Ashley Merriman is a chef from

Center Sandwich, New Hampshire Center Sandwich is a census-designated place in the town of Sandwich in Carroll County, New Hampshire, in the United States. It is the primary settlement in the town and had a population of 156 at the 2020 census. The village center and surroundin ...

. She graduated from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

(class of 1998) and the

Institute of Culinary Education The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) is a private for-profit culinary college in New York City. ICE is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC), and offers career training diploma programs in the cu ...

(ICE). When Merriman was in New York City, most of the time she worked at

Butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

and when in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, at Tilth. In 2009, Merriman appeared on season six of '' Top Chef: Las Vegas'', finishing 10th. At that time, she was working as a chef in Seattle at Branzino. She went east to work for

Alex Guarnaschelli {{Infobox chef , name = Alex Guarnaschelli , image = , caption = , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1969, 6, 20 , birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. , birth_name = Alexandra Maria Guarnaschelli ...

and in 2012 took over the kitchen at the Waverly Inn in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...

. Merriman is married to fellow chef Gabrielle Hamilton. They bought into

The Spotted Pig The Spotted Pig was a gastropub located at 314 West 11th Street (at Greenwich Street) in the West Village in Manhattan in New York City. The 100-seat gastropub was owned by Ken Friedman. Mario Batali was a primary investor. The chef was April Bl ...

with restaurateur

Ken Friedman Ken Friedman (born September 19, 1949 in New London, Connecticut) is a design researcher. He was a member of Fluxus, an international laboratory for experimental art, architecture, design, and music. Friedman joined Fluxus in 1966 as the youngest m ...

but backlash from accusations of sexual harassment by Friedman made them decide to pull out. At the time, they were co-chefs at their restaurant

Prune A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum (''Prunus domestica''). Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. A prune is the firm-fleshed fruit (plum) of ''Prunus domestica'' varieties that have a high solu ...

. In 2021, she was hired as the executive chef at the

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

in Manhattan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merriman, Ashley LGBT chefs Chefs from New Hampshire Hamilton College (New York) alumni American women restaurateurs Year of birth missing (living people) Living people