A spirit of curiosity has led Chef Andrew Black to become a James Beard Award-winning chef.
Black’s journey traces back to his roots in Jamaica. As a child, he assisted his grandmother by creating outdoor clay ovens to bake roti, a staple flatbread in the country, his website mentions. Pursuing a career as a chef, he later worked in various resort kitchens and eventually left Jamaica to work in restaurants across Europe.
He would then receive a nudge to make his way to the United States, notes CBS Mornings.
“I wanted to try to find myself where would I fit in, and so I got a call to come to Oklahoma City and I said where the heck is that,” he recalled to the outlet.
After initially rejecting the idea of moving to Oklahoma City, he eventually had a change of heart.
“When someone see you an Oklahoman shake your hand and say, ‘They’re going to be there,’ they mean it. A word is our bond here. It’s absolutely one of the best state and the best place to live in,” Black told CBS Mornings.
In 2007, Black was hired on as the executive chef at the Skirvin Hotel and he supported the opening of the Park Avenue Grill.
Black’s footprint in the state would be solidified in the establishment of Culinary Edge Concepts, a hospitality group he co-founded in 2015, per LinkedIn. It includes several restaurants such as the Grey Sweater, Black Walnut, and The Gilded Acorn, which are all fueled by Black’s pursuit of curiosity.
“In my own way, the older I get, the more curious I am,” he told Essence. “Today, more than ever, I really believe that curiosity equals possibility. It’s something that binds culture, flavors, culinary journey and all at one table.”
Black’s culinary footprint led him to him gaining recognition as the recipient of the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest.
Most recently, his achievements now include the opening of his fourth restaurant, the Perle Mesta, which resides at the Skirvin Hotel.
“It feels like home. Very happy, but emotional, because my kids grew up in this hotel,” he told News 9.
He later added, “My kids were small, and so they were all roaming around in this hotel. So to come back and see places I used to hang out in here, and then to see equipment that I purchased and things that are still around and still working.”
For customers looking to dine in, Perle Mesta is also open for breakfast and lunch and welcomes reservations.
