Culinary
Culinary
JWU Charlotte Alumnus Tristan Epps ’09 Named Top Chef
Adding to a growing list of culinary accomplishments, JWU Charlotte alumnus Tristan Epps ’09 was recently crowned winner of the 22nd season of the reality television cooking competition "Top Chef."
“For me professionally, this means I took the right step,” says Epps of his win. “The reason I decided to do this had a lot to do with increasing visibility for different cultures and cooking techniques. I did it for people that look like me and want to have the same success in fine dining.”
Epps was particularly proud of the oxtail Milanese crepinette with curry-spiced Carolina rice grits and bone marrow gremolata he created for the competition’s finale. “I think it summed up who I am and what I was out there to do,” says Epps. “And for the judges to really like it and give great feedback on it was fantastic. It was the cherry on top.”
Fred Tiess, a master instructor at Johnson & Wales who taught Epps in his Classical French Cuisine class, was struck by the high level of culinary mastery Epps maintained throughout the competition and the way he stayed true to his passion for Afro-Caribbean cuisine. “He consistently delivered on every level,” says Tiess. “From bold flavors to flawless execution, his dishes told powerful stories rooted in Afro-Caribbean heritage, Southern tradition and global technique.”
Epps, whose win brings with it a grand prize of $250,000, national media coverage and a spotlight at the James Beard House, is the first Black chef to win "Top Chef" in 15 years.
With Trinidadian roots and a childhood spent traveling the world with his active military mother, Epps has cooked all over the US and on several continents. After completing his bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts and Food & Beverage Industry Management at Johnson & Wales, he embarked on the famously rigorous Greenbrier Culinary Apprenticeship Program at West Virginia’s National Historic Landmark hotel.
In 2014, while competing on ABC’s The Taste cooking show, Epps met celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson who invited him to work at his acclaimed Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem as well as on projects in London, Sweden, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Miami. While running the culinary program at South Beach’s Eden Roc Hotel, Epps earned a James Beard Semi-Finalist nomination for Best Chef South in 2024.
Epps credits his time at Johnson & Wales with developing his sense of professionalism and lifelong habits of hard work. He fondly remembers classes with Sajudin Abdullah, his baking and pastry teacher, as well as Fred Tiess and Karl Stybe, a beloved professor on the Charlotte Campus who passed away in 2019. “He was always so excited when students got something right,” Epps says of Stybe, “just an amazing professor.” For aspiring JWU chefs, Epps’s advice is to “put the work in” and take the initiative to ask a professor if they don’t understand something or want to learn more. “I’ve never had a JWU professor say no to teaching me something, even if wasn’t on the curriculum.”
Now based in Houston, Epps has plans to open Buboy, a fine-dining Afro-Caribbean tasting menu restaurant. Winning "Top Chef," he says, has given him confidence and validation as well as a platform to share his overarching message: “Celebrate your story. Every story counts, whether you grew up in the Midwest eating tuna noodle casserole or you’re from South Sudan. Every story is worth celebrating.”
Quick Questions with Chef Epps
- Most used ingredient in your kitchen? Salt
- What restaurant would you love to eat at next? Ikoye in London
- What music do you listen to in the kitchen? ’90s R&B and hip hop. But if I’m really feeling it, I’ll throw some Bruno Mars in.
- Dream dinner guest? Barack Obama
- An item you would always have on a menu? Oxtail
- First thing you cooked at Johnson & Wales? An omelet
- A kitchen tool that you can't live without. A blender
- What skill from Johnson & Wales do you still use every day? All my knife skills.
- What's always in your fridge? Hot sauce
