Chef Anya El-Wattar Wiki, Age, Top Chef, Ethnicity, Nationality
Anya El-Wattar Biography – Anya El-Wattar Wiki
Anna “Anya” El-Wattar is executive chef and owner of Birch & Rye, a modern Russian restaurant in San Francisco. She is a contestant on the 22nd season of Bravo’s Top Chef.
Born and raised in Moscow, chef Anya El-Wattar’s culinary education began with her mother teaching her about foraging, preserving and showing love through cooking.
Anya emigrated to America at the age of 18. She earned an undergraduate degree in Russian literature and philosophy at Columbia University before attending the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico to study the healing properties of food. She continued her formal culinary education at New York’s Natural Gourmet Institute.
Anya went on to work as a line cook at famed San Francisco vegetarian restaurant Greens. In 2016, Anya launched Project Butterfly in San Francisco, a catering venture dedicated to providing meals for charity fundraisers. Over the next five years, she created scores of successful dinner gatherings—for the Numi Foundation, the Biomimicry Institute, Ten Strands, and the Rainforest Action Network, among others—that annually raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In January 2022, Anya opened Birch & Rye, an ode to Russian gastronomy with a contemporary Californian twist. She was named Eater San Francisco’s Chef of the Year in 2022. Birch & Rye earned a coveted spot in the Michelin Guide and was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant award in 2023. Birch & Rye is the first Russian restaurant in America to be listed on the Michelin guide.
Chef Anya, a Russian-born émigré and a decades-long San Francisco resident, found a way to share elevated elements of her heritage while offering a nurturing refuge for all to experience. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she co-hosted high-profile fundraisers that raised more than $100,000 to benefit the World Central Kitchen’s efforts in and around Ukraine.
Anya El-Wattar Age
Chef Anya El-Wattar was born and raised in Moscow, Russia.
Anya El-Wattar Top Chef
Russian-born chef Anya El-Wattar is a contestant on season 22 of Top Chef. From Toronto to Calgary, Montreal, and Prince Edward Island, Season 22 will highlight much of the rich cooking scene in Canada. Top Chef Season 10 winner Kristen Kish will once again host Top Chef, with Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons as judges.
For Season 22, the competitors have the chance to win $250,000 provided by Saratoga Spring Water and a $125,000 flight credit to spend on travel with Delta Air Lines. Plus, the winner will get a feature in Food & Wine Magazine and make an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
The first-place finisher will also headline a dinner at the James Beard house in New York City and have the chance to present at The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago, Illinois. Plus, cash prizes totaling $150,000 will be offered during each Quickfire Challenge, and at several Elimination Challenges.
Anya El-Wattar Ethnicity
Top Chef contestant Anya El-Wattar is of Russian ethnicity.
Anya El-Wattar’s Instagram handle is @anyaelwattar.
