Early life
Williams was born in 1984 or 1985 in Detroit to parents who were also from Detroit. She studied food science atCareer
Williams served as sous chef for Wolfgang Puck in Chicago and worked in restaurants in New York and at in Copenhagen. She was living in New York and working in restaurants when she came home to attend a funeral and "decided this is the only place I want to have a restaurant." She returned to Detroit and helped open Republic Tavern and Parks & Rec Diner, serving as Executive Chef for Republic and Rodin before opening Lady of the House. The restaurant opened in September 2017 in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood in a 1970s building that was previously home to St. Cece's, an Irish pub. It is open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner and, since February 2018, on Saturday and Sunday for brunch. Some of the dinnerware had belonged to Williams' grandmother. Childhood photos of restaurant employees hang in a hallway. According to '' Food + Wine'' it is a "no-waste kitchen." Williams uses trim from prime rib to make tartare. Diners are sometimes disappointed when a dish they've read about is unavailable due to the seasonal nature of Williams' menu. One of Williams' signature dishes is a "carrot steak," a large carrot shaved into thin slices, salted, rolled into a rosette, and basted in butter. It requires large carrots, so is available only at times of year when local farmers are producing them. Williams' initial vision was to build a neighborhood restaurant "that feels like it's been there forever." She wanted a restaurant "small enough that I am cooking every day and not just doing paperwork." She has family connections to Corktown and Detroit. Her paternal grandfather once lived a few blocks from the restaurant's location. Her maternal grandparents met at the Gaelic League, located around the corner. A great-great-grandfather ran a bakery in Detroit'sRecognition
In 2018 ''Food + Wine'' named her one of America's best new chefs, one of only three Michigan chefs since the magazine started the list. The same year, ''GQ'' and ''Esquire'' named the restaurant to their lists of the year's best new restaurants. The restaurant was a semifinalist for the James Beard award for best new restaurant in the country. In 2019 she was a semifinalist for aPhilanthropy
Williams works with Alternatives for Girls, which helps homeless and at-risk girls and young women. She teaches cooking classes on preparing inexpensive, healthy meals.Personal life
Williams has lived in Corktown since 2014.References
External links