Neill-Cochran House Museum to Host Renowned Chefs

Neill-Cochran House Museum will host an intimate evening with three prominent local Black chefs at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4.  

The event is a fundraiser for the museum’s Reckoning with the Past: The Untold Story of Race in Austin campaign, a year-long project to reimagine and reintroduce the museum’s former slave quarters to the local audience. 

Headlining the event are Chefs Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Damien Brockway and Amanda Turner, who are joining forces to present an intimate evening of conversation as they share their culinary knowledge, professional journeys and the ways that history impacts their work. Chef-curated bites will be served at the exclusive event, held under the stars at the Neill-Cochran House Museum.

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Tavel Bristol-Joseph has exploded onto the national culinary scene thanks to the immense success of his newest restaurant, Canje. The Caribbean restaurant was named one of the 10 Best New Restaurants in America by Bon Appétit, as well as one of America’s Best Restaurants in 2022 by The New York Times. 

Distant Relatives chef and owner Damien Brockway serves modern African American cuisine out of a food trailer at Meanwhile Brewing Co. The culinary creative marries Texas barbecue with the flavors of the African diaspora within the U.S., garnering acclaim for his delicious food, which carries nods to his ancestry and culture. 

Amanda Turner, now the Chef de Cuisine at Olamaie, has worked at some of the best restaurants in Austin, including Juniper, Uchi and Odd Duck. In 2022, she was named a semifinalist in the Emerging Chef category for a James Beard Award, and both Bristol-Joseph and Brockway are currently semifinalists for the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Texas. 

The chefs will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Virginia Cumberbatch, a local storyteller and racial justice educator. 

Neill-Cochran House Museum is one of Austin’s oldest historic residences, as well as the city’s only intact slave quarters. The team at Neill-Cochran is seeking funding to finish restoration of the slave quarters structure, as well as to develop public programming and craft installations at the museum to share stories with the public.

The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Individual tickets are available here.  For more information on the Neill-Cochran House Museum or to donate to the Reckoning with the Past Project, visit the museum’s website. 

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