Five Culinary Stars to Have on Your Radar
- Piece of Cake Staff
- Jun 29
- 5 min read
Written by Brendan Gieseke
Whether your forte for the crossover between fame and food is with celebrity chefs, Michelin-achieving chefs, restaurant curators, investors, the cooking channel, or a medley of all, it is undeniable that the best of the best in the food industry have had some kind of mountain to climb before reaching the top. Because when you get to the point where your name sells your food, food is no longer just a gustatory need but a whole marketing ecosystem worthy of analysis.
Even if you’re not a big foodie, the best of the best are not names to be played around with. Almost everyone has heard of legendary chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Martha Stewart, or the spiky-hair guy. Clearly, the food industry has a meaningful cultural impact, but what’s rarely discussed is the storm before the calm—the people who are yet to be truly found. Below, you’ll find some of the most on-the-rise figures of the food industry, who you'll definitely want the ability to say “I knew them first.”
Gaining over 4 million followers on social media from her chef personality, Olivia Tiedemann is an ever-growing presence within the food industry. She combines her high-achieving culinary skills with a mix of her humorous, down-to-earth personality and a brand that’s defined by her emphasis on “hard rock” cooking (which essentially focuses on using hard, dense, and non-porous stones, such as granite, to cook food). In the upcoming months, she will be releasing her debut cookbook, Eat Like the Rich, and has been recognized in many media opportunities, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Forbes 30 Under 30, and Today, and has established legendary collaborations with well-known chefs such as Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis. Clearly, Tiedemann already has a large-scale degree of success within the food industry and isn’t unfamiliar with fame. However, she is still a young and up-and-coming chef who has many more years to continue establishing her food career. Currently 28, she is a force to be reckoned with and is sure to keep building upon an already successful career.
2. Genie Kwon
As the owner of the first-ever Filipino-run restaurant to receive a Michelin Star, Genie Kwon is the owner of Chicago’s highly acclaimed restaurant, Kasama. It’s a restaurant that operates uniquely in its very nature; it’s a bakery by day, then a full-operational restaurant by night. The catch? It doesn’t end there. Coconut pineapple croissants, black truffle croissants, ube and huckleberry cake, mussel adobo, and kinilaw—all bites are unique and beyond flavorful. While she is already established within the food industry by her collection of accomplishments, she has yet to truly reach her peak of mainstream recognition. She has yet to make a cookbook (and, no, while this isn’t a measure of success within this industry, it can indicate the degree of popularity that equates to high demand for a chef’s brand and products) and currently only has fewer than 25,000 followers on Instagram. While Kwon has already seen so much success as an entrepreneur and a curator of highly acclaimed foods, she still has much room to grow, and receiving a new Michelin Star in 2025, her career is only growing more and more.
3. Sam Yoo
With roots in the New York dining scene cultivated under the tutelage of chefs like Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, Sam Yoo has since carved out his own identity as the chef and owner of the Golden Group Foods. This food company paved the path for Yoo to create the popular Lower East Side restaurant Golden Diner with multicultural dishes like Thai Tea Tres Leches Cake or a Breakfast Sando. What makes Yoo's culinary brand particularly compelling is its deeply personal foundation: his cooking lives at the intersection of American diner culture and Korean-American heritage and has been unique in receiving external validation via his James Beard Award semifinalist position. In early 2025, Yoo expanded his legacy significantly by opening two new concepts: Golden HOF and NY Kimchi, where the latter is refoundationalized in the very same space where his own parents once ran a restaurant. Truly, this adds a branding detail or generational cooking as an honorary homage to heritage. Since then, he has collaborated with cultural icon and Roots drummer Questlove on a four-course dinner as part of the Resy Dream Team Dinners series. Still, for all the momentum, Yoo remains a figure whose full mainstream recognition feels like it hasn't quite arrived yet. For evidence, he has yet to release a cookbook or receive a main primetime television appearance. All the best to him!
As only the third chef de cuisine in the 30-plus-year history of New York's iconic Gramercy Tavern, Aretah Ettarh has quietly but unmistakably etched her name into one of the most storied restaurants in the country. Working alongside Executive Chef Michael Anthony, Ettarh helms the restaurant's celebrated seasonal menu. The role requires more than a typical literature in culinary talent but also an ability to stay consistent within the Tavern’s historical legacy and stay up-to-date with fresh ingredient finds. Her resume, which includes formative years at Jean-Georges and Nougatine, laid the groundwork for a career that has now earned her not one but two James Beard Award nominations (first in 2024 and again in early 2025) in the New York Best Chef category. StarChefs named her a Rising Star in 2023, further cementing the food industry's recognition of her talent. That said, Ettarh is still a figure whose name is far more widely recognized in industry circles than in mainstream food culture. Her social media following is modest and still feels as if she’s a secret that’s hidden right under your nose. Only 32, it’s not too late for her to use her talent and translate it into a mainstream concept that is hard to miss.
5. Mory Sacko
Initially receiving the most publicity as a contestant on “Top Chef France: Season 11," Sacko has spent the past six years since his television debut harnessing his top-tier culinary skills into a career that is just the type that can be talked about for the next 50 years. Becoming a Paris Michelin-starred restaurateur in 2021, Mory Sacko has established his career by perfecting the intersection of French culinary tradition, West African heritage, and Japanese technique—certainly something that can be called an exotic but passionate trifecta. Beyond the kitchen, he became a household name in France through his television show Cuisine Ouverte on France 3, which ran for five celebrated years before wrapping in late 2025. So, while he is already well-established all over France and in the secluded culinary world, Sacko’s momentum is nowhere near burning out. For American audiences and many people outside of the culinary capital of the world (Paris) and the gourmet capital of the world (Tokyo), Sacko remains a largely undiscovered gem. But with brand deals with Air France and more, his name is surely going to become global within a short span of time.
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