Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant with influences from New York City, has been dubbed “New York’s most impossible table.” (It also made the No. 1 spot on the New York Times’ best restaurants list.) Pro tip: New reservations open every day at noon 28 days ahead of the next available date. There are even Reddit threads of people hopeful to get a reservation finally. The owner and chef, Kwame Onwuachi, is a New York native from the Bronx who marries his love of New York City, culture, and food for a restaurant experience like no other. From the famed oxtails to the music playlist, it’s a vibe that’s never been done in New York, nor emulated since the restaurant opened in November 2022.
“If you have a fancy Amex card or a friend with a fancy Amex card,” one Reddit user wrote. The “fancy Amex card,” they’re referring to is American Express Centurion cardholders and believe it or not, as mentioned in the thread, even they sometimes have an issue getting reservations. Amex hosted something special last month, a dinner series, Taste of New York, curated by Onwuachi at Centurion New York. “The hardest part was narrowing the menu down to how I wanted to highlight different cultures in every borough,” he said. Each borough was highlighted: The dinner started off celebrating Latino culture for the Bronx with a boricua crudo, papaya sofrito, green plantains, and avocado; Jamaican culture for Brooklyn with a steamed branzino; and for each other course, another highlighted borough and culture, even the borough of Staten Island, which tends to be left out.
Onwuachi’s success with Tatiana led him to open another Afro-Caribbean restaurant just two months ago, in D.C., Dōgon, and he’s the official chef for the 2025 Met Gala. Along with the theme of “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” an expression of Black dandyism with all Black men serving as co-chairs, it aligned for them also to have a Black chef, a beloved NYC one. The Met Gala has a reputation for not having the best food, but with chef Kwame Onwuachi at the helm in 2025, something tells us guests won’t have to worry about that.
Here, he tells the Cut a bit about his taste not just in food but also in his day-to-day life. He also talks about his dream people to cook for, one being Vice-President Kamala Harris. Can we manifest an inauguration dinner by Onwuachi?
Do you have a pre-cooking ritual?
Music is my ritual. I curate my playlist for my restaurants, Tatiana and Dōgon, from year to year. I use different playlists for different moods. It’s always surrounding hip-hop and R&B. There’s always some Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and some Jay-Z. Definitely those three.
What are your dinner-party rules?
My dinner-party rules are definitely to stay in the moment. I don’t like people taking a lot of pictures and posting. It’s really about fellowship and talking to each other.
What’s the worst thing someone could do at a dinner party?
Show up late; I hate that.
If you had to choose, what would your absolute last meal be?
My mom’s gumbo, her seafood and chicken gumbo. It’s incredible. Steamed rice, maybe a scoop of potato salad on the side.
Would you say that’s your comfort meal you like to indulge in?
Yeah, whenever I can get it. She doesn’t make it often, but I would say my comfort meal besides that would be chicken wings and pork fried rice from the Chinese takeout shop.
Classic New Yorker. Do you have a comfort TV show or movie that you always turn to?
Batman, The Dark Knight or any of the eight incredible Harry Potter films or Paid in Full. It’s a spectrum.
That is definitely a spectrum. Tell me the best advice you’ve ever received.
The best advice I ever received is not to take advice.
Hmmm, okay. Last, if you are having a dinner party, you can invite five celebrities, dead or alive, who’s coming?
Do I have to invite celebrities? Why do I want to eat with celebrities?
It doesn’t have to be celebrities then. Tell me any five people who you’d invite to the dinner party.
My mom, my sister, Daniel Radcliffe, LeBron James, and Kamala Harris.
Okay, good list. What would you be making?
I’m just going to make some steak and mashed potatoes. I don’t want to spend too much time cooking. I want to chill.
Okay, more about the fellowship and less about the food?
If you make a good steak and good mashed potatoes, it could be the best meal you ever had in your life.
