Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel is an American chef and restaurateur. In 2023 her restaurant Birdie's in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, was named by ''Food & Wine'' their Restaurant of the Year.

Early life and education

Malechek-Ezekiel was born and raised in Tomball, Texas, near Houston. She spent summers on her grandparents' sheep and goat ranch in

west Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

. Her grandfather, Phil Aiello, moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

from

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

when he was twelve. She graduated from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

. She graduated from the

Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the first to ...

at Hyde Park, New York.

Career

After graduating from the University of Houston, Malechek-Ezekiel worked in Spain; in Chicago, where she worked at Lula Cafe; and in New York City, where she worked at Cru, Del Posto, Blue Hill,

Gramercy Tavern Gramercy Tavern is a New American restaurant located at 42 East 20th Street (between Broadway and Park Avenue S.), in the Flatiron District in Manhattan, New York City. It is owned by Danny Meyer (originally co-founded by Meyer and Chef Tom C ...

and Untitled. In 2021 she and her husband, sommelier Arjav Ezekiel, opened Birdie's, a counter-service wine bar in Austin, Texas. The restaurant's service model, which '' Austin Monthly'' calls a "new take", maintains a minimal front-of-house staff; it takes no reservations, all diners stand in line to place their initial orders and seat themselves, and further service is not assigned to a single server. It closes for two weeks in August and two weeks in late December/early January to provide staff paid time off. The restaurant was named to ''The New York Times'' 2021 Restaurant List. The ''Austin American-Statesman'' named it Austin's best new restaurant of 2021. It was named Food & Wine's 2023 Restaurant of the Year. The couple also run pop-up Italian restaurants called Aiello's after Malechek-Ezekiel's grandfather.

Reception

''The New York Times'' in 2021 called her food "bright ndgraceful" and said she was on "the leading edge of what makes eating great in ustin. The ''Austin American-Statesman'' in 2021 called her food "straightforward food executed flawlessly". CBS's Jamie Wax, describing himself as a lifelong fan of beef tartare, called her version "the best tartare I've ever tasted"; the ''Austin American-Statesman'''s Matthew Odam also called out the dish, saying, "If there’s a better beef tartare in Austin,...I haven’t had it". In 2024 she was a

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 awar ...

finalist for Best Chef:Texas.

Personal life

Malechek-Ezekiel married Arjav Ezekiel in 2018. The couple met in 2015 while both were working at Untitled in New York City, she as sous chef and he as dining room manager. They have a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malechek-Ezekiel, Tracy Living people American women chefs American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs University of Houston alumni Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park alumni People from Tomball, Texas Year of birth missing (living people)