Chef, Educator, Restaurateur, Food Justice Activist, Chef Keisha Griggs' overall motivation is to bridge the gap between community and food. With the initial opening of her first restaurant Ate Kitchen, she designed a concept true to her Caribbean roots (Trinidad & Tobago) around seasonal and locally sourced dishes. Her food charmed local customers with her weekly changing menu and creative vegetarian options; Ate Kitchen and Chef Griggs is named one of Houston’s TOP Female Chefs of Color 2021 among many other recognitions.
Ate Kitchen, her flagship Restaurant is currently in slated for construction and will be open in 2024 within the east downtown Houston community that highlights urban growing and agriculture.
KUJI Kitchen, is her community operated restaurant, located in Sunny Side Houston, is open (Feb. 2023) and operating to give our communities of color additional food options by providing locally sourced, farm focused alternatives. This concept is a partnership with Ivy Wells of Ivy Leaf Farms and Jeremy Peaches of Fresh Life Organic Farm. Together they have opened this is the first location with 3 more slated to open in similar “food dessert” locations around the city of Houston.
Her Catering arm, the full-service, turn key catering company; Bocage Catering serves as a platform for her to highlights locally sourced ingredients with her seasonal catering menu. It also serves as the platform for her ongoing in person and virtual cooking classes.
Her passions have led her to Co-Create Black Chef Table, an ongoing Chef dinner series located in downtown Houston’s James Beard Nominated restaurant Kulture to highlight Afro-descendant Chefs in around the nation as well as Afro-descendant food growers and purveyors for each dinner. “Black Food is not a monolith, we come from all parts of the world and our food represents that culture. Black Chef Table is the landscape for Chefs to tell THEIR culinary story and to bridge the gap between our amazing food purveyors and our outstanding food community. We need each other”
Chef Keisha continues her dedication to growing relationships with farms, ranchers, fishermen, and gardens in and around her city to bring Chefs together in a completely organic way to build the foundation to harmonize relationships with each other (food purveyor and chef) in order for our community to continue to grow.