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Alexander Smalls

James Beard Award Winner | Tony Award Winner 

Grammy Award Winner | TV Personality 

Restaurateur | Author

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winner, 2019 Beard Award

'Best American Cookbook'

BOOKS

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Meals, Music & Muses

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Between Harlem & Heaven

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Grace The Table

ABOUT ALEXANDER

Books
About Alexander Smalls

IN THE PRESS

Alexander Smalls, James-Beard-Award-winning chef, author, and raconteur, was the visionary co-owner of renowned restaurants The Cecil and Minton’s. Critically acclaimed and located in the heart of historic Harlem, Minton’s—the birthplace of BeBop in the 1930s—harkened back to the  Jazz Age, evoking a sexy supper club, with live music and serving Low Country cuisine inspired by Smalls’ childhood. His award-winning restaurant,  The  Cecil,  NYC’s first Afro-AsianAmerican restaurant, was named “Best New Restaurant in America” by  Esquire  in 2014. A 2019 recipient of a James Beard Award for his cookbook, Between Harlem and Heaven, Alexander was recently bestowed  the  Creative  Spirit  Award  from  the  Black  Alumni  of Pratt by the inimitable Ms. Cicely Tyson. His latest book,  Meals, Music, and Muses: Recipes from My African American Kitchen  (2020), a tribute to his South Carolina heritage and the music that inspired him, received immediate attention and praise, with appearances in both the  New York Times  and  Food & Wine. Along with these other widely acclaimed books, Smalls has also published a memoir and cookbook,  Grace the Table, which features recipes from his upbringing with Southern Revival cuisine. In 2021 Smalls signed a contract for his first children’s book, soon to be published

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by Denene Millner Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Over the past three decades, the chef and restaurateur has traveled the world studying the cooking techniques and foodways of the African diaspora. As the former chef-owner of renowned restaurants—including Café Beulah, Sweet Ophelia’s, and Shoebox Café— Smalls has received great acclaim in the restaurant scene, including cooking at the James Beard House, being named one of Zagat’s “NYC Restaurant Power Players You Need to Know,” and being honored with the Legacy Award in 2014 by the  Amsterdam News, one of the oldest African American newspapers in the country. With an Instagram following of 13 thousand, Smalls has appeared on a wide range of food and culinary platforms, with guest appearances on national TV, in magazines, and on news programs. He has twice served as a celebrity chef judge on  Top Chef, has appeared on  The Chew  with  Carla  Hall and on  Extra Virgin  with  Debi Mazar and  Gabriele  Corcos,  and  was  recently featured  in  the Hallmark  series  Meet  the  Peetes.    He  has  also  appeared  on  The  Food  Network,  on  such  shows  as  Recipe  for  Success  and  Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, and on NBC’s  The Today Show.  He was featured in the cover story of the October 2020 issue of  Food & Wine  for his prominence as a  NYC host in his  beautiful Harlem home.  Smalls  was also a  featured  chef  and  author  at  the first ever  New  York Times Food and Wine Festival in 2019. In addition to his success in the culinary and literary worlds, Smalls is also a world-renowned opera singer and the winner of both a Grammy Award and a Tony Award for the cast recording of  Porgy and Bess, by George Gershwin, with the Houston Grand Opera.

Notable Press
Upcoming Appearances / Events

CONTACT

For any media inquiries, please contact agent Victoria Sanders:

Tel: +1.212.633.8811   

VSanders@VictoriaSanders.com

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