celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...
and
restaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
. She is based in Boston, has served as a judge on Food Network's television series Chopped, and is a four-time
James Beard Award
The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awa ...
Finalist for Best Chef: Northeast (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022). She was the Winner of Tournament of Champions season 3 and was named Boston's Best Chef by Boston Magazine in 2022. She was one of two finalists on the first season of Bravo's
reality show
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
''
Top Chef
''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...
'', where she finished second place to
Harold Dieterle
Harold Dieterle III (born June 11, 1977, in West Babylon, New York) is an American top chef, best known as the winner of the first season of the Bravo television network's reality television series ''Top Chef''. After winning ''Top Chef'', he ow ...
.
Her company, ''Big Heart Hospitality'' has owned the following restaurants: ''Sweet Cheeks Q'', ''Orfano'', ''Fool's Errand'', ''Bubble Bath'', ''Tenderoni's'', ''Dive Bar'', and ''Tiger Mama''.
Early career
Faison attended the
Cambridge School of Culinary Arts
Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (CSCA) is a professional school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers several certificate and professional programs, including a culinary studies and pastry specialization. It also offers a variety ...
(2002 to 2003). Just prior to appearing on ''Top Chef'', Faison was employed as chef de partie under
Daniel Boulud
Daniel Boulud (born 25 March 1955 in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu) is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, the Berkshires and Dubai. He is best known ...
Wynn Las Vegas
Wynn Las Vegas, often simply referred to as Wynn, is a luxury resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Wynn Resorts, and was built on the former site of the Desert Inn resort ...
and also worked at the ''Tao'' restaurant at The Venetian in the same city.
After the airing of the final episode of ''Top Chef'' in May 2006, Faison took a summer position cooking at the ''Straight Wharf'' restaurant in
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuset ...
executive chef
A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilitie ...
at
Todd English
William Todd English (born August 29, 1960) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, author, and television personality, based in Boston, Massachusetts. He hosted the TV cooking show, ''Food Trip with Todd English,'' on PBS. In 2005 he was ...
’s
brasserie
In France, Flanders, and the Francophone world, a brasserie () is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word ''brasserie'' is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brew ...
, ''
Riche
Riche (; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France
See also
* Communes of the Moselle department
The following is a list of the 725 communes of the Moselle department of France.
The communes cooperate ...
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
. In May 2007, Faison cohosted a
Greek Isles
Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227.
The largest Greek island by a ...
culinary
Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs ...
cruise for ''Olivia'', a lesbian lifestyle and travel services company. Faison returned to Boston, and was Executive Chef at
Michela Larson Michela Larson is a Boston area chef. ''The Boston Globe'' called her one of the city’s “trailblazing female restaurateurs in an era when they were few and far between.”
Larson was partners with Jody Adams in opening Rialto in Harvard Squar ...
’s ''Rocca Kitchen & Bar'', a popular neighborhood space on Friday nights, until it closed in December 2010.
Television appearances
Faison first rose to culinary fame when she placed runner-up in the first Season of Top Chef. She then took part in a single episode cooking competition called '' 4 Star All Stars'' which pitted four
Top Chef
''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...
season one Season One may refer to:
Albums
* ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004
* ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughters album), 2012
* ''Season One'' (Saukrates album), 2012
See also
*
*
* Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to:
...
contestants (
Stephen Asprinio
Stephen Asprinio (born in Palm Beach County, Florida) is an American restaurateur, sommelier, chef, and former ''Top Chef'' contestant.
Biography
Asprinio studied at the Culinary Institute of America. He continued his education after culinary ...
, Dieterle, Faison and David Martin) against four
season two Season 2 may refer to:
* ''Season 2'' (Infinite album)
* ''2econd Season
''2econd Season'' is the second and most recent album by Atlanta-based rapper Unk.
Release
It was released on November 4, 2008.
Guest Performers
The album features gue ...
contestants (Elia Aboumrad, Ilan Hall, Sam Talbot and Marcel Vigneron). Faison's team scored the winning menu and received a $20,000 donation to the
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States.
Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
. This episode aired on Bravo on June 6, 2007.
Faison also participated in the Top Chef Holiday Special that aired on December 7, 2007, winning the $20,000 prize. Faison returned as a contestant on
season 8
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
of Top Chef and was eliminated in the sixth episode. Faison finished runner-up in the ''
Top Chef Duels
''Top Chef Duels'' is an American reality competition series which premiered on August 6, 2014, on Bravo (U.S. TV channel), Bravo. The culinary show is one of the several Spin-off (media), spin-off series of the popular cooking competition show ' ...
'' 2014 competition. As of 2020, Faison is a judge on Chopped and participated as the judge to beat on one of the beat the judge episodes. She also made it to the finals of Chopped: Grudge Match, placing second to Marcus Samuelsson.
In 2021, Faison competed in Food Network's Tournament of Champions, and in 2022, Faison returned to compete and win Tournament of Champions, Season 3, as well as serve as a judge on Chopped: Casino Royale. Tiffani Faison won Tournament of Champions 3, defeating Brooke Williamson in the finale.
Faison has also been a culinary guest on such national television shows as ''NBC TODAY'' CBS: This Morning and ''America's Test Kitchen''.
Chef and restaurateur
Faison is currently the owner and head chef of ''Sweet Cheeks Q'', a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in Boston's Fenway District. Opened in late 2011, ''Sweet Cheeks Q'' was her first restaurant. ''Sweet Cheeks Q'' has been named as Boston's Best Barbecue by local and national media, and Forbes wrote that its "biscuits were the best in the world."
In December 2015, she opened her acclaimed restaurant, ''Tiger Mama'' in Fenway, focusing on Southeast Asian cuisine. Faison closed ''Tiger Mama'' in late October 2021 to focus on a new restaurant that will be located in the same space in Fenway (coming in late 2022). Tenderoni's will open there in November 2022.
In February 2018, Faison opened up her third Fenway restaurant, the "Adult Snack Bar" ''Fool's Errand''. Her venture ''Orfano'', which serves Italian-American cuisine, opened in August 2019 and received a three star review from ''The Boston Globe''. It later closed permanently in June 2022. In 2022, Faison opened ''Tenderoni's'', ''Dive Bar'', and ''Bubble Bath'' within High Street Place, a new food hall in Downtown Boston. Tenderoni's serves craft pizza by the slice, while Dive Bar offers raw oysters and other seafood dishes.
Restaurants
Active
* ''Sweet Cheeks Q'' (2011–present), Boston, Massachusetts
* ''Fool's Errand'' (February 2018–present), Boston, Massachusetts
* ''Bubble Bath'' (March 2022–present), inside High Street Place, Boston, Massachusetts
* ''Tenderoni's'' (March 2022–present), inside High Street Place, Boston, Massachusetts
* ''Dive Bar'' (March 2022–present), inside High Street Place, Boston, Massachusetts
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the R ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, to American parents, where her father was stationed in the United States military. The family moved around several times during her childhood and by the time she was in high school, settled in
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
.
Faison formerly identified as
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...
, but now identifies as lesbian. Faison began volunteering for HIV/AIDS organizations and going into San Francisco. Faison currently serves on the Board of Directors for Women Chefs & Restaurateurs as well as on The Boston Alliance of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Youth.
In September 2019, she was appointed to The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Restaurant Promotion Commission for her commitment to the state's restaurant business.
Awards and accolades
*James Beard Foundation, Nominee, Best Chef: Northeast (2022)
*James Beard Foundation, Nominee, Best Chef: Northeast (2020)
*James Beard Foundation, Nominee, Best Chef: Northeast (2019)
*James Beard Foundation, Nominee, Best Chef: Northeast (2018)
*
Boston Magazine
''Boston'' is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication since 1805.
History and profile
''Boston'' magazine was started in 1805. Metrocorp, Inc. bought the magazine in 1970. The company also owns ...