Ed Lee

Edward Lee is an award-winning chef and author and has been named a six-time finalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast. In 2018, Food & Wine Magazine named Chef Lee’s restaurant, 610 Magnolia, one of the country’s most important restaurants of the past 40 years. In 2019, Succotash – where he is culinary director for its locations in Maryland and D.C. – was awarded a Bib Gourmand by The Micheline Guide (D.C.). Chef Lee appears frequently in print and on television, including earning an Emmy nomination for his role in the Emmy Award-winning series, The Mind of a Chef. He also competed on season nine of Top Chef in Texas, and most recently wrote and hosted the feature documentary, Fermented. His book, Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine, was recipient to the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing. He is also the author of Smoke & Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen. Chef Lee launched The LEE Initiative in 2018, which works to bring more diversity and equality to the restaurant industry. In 2020, the relief efforts of LEE Initiative has totaled more than $5 million dollars of direct aid and has been recognized as one of the foremost organizations helping restaurant workers and farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He lives in Louisville and Washington, DC, and you can find him on Instagram and Twitter @chefedwardlee.