs-join-the-institute-of-culinary-education-1028274110 |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Business Insider |language=en}}

Scott describes his cooking style as Amish soul food, a reference to his family's roots in Southern cuisine and his upbringing in an area that specializes in Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. He describes Amish soul food as dishes created by Black families who moved to Pennsylvania's Amish country and incorporated ingredients from Amish cuisine into their family recipes, especially sweet and sour flavors.{{Cite web |last=Faulcon |first=Aniya |date=2022-10-31 |title=What is Amish soul food and how did it come to be? |url=https://www.witf.org/2022/10/31/what-is-amish-soul-food-and-how-did-it-come-to-be/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=WITF |language=en}} According to Scott, a dish of scrapple served with okra chow-chow could be the "poster child" of Amish soul food, as okra is integral to Southern cuisine and agriculture, scrapple is a typical Pennsylvania Dutch dish, and chow-chow, which has West African roots, is found in both cuisines. Scott has said that early in his career, while studying the techniques of French cuisine, he had been "embarrassed" to cook soul food and Southern food because it was ridiculed in fine dining restaurants and only prepared for staff meals, but as he matured and became more confident in his culinary approach, he embraced both as legitimate cuisines.{{Cite web |last=Bloom |first=Mike |date=2018-02-21 |title=Top Chef Colorado: Chris Scott Bakes, Bonds and Battles |url=https://parade.com/647812/mikebloom/top-chef-colorado-chris-scott-bakes-bonds-and-battles/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Parade |language=en}}

In 2018 Scott competed on season 15 of American cooking competition show Top Chef, where he was eliminated in the finals.{{Cite web |last=Vinopal |first=Lauren |date=2018-03-04 |title='Top Chef' Finalist Chris Scott's Wife Convinced Him To Do The Show |url=https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/top-chef-finalist-chris-scotts-interview |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Fatherly |language=en}}

• {{Cite book |title=Homage : recipes and stories from an Amish soul food kitchen |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/1287749536?oclcNum=1287749536 |date=2022 |language=en |isbn=9781797207742}}{{Cite web |last=Mikulich |first=Leah |date=2025-01-17 |title=Coatesville Chef Puts Personal Spin on Pennsylvania Dutch Stew |url=https://vista.today/2025/01/pennsylvania-dutch-stew-chris-scott/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=VISTA.Today |language=en-US}}

Scott is married to Eugenie Woo. The couple has four daughters. He is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober since 2014. He is a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.{{Cite web |last=Reedy |first=Allyson |date=2018-02-08 |title=Denver's “Top Chef” contestant called the Eagles' Super Bowl win in June. Her poutine got her there to see it in person. |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/08/denvers-top-chef-super-bowl-2018/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=The Denver Post |language=en-US}}

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Category:Living people

Category:People from Coatesville, Pennsylvania

Category:American chefs