Join us for a delightful culinary experience at your library! In this engaging cooking demonstration, local chef and restauranteur Chef Chris Williams showcases a signature dish that highlights the rich diversity and creativity of his culinary expertise. This event is part of our series celebrating global cuisine and Houston’s diverse culinary scene.

Don’t miss this opportunity to savor a dish steeped in history and culture while connecting with food lovers in your community!

ABOUT THE CHEF

Classically trained in French, Mediterranean, West Indian and East African cuisine, Chris Williams was always destined to be a chef; he simply didn’t know it yet. Drawn to study food from a young age, he attended Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, Texas and soon began traveling to work in kitchens across the world. His insatiable hunger to learn everything about world cuisine unexpectedly led him back to his own family tree, where he discovered a history steeped in trailblazing culinary advances and mouthwatering Southern recipes. A tribute to his great grandmother and culinary pioneer Lucille B. Smith — who is considered Texas’ first African American businesswoman, credited with everything from establishing one of the first college level commercial foods and technology departments in the U.S., at Prairie View A&M University to creating the first-ever All Purpose Hot Roll Mix in the country — Williams opened Lucille’s in August 2012 in the Museum District of Houston, Texas. 

Pairing his great-grandmother’s ingenuity and Southern flair with international flavors and techniques from his travels, Williams has since garnered national acclaim for his legacy-driven cooking style. A decade in the making, the namesake restaurant has since expanded into Lucille’s Hospitality Group — a culmination of concepts that channel the matriarch’s historic ingenuity, including Houston-based culinary outposts Lucille’s, The Rado Market, Late August, as well as Emile’s Black Point Bistro stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The growing hospitality group also includes his non-profit Lucille’s 1913, which functions as a conscious community collective that is building a vertically integrated ecosystem to combat food insecurity and waste; creating training and employment opportunities in traditionally under-resourced neighborhoods; and empowering communities to discover a self-sustainable livelihood through cultural and culinary arts. To date, Chef Chris and the Lucille’s 1913 team have provided more than 1,000,000 meals to Houstonians in need. 

A 2022 James Beard Award Finalist and 2023 JBF Semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur, Williams continues to make a name for himself as a community builder within the culinary world and beyond. He is part of Bon Appetit’s inaugural “Heads of the Table” Awards List, which honors the trailblazing, community-building, future-making leaders changing the restaurant industry; Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2022 Power List, which highlights the most innovative and inspiring people in the restaurant industry; a 2022 United Nations Global Citizen Awardee; Restaurant Hospitality’s 2021 Rising Star chef class; a recipient of the Houston Area Urban League’s Quentin Mease Community Service Award; and has served as a culinary cultural ambassador for the USA for over five years, advancing food diplomacy in destinations like Slovenia, Croatia, and Ukraine.