North Carolina chef and rising culinary star will compete on newest ‘Top Chef’ season
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For the first time in five years, “Top Chef” will feature a contestant from North Carolina.
Asheville chef Ashleigh Shanti will appear on “Top Chef: Houston,” the popular Bravo TV cooking competition.
Shanti has emerged in the past few years as one of the state’s most promising young chefs, collecting national honors like a James Beard nomination for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2020 and named one of Eater’s Young Guns in 2019.
Most recently, Shanti was the chef de cuisine at Asheville’s Benne on Eagle, owned by chef John Fleer, where she led a menu focusing on African-American food traditions in dishes of Appalachia. After leaving that restaurant in 2020, Shanti created Good Hot Fish, a pop-up fish fry she’s toured through the South. Last year, she brought Good Hot Fish to the Triangle for a weekend pop-up at Lawrence Barbecue.
Before cooking in Asheville, Shanti worked as Kinston chef Vivian Howard’s culinary assistant.
Shanti, a Virginia Beach native, is only the third North Carolina chef to appear on “Top Chef” and the first since Charlotte’s Jamie Lynch appeared in Season 14, set in Charleston. Lynch also returned for an All-Stars season in 2019.
Before Lynch, Wilmington’s Keith Rhodes competed on “Top Chef” season nine, set in Texas.
“Top Chef” announced its season 19 chefs Monday. The premiere is set for March 3.
