- World-renowned chef Ed Lee has closed his restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, to open a community kitchen in honor of David McAtee.
- Chef McAtee, who was well-known in Louisville for his barbecue, was killed by authorities during a Black Lives Matter protest in June, according to an investigation into his death.
- The David McAtee Community Kitchen now brings hundreds of hot meals to community centers in the city every week, and the menu always includes at least one barbecue dish.
- “I’ve been a chef for 25 years and gotten awards and all of that pales to what I’m doing now,” Lee told Insider. “This advocacy work, it’s been the most gratifying work I’ve ever done in my life.”
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A world-renowned chef has permanently closed his upscale restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, to open a community kitchen in honor of David McAtee.
McAtee was a prominent figure in Louisville who was well-known for his restaurant YaYa’s BBQ. He would often give food to police officers for free, according to his mother.
The chef was killed on June 1. He was shot by a member of the National Guard during a Black Lives Matter protest, according to an investigation into his death.
His death had a major impact on Ed Lee, who owned a restaurant a few miles away from YaYa's BBQ.
"He's a chef and I'm a chef, and you have a kinship there that's very important," Lee, a four-time James Beard award nominee and former "Top Chef" contestant, told Insider. "He was beloved in the community. If he had his grills going, you could smell it. We wanted to make sure his legacy as a chef continued."
Ed Lee closed his restaurant, Milkwood, and opened the David McAtee Community Kitchen in its place with his nonprofit The LEE Initiative
The kitchen has been dropping off hundreds of hot to-go meals at community centers in the city every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday since it opened on June 15.
It also brings 700 pounds of groceries to the same locations every week with the help of local farms and nonprofits, including Dare To Care and Children Shouldn't Hunger.
Lee said the program aims "to rid the system of the stigma of coming to get a free meal," adding that "everyone is in need right now." Lee's nonprofit has provided more than 300,000 meals to unemployed restaurant workers during the pandemic.
The program also pays tribute to McAtee.
"David was a very giving person, someone who always handed out free meals to the poor in his community," Lee said. "That's who he was, and we want to make sure that memory stays intact."
The meals change daily, but there's always one barbecue dish on the menu every week, like brisket or smoked chicken
Foto: There's always one barbecue dish on the menu every week. Source: David McAtee Community Kitchen
As a way to honor McAtee, who was known for his BBQ food, there is at least one BBQ dish on the menu every week.
"We want to make sure we give him that head nod every week," Nikkia Rhodes, the head chef at McAtee's Community Kitchen, told Insider. "And no one's ever going to turn down barbecue."
Lee, who is based in Washington, DC, knew he wanted a chef from Louisville to run the kitchen. So he tapped Rhodes - who got her own start at Milkwood - to take the helm and asked her to hire four culinary students to help.
"It feels really full circle," Rhodes told Insider. "It was the first professional kitchen I got to work in and now these students get to. This is a great way for them to get paid, get hours for their certification, and they get hands-on learning and networking."
Head chef Nikkia Rhodes said she wanted to use the opportunity to 'elevate Black people' in the restaurant industry
"We have to make very intentional choices when we have these platforms and spaces," she said. "My Black students need the opportunity."
While Rhodes had never met McAtee, she said she felt connected to the chef when she saw a photo of him wearing a "Volunteers of America" apron.
Rhodes discovered her passion for cooking in the organization's Louisville kitchen, which her mother and grandmother had managed for 13 years.
"Chef McAtee, he just wanted to make sure that people were fed and taken care of," she said. "That's Kentucky, that's us."
Louisville has found itself at the center of media attention in the last few months following the deaths of both McAtee and Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor, 26, was killed after police fired more than 20 bullets into her apartment while executing a "no-knock" warrant on March 13.
Lee said it has been "heartbreaking" to watch the city go through so much pain as the community continues to mourn Taylor and McAtee.
And while he knows that the community kitchen can't "solve all the issues," Lee said he wanted to create something that would continue to give back once the national headlines fade away.
"The one thing we've heard a lot from the leaders of the Black community is that, whenever there's a tragedy or issue and a lot of cameras, people are very willing to donate," he said. "But, when the cameras go away, they go away as well. And that struck me very hard because I'm probably guilty of doing the same thing."
So Lee decided to make sure that the kitchen would be part of the community.
"This has definitely changed the way I look at life," he added. "I've been a chef for 25 years and gotten awards and all of that pales to what I'm doing now. This advocacy work, it's been the most gratifying work I've ever done in my life."
- Read more:
- A Louisville restaurant owner known for feeding police for free was killed by authorities - and his body was reportedly left on the street for 12 hours
- David McAtee was killed by a National Guard member in Louisville during a shootout with authorities, investigators say
- Police didn't alert dispatch about Breonna Taylor until 27 minutes after they shot her. An injured officer was on his way to the hospital within 10 minutes of being shot.
- Attorneys for Breonna Taylor's family allege that police targeted her residence as part of a Louisville gentrification plan