Tom Cunanan is a

Filipino American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New S ...

chef in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early life

Cunanan immigrated from the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the age of three, growing up in

Hyattsville, Maryland Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper An ...

as the sixth of seven children. He went to Northwestern High School and through the Boys & Girls Club, he got a job as a dishwasher and bar-back at Corduroy, a restaurant on K Street in

After high school, he enrolled in the culinary school at

The Art Institute of Washington The Art Institute of Washington was a for-profit college in Arlington, Virginia. It opened in 2000 and was a branch of The Art Institute of Atlanta. It was accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Scho ...

Culinary career

Cunanan gained experience in kitchens across D.C., including Jeffrey Buben's Vidalia,

Nicholas Stefanelli Nicholas Stefanelli is an American chef and restaurateur in Washington, D.C., known for his Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Masseria. __NOTOC__ Early life Born in Maryland, Stefanelli is of Greek and Italian descent, with family from the ...

's Bibiana, and Ardeo + Bardeo, where he was executive sous chef. When Cunanan's mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, he worked with her to write down her recipes for

Filipino cuisine Filipino cuisine ( fil, lutong Pilipino/pagkaing Pilipino) is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Fi ...

, forming the basis for a catering business. In 2014, Cunanan met Filipino American restaurateurs Nick Pimentel and Genevieve Villamora, who were developing plans to open a Filipino restaurant. With the help of a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign, the three opened Bad Saint in 2015 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Bad Saint was recognized by ''

Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...

'' magazine as one of the best new restaurants in the country in 2016.

Pete Wells Pete Wells is the restaurant critic for ''The New York Times''. He has held the position since November 2011, succeeding Sam Sifton. Wells was adopted as an infant and grew up in Rhode Island. He lives in Brooklyn and is married to the novelist ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave the restaurant a three-star review, writing that "the food that Tom Cunanan and his cooks prepare under columns of wok smoke is richly compelling no matter how many prior run-ins you’ve had with Filipino food."

Eater Eater may refer to: * Eater (band), an English punk rock group * "Eater" (''Fear Itself''), a 2008 episode of the NBC television horror anthology ''Fear Itself'' * ''Eater'' (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Gregory Benford * ''Eater'' (w ...

named it one of the 38 essential restaurants in America in 2017. After being a finalist in 2017 and 2018, Cunanan won the 2019

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic.

External links

Bad Saint

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunanan, Tom Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Filipino emigrants to the United States People from Hyattsville, Maryland American chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners