Tanya Holland

Last updated
Tanya Holland
TanyaHolland red (1).jpg
Born (1965-07-14) July 14, 1965 (age 59)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Education University of Virginia,
La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine
SpousePhil Surkis (2007–2016)
Culinary career
Cooking styleNew Soul
Previous restaurant(s)
Website tanyaholland.com

Tanya Holland (born July 14, 1965) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, podcast host, writer, and cookbook author. She is known as an expert of soul food. Holland is an alumna of Bravo TV's Top Chef , where she competed on the 15th season. She was the owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, California (2008 to 2022), which received national recognition and multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards. [1]

Contents

Holland has authored 2 cookbooks, "New Soul Cooking" and "Brown Sugar Kitchen". Her 3rd cookbook "California Soul" will be released on October 25, 2022. In 2020 she joined the James Beard Foundation Board of Trustees, is the Chair of James Beard Foundation Awards Committee (2021–present) and is a frequent writer and chef at the James Beard Foundation. She is an in-demand public speaker and lecturer who frequently leads the conversation on inclusion and equity in the hospitality industry. In 2020 she started Tanya’s Table Podcast and released 2 seasons.

Early life and education

Holland was born on July 14, 1965, in Hartford, Connecticut, to parents Annette Holland and Hollis Holland. [2] Her father attended Western New England College. The Holland family moved to Rochester, New York, when she was two years old, when her father took a job with Eastman Kodak. [2] Holland’s parents influenced her interest in cooking: her father is from rural Virginia and her mother from Louisiana. [3] [4] When Holland was eight years old, her parents founded a gourmet cooking and eating club that consisted of six couples from different ethnic and professional backgrounds. [5] They gathered to share experiences and meals that ranged from French, Mexican, Jewish, Indian, Pennsylvanian Dutch, Italian and Southern cuisine. [6]

Holland graduated from Pittsford-Mendon High School in 1983. She attended the University of Virginia, where she graduated in 1987 with a BA degree in Russian Language and Literature. [6] Holland attended La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, a school founded by Anne Willan in Burgundy, France, where she received a Grand Diploma in 1992.

Early career

She began her restaurant career in New York City as an assistant manager at Cornelia Street Café, Café Rakel, and Nosmo King restaurants. She went on to work as a catering office manager, an assistant sommelier for a wine importer, and a server at Mesa Grill before she committed to a career in the kitchen.

While in France, she trained with Michel Sarran at Le Mas Du Langoustier on the island of Porquerolles and with Jean-Michel Bouvier at Restaurant L’Essential in Chambéry. [7]

Chef career

Holland returned to Mesa Grill in 1994 to work as a line cook. While working as a line cook at Verbena, she supplemented her income as a food styling assistant to Roscoe Betsill [6] whose work has been featured in Metropolitan Home, Vegetarian Times and Food and Wine magazines.

She spent two summers cooking on Martha’s Vineyard Island at The Oyster Bar and L’Etoile, interrupted by a winter at Hamersley's Bistro in Boston. [6] She received positive reviews as the Executive Chef of The Delux Café in Boston and The Victory Kitchen in Brooklyn. [8]

California

In 2002, she returned to the front of the house as Creative Director at Le Théâtre in Berkeley, California. [9] Holland has lived in Oakland, California, since 2003. [2] She opened her first restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen in West Oakland in 2008, receiving positive reviews for signature dishes such as chicken and waffles, oyster po’boys, and BBQ shrimp & grits. [10] After 10 years in West Oakland, Brown Sugar Kitchen relocated to Downtown Oakland in 2019, before closing in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. [1]

Her barbecue restaurant, B-Side BBQ, was open from 2011 to 2015. [11] [12] She had started the plans to open a San Francisco Ferry Building location of Brown Sugar Kitchen in 2017, after much planning the restaurant was opened from 2020 to 2021. [13] From 2001 until 2022, Holland owned and operated Town Fare, a cafe within the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA). [14]

Restaurants

Writing and podcast career

She has contributed to Food and Wine and Signature Bride magazines. [2] She has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal , Savoy magazine, [2] Travel + Leisure , Sunset , [2] Food and Wine , [18] O Magazine , [19] Ebony, Essence, and local publications. She has written for Wine Enthusiast [20] and The Huffington Post . [21]

In 2020, she released her debut Tanya's Table Podcast produced by MuddHouse Media. [22] Guests on Season One of the podcast have included Samin Nosrat, Questlove, Alice Waters, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. [22] Season Two of Tanya’s Table”ran from December 2020 through March 2021 and featured special guests Ayesha Curry, Danny Glover, Bonnie Raitt, Phil Rosenthal, Lars Ulrich, Lizz Wright, Ericka Huggins, Jonny Moseley, and others.

Teaching career

In 1998 she taught at the Cambridge Culinary Institute in Massachusetts and continues to share her knowledge at recreational cooking schools across the country such as Cooking by the Book, Ramekins, Draegers, Central Market, Whole Foods, and Andronico’s Market, and at Rancho La Puerto Resort and Spa in Tecate, Mexico. Holland is a member of the prestigious Chef’s Council for The Center For Culinary Development in San Francisco. [23] Having been appointed as a Culinary Diplomat by the United States' Foreign Service Department for tours in Kazakhstan and Mexico, Holland also has taught classes in France for gastronomic travelers.

Holland serves as the Consulting Chef on Stanford University's Dining Hall concept, Red Skillet Kitchen, and Senior Advisor to Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises.

Television appearances

In 2017, Holland was a contestant on the 15th Season of Bravo TV's series Top Chef, an American reality show where she placed 9th out of 16. In 2020, Holland was the host of the OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network TV show "Tanya's Kitchen Table." The show aired from November 14 – December 26, 2020.

Honors and awards

Tanya has received numerous awards and accolades, including:

The Oakland mayor Jean Quan and city council of Oakland passed a council resolution on June 5, 2012, declaring that day as "Tanya Holland Day” for her “Significant Role in Creating Community and Establishing Oakland as a Culinary Center”. [25]

Holland was named "2013 Restaurateur/Chef of the Year" by the California Travel Association during the California Travel Summit in March 2013 in San Diego. Holland was elected co-president of the San Francisco chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier in 2013. The Women's Initiative for Self-Employment named Holland Woman Entrepreneur of Year in October 2013. Holland was awarded The Key to the City of Oakland by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan on August 2, 2014.

Bibliography

Books

Contributions

Holland has contributed recipes or been featured in the following books:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Pépin</span> French-American chef

Jacques Pépin is a French chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist. After having been the personal chef of French President Charles de Gaulle, he moved to the US in 1959 and after working in New York's top French restaurants, refused the same job with President John F. Kennedy in the White House and instead took a culinary development job with Howard Johnson's. During his career, he has served in numerous prestigious restaurants, first, in Paris, and then in America. He has appeared on American television and has written for The New York Times, Food & Wine and other publications. He has authored more than 30 cookbooks, some of which have become best sellers. Pépin was a longtime friend of the American chef Julia Child, and their 1999 PBS series Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home won a Daytime Emmy Award. He also holds a BA and a MA from Columbia University in French literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Keller</span> American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author

Thomas Aloysius Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, the French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, including Best California Chef in 1996 and Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant was a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World; the voting process has since been changed to disallow previous winners from being considered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat Cora</span> American chef

Catherine Ann Cora is an American professional chef, television personality, business person, and cookbook author. She is best known for her featured role as an "Iron Chef" on Iron Chef America and as co-host of Around the World in 80 Plates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Silverton</span> American chef, baker, and author (born 1954)

Nancy Silverton is an American chef, baker, restaurateur, and author. The winner of the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef Award in 2014, Silverton is recognized for her role in popularizing sourdough and artisan breads in the United States.

The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) is a United States–based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage. It was started in 1978 with help from American cooking personality Julia Child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Symon</span> American chef and media personality

Michael D. Symon is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and author. He is seen regularly on Food Network on shows such as Iron Chef America, Burgers, Brew and 'Que, Food Feuds, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate, as well as Cook Like an Iron Chef on theCooking Channel and The Chew on ABC. He has also made numerous contributions to periodicals such as Bon Appétit, Esquire, Food Arts, Gourmet, Saveur and O, The Oprah Magazine. He is of Greek, Sicilian, and Eastern European descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Blais</span> American chef

Richard Blais is an American chef, television personality, restaurateur, and author. He appeared on the reality show cooking show Top Chef, and is known for his take on classic American cuisine. Blais was the runner-up for the fourth season of Top Chef and returned several seasons later to win Top Chef: All-Stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Nathan</span> American cookbook writer

Joan Nathan is an American cookbook author and newspaper journalist. She has produced TV documentaries on the subject of Jewish cuisine. She was a co-founder of New York's Ninth Avenue Food Festival under then-Mayor Abraham Beame. The Jerusalem Post has called her the "matriarch of Jewish cooking".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irena Chalmers</span>

Irena Chalmers-Taylor was an author and food commentator/essayist, teacher and culinary mentor. Named "the culinary oracle of 100 cookbooks" by noted American restaurant critic and journalist, Gael Greene, Chalmers was recognized as the pioneer of the single subject cookbook. Her life story revealed an unlikely journey to becoming a James Beard Foundation "Who's Who" of Food and Beverage in America 1988 Award Recipient.

<i>The Best Thing I Ever Ate</i> 2009 American TV series or program

The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009.

Charlie Palmer is an American chef, hospitality entrepreneur, hotelier, and author. He is best known for Aureole, his flagship restaurant in New York City, which has earned 13 Michelin stars and two James Beard awards. Considered a “pioneer of progressive American cooking,” Palmer has received over 20 Michelin stars and consults 15 F&B outlets through the Charlie Palmer Collective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Madison</span>

Deborah Madison is an American chef, food writer and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking and her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlights Slow Food, local foods and farmers' markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cindy Pawlcyn</span> American chef

Cynthia Pawlcyn is an American chef and cookbook author known for the restaurants she opened in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Napa Valley between 1983 and 2008. Pawlcyn was an early advocate for using local, sustainable meats, and produce in her restaurants. In 2009, Pawlcyn appeared in the first season of Bravo’s "Top Chef: Masters."

Naomi Pomeroy was an American chef and restaurateur. Pomeroy in 2009 was listed by Food & Wine magazine as one of America's Top 10 Best New Chefs and in 2014 won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Northwest.

Melissa King is an American chef and television personality. King is known for her appearances on the reality competition series Top Chef. She first appeared on the twelfth season of Top Chef: Boston, placing fourth; she then returned for the seventeenth season, Top Chef: All-Stars L.A., which she won. She specializes in modern Californian cuisine with Asian flavors.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Young (author)</span> Chef and Cookbook Author

Grace Young is an American cookbook author, activist, and food historian specializing in Chinese cuisine and wok cookery. She received the Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and James Beard Humanitarian of the Year award from the James Beard Foundation, both in 2022, for her culinary achievements.

References

  1. 1 2 Madrigal-Yankowski, Nico (2022-06-12). "James Beard's awards chair, Tanya Holland, once had three Bay Area restaurants. Now there are none. What happened?". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ladd, Mary (February 4, 2011). "Food Secrets of Chef/Author Tanya Holland". KQED. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  3. ↑ Holland, Tanya (25 August 2011). "Sweet West Oakland". HuffPost . Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Thelin, Emily Kaiser (June 2012). "The Restaurant That's Changing the Face of Gritty West Oakland". Oprah.com. O, The Oprah Magazine. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  5. ↑ Henning, Wanda. "Too Many Cooks?". Oakland Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Melting Pot Bios: Tanya Holland" . Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  7. 1 2 Parks, Shoshi (2021-05-03). "In the Bay Area, Tanya Holland is exactly who she was always meant to be". 7x7 Bay Area. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  8. ↑ Karpinske, Stephanie (2005). Today's Kitchen Cookbook. Meredith Books. ISBN   0-696-22542-5.
  9. ↑ "Most Innovative Menu A Celebrity Chef's Culinary Lab". East Bay Express. 5 May 2004. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  10. ↑ Richardson, Derk. "Brown Sugar Kitchen Does Down-Home Cooking Right". Oakland Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  11. 1 2 Williams, Kate (2015-02-06). "More breweries to open; B-Side BBQ closes". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  12. ↑ "Tanya Holland closes her B-Side BBQ". The Mercury News. 2015-02-05. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  13. 1 2 Tsai, Luke (2020-01-09). "Brown Sugar Kitchen's Ferry Building Outpost Will Close After Less Than a Year". Eater SF. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  14. 1 2 Saria, Lauren (2022-01-31). "Chef Tanya Holland Parts Ways With Oakland Museum's Town Fare Just Weeks After Closing Brown Sugar Kitchen". Eater SF. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  15. 1 2 Batey, Eve (2022-01-11). "Innovative soul food restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen closes after nearly 15 years". The Oaklandside. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  16. ↑ Severson, Wesley (2022-01-12). "Renowned soul food restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland has gone out of business". hoodline.com. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  17. ↑ Wells, Madeline (2022-01-11). "Legendary Oakland soul food restaurant closes after 14 years". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  18. ↑ Hamaday, Gina. "Best BBQ: Pit Masters and Grill Geniuses" . Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  19. ↑ Thelin, Emily Kaiser. "The Restaurant That's Changing the Face of Gritty West Oakland" . Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  20. ↑ Holland, Tanya (25 July 2011). "Soul Food Steps Up". Wine Enthusiast. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  21. ↑ Holland, Tany (25 August 2011). "Sweet West Oakland". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Celebrity Chef Tanya Holland's New Podcast Is the Show We Need Now More than Ever". Sunset Magazine. 2020-07-29. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  23. ↑ "Chef's Council" . Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  24. ↑ Lipka, Carolyn (January 26, 2018). "'Top Chef's' Tanya Holland on That Tense Judges Table". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  25. 1 2 Dubrovsky, Amalya (2020-07-27). "Chef Tanya Holland is ready to become the next household name in food". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  26. ↑ "California Travel Association to Honor Industry's Best at 31st Annual Summit March 18–20, 2013" . Retrieved 21 December 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.