This month, our cover features Chef Chris Scott who was a finalist in Season 15 of Top Chef in Colorado and brought his technique and culinary view to the show. From that season, he continued to be on our radar as we saw him appear on a number of shows and food-oriented festivals and more. He's always focused on the food, making sure that it educates us on the cultures and regions it comes from as well as ensuring that he continues to reach back and assist chefs that are coming up by sharing knowledge where he can! We caught up with him ahead of the holiday season to dig a little deeper into his background, what he is focusing on with his restaurants, what it's like when you're going through the Top Chef process and his cookbook Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen. His insights on the intersectionality of foods he grew up with as well as how he has created impactful James Beard Foundation dinners is a conversation that we truly enjoyed!

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re excited to have you as this month’s cover. We have connected via in the past and it’s always great to see you and your food, and what you’re working on!

When did you fall in love with food and when did you know that you wanted to be a chef as a career?

CHEF CHRIS SCOTT: I would say that I fell in love with it when I realized that early on in my career. It was sort of when it became more than just cooking and it became more so a way of life and the way that I understood the power from within the food and what it could do. Not only to sustain our bodies and everything, but what it could do culturally and things of that nature. It became more of a revolutionary kind of platform for me.

AM: How do you define your culinary style?

CHEF CS: My style, it changes from time to time. When you first start out, you're busting out all of your best moves in the beginning. You see that a lot in younger chefs and they really want it to be more about them than it is about the food! So you kind of go through those phases – the up and down and through the ebb and flow. But the older that I get, I understand that it is about the food and it was never really about me so you try really hard to highlight those things as far as food and everything is concerned. It’s about the farmers, it’s about the growing aspect and it’s about all of those things!

My cooking, some of the styles of it, I have been trained in fine dining and I have been doing that for 30+ years. You know I’ve worked in some very high-end spots. Right now, I’m kind of focused in on the food of my ancestors, but I do it all! The focus is really about the food and not about me, you know?

AM: Right!

Tell us about Butterfunk Biscuit Co. I’ve looked at the IG posts over the past few months or so and it’s some drool worthy pictures!

CHEF CS: Yeah! I don’t do the social media on there! I’ve seen it here and there. Butterfunk Biscuit Co is heritage biscuits at its finest. You’re going to be experiencing biscuits that have been passed down for 4 generations and it’s the biscuit that I did on Top Chef that got a lot of notoriety and people were lined up outside of the doors and they still are! But it’s where you can really come and it emphasizes more on Black bakers because I actually do a lot of pastries out of there and I’m going to be expanding into a lot of Rotis and Jeera and everything. So really focusing on chefs that bake from Brown countries. Just really trying to emphacize breads that are made by Brown hands.

AM: We enjoyed your season of Top Chef Season 15 in Colorado. Why did you want to compete on the show? You were a finalist on that season which was amazing and it was great to hear your story!

CHEF CS: It’s funny because that particular season, I did not want to compete! I applied 5 times onto the show and just didn’t get onto it and everything. I read somewhere that over 200,000 chefs apply to the show every year and they choose anywhere from 12-15 people and after awhile, the process is very long. Not only do you have to fill out this intense application – sometimes you hear back and sometimes you don’t. To only have to go through a bunch of Skype calls, to doing tastings, to be flown to different locations around the country – it’s a pretty long process and I didn’t want to have to go through that process for a 6th time!

AM: That’s understandable!

CHEF CS: At that time, my wife and I, we had our youngest kid, so we had a 1 year old and a baby. When I got the call, I turned them down at first and I told my wife, “hey listen, Top Chef called, they wanted me to come and try out for this season, but I told them no.” She said, “call them back and tell them yes!” I said, “how are we going to do this? How are you going to run 2 restaurants and 2 small children if I get on the show?” She said, “don’t worry, we’ll find a way.” So I got on and we found a way.

AM: Well you found a way!

Shortly after that season aired, Cochon 555 happened and that’s where we first met you in person as we were media sponsors of that event here in NY. It was cool to see you as well as other cheftestants from your season there as well. We know that you support other chefs, you do other types of foodie events – why is that so important to you to be able to participate and to present yourself in those spaces with all of those people?

CHEF CS: You know, it’s always good to be able to keep yourself out there and to show people what you’re out there do show people what you’re out there doing and to use that platform sometimes for a bit more than just food. It’s also about talking about how the industry is moving, what’s new or even some new dishes that you might want to be able to highlight. But it’s also important to want to uplift the ones that are coming up behind you as well. I think I did that event with Tyler Anderson (Millwright's, Ta-Que, Bar Piña) and Bruce Kalman (Soulbelly BBQ, BK Brinery) you know back in the day. Actually, there was a Cochon in Aspen while we were filming and we were at the finals and we weren’t supposed to leave the cast house, but we snuck out and went to the Cochon party back then. Not only was it fun, but you get to rub elbows with your colleagues from different parts of the country, but it’s good to kind of lift up the other chefs that are coming up behind you to give them that experience to be there and to also see what’s happening so that in the following years, they can be involved.

AM: We recently saw you on Bobby’s Triple Threat! Love that episode and how was it to be on the show and to taste 2 great chefs going head-to-head and then having to score them and to figure out a winner?

CHEF CS: Right! I mean for that day, it was some good eats for sure!

AM: It looked so good!

CHEF CS: I knew I was going there so I didn’t eat breakfast at all and I went in there ready! But that whole experience was pretty surreal! I knew of Bobby (Amalfi Las Vegas, Bobby’s Burgers, Beat Bobby Flay: Holiday Throwdown) back in the day in my Philly days. He started out on Food Network doing a show called Grillin’ and Chillin’ with Jack McDavid who’s a Philly chef back in the day and they tried to have Jack McDavid who was this country bumpkin dude wearing a farmer’s outfit and Bobby was supposed to be a city boy coming on the scene. Now here we are 20 some years later, he’s still doing it and I’m still doing it and we were just kind of talking about the old days and having the opportunity to be on the show was a great time!

AM: We love that!

We’re excited to learn more about Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen. I live in NY now, but I’m originally from Indianapolis, so I grew up around Amish communities although they were not in my town per se. I never thought about Amish and Soul Food having a connection until I saw you on Top Chef and you were talking about it. Can you tell us why you wrote this book and what that connection is like?

CHEF CS: So the book was written for a bunch of reasons. I think that the first and foremost is that I look at it like it is a love letter passed down from the women that have raised me to my children and their stories kind of run through me. My mother and grandmother passed away before my children were born and there always comes a time in anyone’s life when they kind of want to know where am I from, who are my ancestors, what did they do and what did they eat? So this book really touches base on that, but also with the intermingling of the food and everything. Soul Food to me, is regional and is based on where you are. So wherever you are in the country, is certainly where some of the ingredients will be available to you. For example, my people are from Virginia – tidewater people so you have a lot of that Virginia agriculture a little bit of that coastal stuff with the shad, the shad roe, the blue crab so on and so forth. You keep on going down South - the Gullah Geechees in the Carolinas. It’s more of a rice culture and more African flavors. Keep on going further South, now you’re in the panhandle of Florida, more Creole. Up where I’m from, there are German, Dutch and Amish, so after Emancipation happened, with the Great Migration and everything, by the time I was born, the Southern culture and the Amish culture were already intermingled so that was the only food that I knew. But that happens everywhere because Black people are everywhere!

AM: So what foods are considered Amish foods?

CHEF CS: It’s more of a flavor as opposed to Black Amish. You know the flavors that we bring with us from Africa, through the Caribbean, through the American South and so forth. But once you intermingle it with some of that German technique and flavors, you have acidity and sugars and vinegar and that sweet and sour aspect really plays its role. For example, that Lemonade Fried Chicken that I did on Top Chef and which is also in the book, everybody and their mama is doing some form of tea brined chicken, but I chose to do a lemonade brine. Now it’s not like Country Time, but it is lemon juice, it is hot sauce, it is buttermilk, it is fresh spices and everything. So, it’s more or less, a savory lemon like a marinade like that which is on the border of sweet and savory.

So you have all of those aspects and flavors that are into it as well. So when I talk about the Amish Soul Food, again, it’s not Black Amish food. It’s more like flavor profiles and stuff like that.

AM: You’ve cooked at 9 James Beard Foundation dinners, 5 of them as the lead chef and you also created the first Juneteenth Dinner at the Beard House with Brother Luck (Top Chef Season 15, Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped), Tanya Hopkins (Kwanzaa Menu, James Hemings: Ghost in America’s Kitchen, Savory & Sweet) and Andrea Cheatham (Top Chef Season 15 Runner Up, Alex vs America, Live! with Kelly and Ryan). This dinner is now an annual event. What is it like to cook at Beard House and what was it like to create that iconic meal on Juneteeth?

CHEF CS: It was super special! I also got invited back today and I am going back on Dec 5th.

AM: That’s exciting!

CHEF CS: So it will be #10 which blows my mind, but every single time I walk through those doors, I always intentionally get there first. I always want to be the first person in the room because I remember all of the legendary chefs that came through before me that stood in that same kitchen and I always like to be their first, put my hands on the table and kind of get a feel and play my music, start prepping and just kind of really set the mood and the vibe for everyone that comes through because tonight is my night! That has always been what’s going on and for chefs of color that might be coming through, I always say, “hey, listen. Before you go, call me and I’m going to tell you how you can really make this night special. I kind of have them follow through. As far as Juneteeth, it was special to be the first to do that and I’m really glad that they continued to do so. Like I’ve said, we always want to be able to pull all the others up and there’s a lot of really amazing chefs from generations that are behind me and that are up and coming and that they are already here! For them to be able to have their moment there is special too!

AM: Well, you’re also the chef at the Institute of Culinary Education. Why did you want to add this to your resume as you have done so many things that are so amazing. What was about that that you wanted to be part of it?

CHEF CS: Well, they asked me to come through. It more so started on the ambassador level, where they said here you’re doing great things – why don’t you use our space and we’ll pay you for it. So whenever we have an idea to do something creative, they want to be part of it. So they tell me to come through, use their kitchen, use their food and all I have to do is to document it and kind of teach that to the students. So that’s what we do. But again, it’s always paying it forward and really showing that next generation what it's all about. Again, it's not ever about me. There was a time when it was and when I needed the whole world to know what Chris Scott was doing. But that is so not important. What’s important is that I’m taking all my wisdom, all my experience, all my know how and kind of giving that to the next generation. Even when it’s how to navigate the way through the kitchen as a chef of color – all of those things. It’s so much experience that needs to be passed along.

AM: Couldn’t agree more with this. My background coming from fashion and being the Co-Founder of Athleisure Media, to navigate as a person of color in these spaces it’s not easy. Anytime I can go back and tell people that this is how they need to do it or how to be on set – giving that knowledge is going to help that person who may not have known anything about that. You have to know what you know and how to actually interact with other people.

CHEF CS: Absolutely!

AM: Are there any upcoming projects we can keep an eye out for?

CHEF CS: Well, we’re currently looking for a brick and mortar spot that’s a standalone for Butterfunk Co all over again. We left Brooklyn back in 2019 and we’re sort of looking to get back into it. I’m currently on the 8 city/19 event book tour. I’ll be down at the BayHaven Food & Wine Festival in Charlotte Oct 19th – 23rd for a second time in a row. As you know, that’s pretty much the mecca of Black chefs like all of the who’s who kind of goes there. We’re doing a dinner that Fri and I will also be there on Sat. On Fri, I am doing a seafood dinner with some of my colleagues and on Sat morning, I am doing a book signing and then I’m back on the plane.

IG @chefchris512