Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Brooke Williamson has carved out a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 full of leading roles and professional achievements, such as winning Bravo\u2019s \u201cTop Chef\u201d Season 14, being crowned the first winner of Food Network\u2019s \u201cTournament of Champions,\u201d and most recently, participated as one of the three titans on the cut-throat competition, \u201cBobby\u2019s Triple Threat\u201d on Food Network. Beginning her career at the young age of 17, Williamson always wanted to be a chef for as long as she can remember. \u201cI love creating things that make people happy, and I\u2019ve found that food genuinely does that,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Williamson began her culinary career as a teacher\u2019s assistant at the Epicurean Institute of Los Angeles, followed by securing her first kitchen position as a pastry assistant at Fenix at the Argyle Hotel, under the tutelage of Michelin-starred Chef Ken Frank. Her undeniable star quality and concentrated creative energy brought her to Chef Michael McCarty\u2019s nationally acclaimed restaurant Michael\u2019s of Santa Monica, where she worked her way up from line cook to being their youngest sous chef. Desiring to travel and experience other restaurants, Williamson later staged at the renowned Daniel restaurant by Chef and Owner Daniel Boulud in New York City. Two years later, Williamson was appointed her first executive chef position at the notable Los Angeles restaurant Boxer. Following that, she opened the Brentwood eatery Zax as Executive Chef, where she began to develop her signature California-inspired cuisine\u2014infused with local ingredients, global flavors, and centered around the idea that simplicity goes a long way. While at Zax, she also met her business partner Nick Roberts.<\/p>\n
The two opened their first independent venture together a couple years later, Amuse Caf\u00e9 in Venice, followed by Beechwood restaurant soon after, earning them the title of \u201cRising Star Chefs\u201d from StarChefs in 2004. In 2014, the duo debuted their unique, beloved four-in-one-concept, Playa Provisions, featuring a grab-and-go marketplace, King Beach; an artisanal ice cream shop, Small Batch; a seafood dining spot, Dockside; and an intimate whiskey bar, Grain. Their other Southern California restaurant ventures\u2014Hudson House in Redondo Beach, The Tripel in Playa del Rey, and Da Kikokiko in Playa Vista\u2014unfortunately fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, and closed in 2020.<\/p>\n
When not in the restaurant kitchen, Brooke can often be found on network television. Williamson won Bravo\u2019s \u201cTop Chef\u201d Season 14 in Charleston in March 2017 and a few years prior was a runner-up on \u201cTop Chef\u201d Season 10 in Seattle, which catapulted her career. She\u2019s also participated on other national shows like Bravo\u2019s \u201cTop Chef Duels,\u201d Esquire network\u2019s \u201cKnife Fight\u201d (where she took home the win), and Food Network\u2019s \u201cGuy\u2019s Grocery Games\u201d and \u201cBBQ Brawl\u201d as a recurring judge. Most recently in 2022, Brooke was the West Coast captain on Food Network’s \u201cBeachside Brawl,\u201d and she also participated as one of the three titans on the first season of \u201cBobby\u2019s Triple Threat\u201d on Food Network (alongside Tiffany Derry and Michael Voltaggio).<\/p>\n
During her day-to-day operations, she works alongside Roberts creating new menus and running the front and back of house of Playa Provisions; takes her talents on the road to local and national food events and festivals such as Coachella, The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Bottlerock Napa, Outstanding in the Field, Bourbon & Beyond, and more; and regularly participates in philanthropic efforts with No Kid Hungry.<\/p>\n
When she finds time outside of cooking, Brooke stays active by running, bike riding, and spending time with her son, Hudson.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":1365,"template":"","class_list":["post-1028","chef","type-chef","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chef\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chef"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chef"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}