Erika Council, founder and chef of Atlanta’s Bomb Biscuit Co., was named to Food & Wine’s 2024 Best New Chefs list.
Council is one of 13 chefs from around the country to earn a spot on the list, which honors chefs who are “leaders at the stove, creating food that is innovative, disruptive, highly personal and delicious,” according to a news release.
The monthslong selection process is open to chefs who have been in charge of a kitchen or pastry program for five years or less. Food & Wine solicits nominations from Best New Chef alums, food writers, cookbook authors and other experts, then sends scouts to restaurants in search of promising new chefs.
“For this class of best new chefs, ‘fusion’ is something to celebrate, borders are imaginary constructs and the world is a delicious pantry to pull from,” restaurant editor Raphael Brion said in a prepared statement.
This year’s winners will also participate in the Best New Chef Mentorship Program, which aims to support the chefs as they grow in their careers.
Council spent years making biscuits in her grandmother’s soul food restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but she really started to perfect them while baking on her own to relieve the stress of her corporate job.
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She started Bomb Biscuits as a pop-up and biscuit delivery service in 2016, and now operates a brick-and-mortar location in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Council also published a cookbook, “Still We Rise,” which includes more than 70 recipes and highlights the contributions of Black bakers and chefs who came before her.
Earlier this year, Council was named a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist in the Best Chef: Southeast category, and Bomb Biscuit Co. was included in The New York Times’ 2023 Restaurant List, which recognized the 50 most exciting restaurants in the US.
Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs list has recognized 389 chefs since its inception in 1988. Previous Atlanta winners include pitmaster Bryan Furman, who let Council operate pop-ups at his restaurant in her early years and plans to open a new eatery in the coming months.
The full Best New Chefs list can be found online at foodandwine.com/bestnewchefs2024 and in the October print issue of Food & Wine starting Sept. 20.
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