Anita Lo (born 1965) is an American

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

and restaurateur. In 2001, she was named by ''

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...

'' magazine one of ten "Best New Chefs in America".Annisa Restaurant
Annisa Restaurant Biography
Retrieved October 7, 2010.

Biography

Early life

Anita Lo, a second-generation Malaysian American, grew up in

Birmingham, Michigan Birmingham is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor (M-1 (Michigan highway), M-1). As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 censu ...

. She graduated from

Concord Academy Concord Academy (also known as CA) is a coeducational, Independent school, independent University-preparatory school, college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in Concord, Massachusetts. CA educates approximately 400 students in ...

and then from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where she earned a degree in French literature. While a student at the culinary school L’Ecole Ritz-Escoffier, she interned with top French chefs Guy Savoy and Michel Rostang. Lo is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

Career

After completing culinary school in Paris, Lo returned to New York where she worked at several restaurants including Chanterelle, Can, a French-Vietnamese restaurant, and Maxim's. She then moved to Mirezi restaurant, where she earned headlines and rave reviews from restaurant critics, including

Ruth Reichl Ruth Reichl ( ; born 1948) is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times'', Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and ...

from ''The New York Times''.Top Chef Biography
Anita Lo Top Chef Masters Official Biography
Retrieved October 7, 2010. In 2000, Anita Lo and her business partner Jennifer Scism opened Annisa in New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

. Annisa received a two-star review from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Lo was named to ''

'' magazine's list of the ten “Best New Chefs in America”, and ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' named her the “Best New Restaurant Chef.” In 2006, Annisa was awarded a Michelin star in the first

Michelin Guide The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

for New York City. In 2005, Anita Lo co-founded Rickshaw, a

dumpling Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

bar with several locations in New York City. She left Rickshaw in 2010, saying that she wanted to devote more time to the recently re-opened Annisa and to her other professional interests.

Anita Lo Leaves Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
July 6, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-08. In 2008, she opened Bar Q, a barbecue-Asian fusion restaurant in Greenwich Village. Bar Q received favorable food reviews but somewhat critical reviews for service and was not universally well received by residents in the neighborhood. It closed after ten months.

Gothamist ''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...

Anita Lo's Bar Q Has Closed
February 17, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-07. On July 4, 2009, Annisa was destroyed by fire. The restaurant reopened in April 2010 at the same location.Bloomberg News

August 18, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-07. The reopened restaurant was reviewed again by ''The New York Times'' and again received two stars.

Annisa Restaurant Review
June 10, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-07. Scism also left Annisa in June 2010, leaving Lo as the sole owner. In 2011, the

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Village Preservation (formerly the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, or GVSHP) is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the architectural preservation and cultural preservation and opposes housing development in severa ...

recognized the restaurant's excellence with a Village Award. Annisa received three stars from ''The New York Times'' in 2014.

Annisa Loses Its Host, and an Owner
July 16, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-07. In 2015, Anita Lo was the first female guest chef to cook for a

State dinner A state banquet is an official banquet hosted by the head of state in their official residence for another head of state, or sometimes head of government, and other guests. Usually as part of a state visit or diplomatic conference, it is held ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. She prepared a 4 course meal for the visiting Chinese president,

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

and his wife

Peng Liyuan Peng Liyuan (; born 20 November 1962) is a Chinese contemporary folk singer and the wife of Xi Jinping, current General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of China. Peng gained popularity as a singer from her regular appear ...

. In May 2017, after 17 years of business, she closed the Annisa on financial grounds, blaming the continuous increase of real estate taxes and of minimum wages.

Television appearances

* 2005: Appearance on the first season of ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

''. She competed against Iron Chef

Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and former restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and ...

in Battle Mushrooms, defeating Batali by a score of 54-45. She was the first challenger to win a battle on ''Iron Chef America'' and remained the only female challenger to win until

Traci Des Jardins Traci Des Jardins is an American chef and restaurateur who previously owned Jardinière, a French influenced California fine-dining restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Biography Des Jardins was raised on a ...

defeated Batali in Episode 5 of Season 2. * 2009: Contestant on the first season of

Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo (American TV network), Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff (media), spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the ...

. She finished in fourth place among the 24 competing chefs, earning $20,000 for her chosen charity, SHARE. * 2011: Contestant on Chopped: All-Stars Tournament. She lost to Nate Appleman. * In 2018 she was profiled in

Maya Gallus Maya Gallus is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, and co-founder of Red Queen Productions with Justine Pimlott. Her films have been screened at international film festivals, including Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festi ...

's documentary film '' The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution''.Isabel Teotonio
"New documentary the Heat puts spotlight on female chefs in male-dominated industry"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', April 24, 2018.

Works

*''Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One'', Knopf, 2018

References

External links

Annisa Restaurant Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lo, Anita Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Malaysian descent American television chefs American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs People from Birmingham, Michigan American people of Chinese descent Columbia College (New York) alumni Place of birth missing (living people) American women chefs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Concord Academy alumni American chefs 21st-century American women LGBTQ chefs