El Museo de Oakland de California da la bienvenida a la chef Michele McQueen al Town Fare Cafe
Oakland, CA, 2 de junio de 2022 - El Museo de Oakland de California (OMCA) se complace en dar la bienvenida a la chef Michele McQueen, anteriormente de Gussie's Chicken and Waffles en el Fillmore y Apple Inc. como chef y gerente de Town Fare, la cafetería del Museo. La chef Michele tiene previsto reabrir Town Fare el 29 de junio tras un breve cierre por la transición de la dirección. En breve se anunciará un nuevo menú y otros planes. Para más información, visite museumca.org.
"Estamos encantados de dar la bienvenida a la chef Michele McQueen al OMCA", dice Lori Fogarty, directora y consejera delegada del OMCA. "Su extraordinario trabajo es la mezcla ideal de arte, historia y ciencia culinaria que encaja con el enfoque del OMCA en las artes, las culturas y la naturaleza de California". Los visitantes del museo que estén familiarizados con la comida de la chef Michele esperarán con ansia su estilo característico, y los que experimenten su cocina por primera vez sin duda aprenderán a anhelarla tanto como nosotros."
About Chef Michele McQueen
Born in Orange, New Jersey and raised in Oakland, Chef Michele brings the best of her East Coast roots and Bay Area upbringing to the heart and soul of her food. As a child she spent summers in the kitchen with her grandmother Gussie soaking up the history and tradition of making food from scratch with love. Her New Jersey roots introduced her to a wide variety of cuisines including Southern, Italian, and Jewish. On any given night in her household, you may enjoy delicious fried chicken, homemade potato latkes, or marinara sauce made from scratch. It is from these memories that her talent and passion thrived.
After graduating from Howard University with a degree in business, Chef Michele was headed to Law School to study corporate law. Her passion for food soon led her in a different direction. She went on to open multiple restaurants in Oakland before branching out on her own to start catering and open Gussie’s Chicken and Waffles in the Fillmore in San Francisco in the Fillmore District. Gussie’s quickly became a hot spot amongst San Francisco’s finest including Mayor London Breed, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and Danny Glover to name a few.
The news of Chef Michele’s culinary skills and ability to make people crave her masterful and refined take on Southern flavors spread quickly. She began catering for many celebrities such as Tyrese Gibson, Smokey Robinson, The Isley Brothers, Anita Baker, Gary Woodland, and Stephen and Ayesha Curry. She is a preferred caterer for The Paramount Theater, Bay Area Productions, and The Moxy Hotel. Her corporate catering list includes the likes of VCSO, Becton Healthcare Resources Inc., Black MBA Association, 360 TCPR, eBay, PayPal, The San Francisco Foundation, and more.
After closing her restaurant in San Francisco, Chef Michele was brought on at Apple Inc. in Silicon Valley to help develop and manage the Grab and Go program for over 25 of their corporate locations. She helped create recipes for everything from fresh salads, sandwiches, and snacks to individually packed “heat and eat” meals for their satellite locations.
Chef Michele was a guest chef on Grill It with Bobby Flay on Food Network. She was a contestant on Grocery Games with Guy Fieri on Food Network and The Taste on ABC with Anthony Bourdain and Marcus Samuelsson. She has been featured in many local news publications and was recently acknowledged by Ayesha Curry and One Million Black Women, an initiative of Goldman Sachs, for her contributions to fight food insecurity in Oakland and support the feeding efforts of World Central Kitchen and Eat Learn Play.
Chef Michele has always been an active member of the community. She was one of the original founders of Home of Chicken and Waffles where she facilitated a working relationship with Allied Fellowship Services to help bridge the gap between parolees and the workforce. It was through this program that she hired and trained over 50 recently paroled men in the city of Oakland. She is a member of Allen Temple Church where she donated weekly meals to their AIDS program for those who are shut-in and fighting that illness. She remains committed to the community, and her goal is to give opportunities to those who otherwise may not have them.
About Town Fare by Chef Michele McQueen
El nuevo Town Fare servirá lo que el chef Michele llama cocina de "confort cultural", y el menú se inspirará en la diversidad de Oakland. La chef Michele y el personal preparan casi todo desde cero utilizando ingredientes frescos; se enorgullecen de lo que hacen y se divierten mientras lo hacen. Junto con el OMCA, la chef Michele tiene muchas ideas para dar protagonismo a Town Fare, incluyendo eventos especiales y colaboraciones con la comunidad.
Acerca del Museo de Oakland de California
El Museo de Oakland de California (OMCA) cuenta las muchas historias que componen California, creando el espacio y el contexto para una mayor conexión, confianza y comprensión entre las personas. A través de sus exposiciones inclusivas, programas públicos, iniciativas educativas y eventos culturales, el OMCA reúne a los californianos e inspira una mayor comprensión de lo que el arte, la historia y el entorno natural de nuestro estado nos enseñan sobre nosotros mismos y los demás. Con más de 1,9 millones de objetos, el OMCA reúne sus colecciones multidisciplinares de arte, historia y ciencias naturales con relatos en primera persona y, a menudo, con historias no contadas de California, todo ello en sus 110.000 pies cuadrados de galerías y en su campus de siete acres. El Museo es una de las principales instituciones culturales del Área de la Bahía y un recurso para la investigación y la comprensión del dinámico patrimonio cultural y medioambiental de California para los visitantes de la región, del estado y de todo el mundo.
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