Lee Anne Wong
About
Lee Anne Wong is the chef and owner of Koko Head Cafe in Honolulu, Hawaii. A native of Troy, New York, Wong graduated from the International Culinary Center (ICC), formerly known as the French Culinary Institute, and began her culinary training at Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit before playing an integral role in the opening of Jean Georges Vongrichten’s Chinese concept, Restaurant 66. Wong went on to work as the Executive Chef of Event Operations at the ICC, during which time she was prominently featured on Season One of Bravo’s Flagship Series “Top Chef”, and subsequently was hired as the series’ Supervising Culinary Producer for the next 6 seasons, eventually winning an Emmy and helping to build the show into the powerhouse it is today. Chef Wong’s media career continues to flourish, having hosted six seasons of Cooking Channel’s Unique Eats, Food Crawl with Lee Anne Wong, as well as competing on Iron Chef America, Chopped All Stars, with regular appearances as a guest judge on Chopped and Chopped Junior. Wong has been celebrated for her modern takes on global cooking in publications such as The New York Times, People, Food & Wine, and National Geographic and has also acted as a culinary consultant on the Warner Brothers film “No Reservations,” PBS’ “Chef Story,” Bravo’s “Rocco’s Dinner Party.” Chef Wong’s culinary exploits have taken her into kitchens around the world: Mexico, Japan, France, Spain, Malaysia, and The Virgin Islands, to name a few, where she picked up global flavors and techniques along the way. In late 2013, Wong moved from New York City to Honolulu where in 2014, she debuted Koko Head Cafe – an island style brunch house in the Kaimuki neighborhood – to popular acclaim, with Wong recognized on the cover of Honolulu Magazine, as well as in Bon Appétit, Food and Wine Magazine, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Huffington Post. Wong released her first cookbook, Dumplings All Day Wong, in August 2014. Chef Wong continues to expand her brand across the country, getting ready to open up Sweetcatch Poke in NYC in the fall of 2016.