Kwame Onwuachi Celebrates Afro-Caribbean Flavor at Las'Lap
The 'Top Chef' alum and James Beard Award winner has fed Barack Obama and Anna Wintour. Now he's coming for Miami Beach.
Kwame Onwuachi is on a roll. The chef’s New York City restaurant Tatiana received a New York Times three-star review, with the Infatuation naming it, “the highest rated restaurant in New York City”.
That should be enough on any chef’s plate, but the James Beard-winning chef, former Top Chef contestant, cookbook author, and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025, is just getting started.
As Food & Wine’s executive producer, Onwuachi plays a part in the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, and has created “The Family Reunion: Presented by Kwame Onwuachi,” an annual multi-day event that celebrates diversity in the hospitality community in Middleburg, Virginia.
And now, Onwuachi is preparing to bring New York City’s Las’ Lap to Miami Beach. The restaurant and bar, which opened in 2018 by Las' Lap Miami is the second location for the rum-forward restaurant and bar, which first opened in New York City's Lower East Side in 2018 by Vincent Bryant, Bryce Sheldon, Nick Semkiw, Scott Williams, and L. Ryan Shaffer, tapped the chef to create a menu for the new location. Although Onwuachi is not part of the original New York concept, he’s a natural fit to create a menu at the restaurant, which celebrates West Indian culture.
Las’ Lap, which opens at the Daydrift Hotel in Miami Beach in September, is named for the golden hour before the end of Carnival in Trinadad and Tobago, explains the chef, who says he was intrigued by the opportunity to add Miami influences to the restaurant’s West Indian menu. “I wanted to shake things up with storytelling.” The chef will meld his Afro-Caribbean style with Miami influences. “I plan on taking inspiration from the Caribbean people that are in Miami. It’s such a broad spectrum of cultures, including Cuban and Haitian.”
Onwuachi also loved that the restaurant will be located in the Daydrift Hotel — a small, Midcentury hotel two blocks from the beach, rather than at a larger high-rise resort. “ I think I’ve always been interjecting myself into interesting spaces. I don’t like spaces that would be cliche for me to be in.”
Though the menu hasn’t been released, the chef teased a few items. “There’s going to be a nice raw seafood section on the menu, including escovitch crab claws, a shrimp cocktail, and caviar with roti.
Onwuachi has also opened a Patty Palace food truck in Lincoln Center, right outside of his Tatiana restaurant. The chef says its important to make food for everyone. “I think people need options. It’s busy in New York City and people might not want to sit for two hours. It’s also crucial to make affordable food for people.”
Patty Palace (there’s also one in Citi Field) offers patties made from scratch, with fillings that include jerk mushroom, chrry chichen, and beef. The patties are topped with sauces or slaw, and can also be served between slices of coconut bread.
The next time you grab a patty from the chef’s food truck or enjoy some seafood in Miami Beach, know you’re in splendid company, indeed.
The chef has cooked for the Obamas several times, including recently at one of his restaurants. “President Obama was one of the most important beings for a very long time and to nourish them is an etherian experience.”
Onwuachi was also tasked with creating the menu for the Met Gala and feeding Anna Wintour and every A-lister in New York City. This year’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”, provided a unique opportunity to honor Black culture through style and food. “The fact that the theme celebrated Blackness was pretty amazing. I’m really grateful to be chosen and selected.”