| ACF Chef Profile |
ACF CHEF TONY LE, CEC
The 2023 ACF Chef of the Year
By John Bartimole
W
ACF Chef Tony Le, CEC
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hat began innocently enough as a 10-year-old boy gamely assuming cooking duties for his family set ACF Chef Tony Le, CEC, on a professional path that recently included him being named ACF’s Chef of the Year for 2023 following a grueling qualifying competition and national competition at the ACF National Convention last year. “I come from a family with three boys, and we each had different responsibilities,” he says. “With both my parents having to travel for their jobs, it fell on me somehow to cook. And I enjoyed it, though, in the beginning, I cooked a lot of eggs and other dishes such as pulled pork. You know — a lot of quick and easy, or ‘set it and forget it’ types of dishes. But that’s where my passion for cooking came from — making meals for my family.” Chef Le quickly advanced from those simple dishes and, as his repertoire expanded, so did his interest in the culinary arts. “Then I started cooking for my friends, and within my small social group, I became known as the cook,” he says, adding with a laugh, “perhaps that’s why I was invited to so many parties.” But Chef Le, who was raised in California, decided to let fate decide his path after he graduated from high school. “My parents said to me, ‘OK, you
NCR | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
graduated high school. Now, go out and get a job.’” After pondering his options for some time after graduation, he decided to apply to Johnson & Wales University “on a whim.” “But it was a whim that was prodded by my passion for cooking,” he says. “No one in my family had gone to college, so I was the first. I was 21 at the time when I went to [JW]. I had never really been away from home, and I had never really traveled anywhere far away alone. It was quite an experience.” Chef Le earned two degrees from JW — an associate degree in culinary arts/ chef ’s training and a bachelor’s degree in food service, waiter/waitress and dining room management. It wasn’t long before Chef Le landed a position at the Somerset Club in Boston. “That experience is a big part of my culinary upbringing,” he says. “At the time, there were a lot of strong individuals, excellent chefs, working there. Those people are giants in our industry. They pushed me every day. I failed every day. I stood up every day and tried again.” “Every day was a learning experience,” Chef Le adds. “I was the small fish swallowing every bit of information from them that I could. I learned so much from them.” That willingness to teach others resonated with Chef Le, who currently serves as executive chef at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., where he rose to that position — from a line cook — in just under eight years.
