Tears were flowing as Tristen Epps-Long was named the Season 22 winner of Bravo’s Top Chef during the emotional June 12 finale. The fan-favorite impressed judges Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and guest three-Michelin-starred chef Clare Smyth. His progressive four-course meal infused Italian cuisine complementing the backdrop beauty of Milan and his passion for shining a light on Afro-Caribbean cuisine. 

Along with earning the coveted title, he received $250,000, a flight credit for $125,000, feature in Food & Wine magazine and an appearance at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. The Houston resident also has the opportunity to headline their own exclusive dinner at the historic James Beard House in New York and also will present at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago on June 16. 

Bailey Sullivan, who returned to the competition after initial elimination during “Last Chance Kitchen” and Shuai Wang proved worthy competition. However, Epps-Long’s menu of monkfish with baccalà mbongo, pollo “dorengo” with injera shrimp toast, Oxtail Milanese with Carolina Gold rice grits, root vegetable cake with cassareep ice cream proved most cohesive in the story he wanted to tell. Helping to bring these dishes to life was Zubair Mohajir, who was brought back to be his sous chef. 

The new champ’s run on the show from Canada to Italy has been solid throughout with two Quickfire Challenge and five Elimination Challenge victories. This translated into $40,000 in prize money. Though the road to the finale has been anything but easy as the Houston resident found out his stepdad Russell Long suffered a stroke during “Restaurant Wars” and was in a medically induced coma. He’d ultimately pass away the next morning. Despite the devastating news, Epps-Long continued on to honor his memory and make him proud. 

Here he opens up about what he’d been through and what’s next. 

This was one of the most emotional endings to a season I’ve seen. What did that moment being named the winner for Season 22 of Top Chef mean to you? 

Man, if I told you I blacked out a little bit. I couldn’t even look at the judges. I just looked up the entire time. It was an emotional time for me because I wanted my parents there. There is a group of people who are so important to my culinary growth. Unfortunately, all of them have passed away one year after the next. At that one moment, I felt all of them. Everyone, just behind me, in front of me, lifting me. It was just an unreal feeling. I did not know how to react, other than ball my eyes out. I was sad, and so happy and so relieved, all of it. The job got done, and that was what I set off to do. I was really happy for everybody. 

I can’t imagine dealing with the pressure and isolation of being in this competition and having the weight of losing your stepfather, who you were very close to. Then in between Canada and Italy filming, going home for the funeral. What kept you going? 

Just his pride. His pride for me is the thing that kept me going. The woman who is my mom’s best friend who bought me every cookbook from the age of 9 until I could buy them myself. My aunt who stole tweezers for me from the hospital. Then my dad, all of those things were things that made me want to keep pushing forward. I feel like if I quit, it would have been a slap in the face. I felt like I had done such a great job of saying my story and my goal and everything throughout the season. I felt like if I were to have given up and gone through with going to Milan, then I would have spit in the face of all the support they’ve all given to me. 

What did it mean to you to have Bailey and Shuai there in the finale alongside you? 

One, they are incredible talents. It was great. It just happened to be three different cultures in the finale, which was great because it would be boring if it wasn’t. I think Top Chef has come a long way from its beginnings. Their casting net has been wider. With that, it’s creating more multicultural cuisines coming out of the woodwork. We’re seeing the Italian and French starting to get into equal footing with the Afro-Caribbean, the Chinese, all of it. It’s amazing to have them both there. I know I was really happy about it. 

How was it having Zubair working with your sous chef? What made him perfect for this important job? 

Zubair and I connected a lot just through our conversations about sports. He was the only one who liked sports in the entire place, so that was cool. Mostly, his spice tolerance. We traded a lot of spices for part of the season he was involved. I needed someone to hold me accountable for flavor. I wanted to know I could represent the way I wanted to represent. I knew Zubair was the only person to do that for me. He wouldn’t be afraid to say, “Let’s go stronger. Let’s go spicier.” It was meant to be for that. 

TOP CHEF — “Finito” Episode 2214 — Pictured: (l-r) Tristen Epps, Zubair Mohajir — (Photo by: David Moir/Bravo)

The money you’re getting and these life-changing opportunities. What do you plan to do with the winnings? 

Honestly, it’s still not real to me. I’m probably more intimidated with all that money and the package itself. Except, the flights because I am a flyer. The money is going to go into a restaurant. Some investments, but mostly the restaurant which is the investment. The dream isn’t over. The job is not completely done. This restaurant has to done eventually because it’s the next platform that I need to keep it going. 

What are you taking from this experience? 

Definitely, the friendships and bonds. Food brings people together. I also think trauma does as  well. There are 15 people shivering in a room every day because they are nervous if their food is good enough. It really brings you together. I’m super excited that I learned how to really stretch myself and dig real deep down into the archives of your knowledge to do that and watch other people do that. I learned a lot from Shuai and Bailey and Anya [El-Wattar], Vinny [Loseto], Massimo [Piedimonte]. I was so blessed to see this other food that I can now incorporate into my cuisine. That was priceless. 

What kind of impact do you think your winning is going to have? 

I’ll say it like this. When I was younger, I watched a lot of Emeril Live, Bobby Flay, Iron Chef. I saw those as platforms but when I saw Marcus Samuelsson, it was amazing. It was the first one I’d seen someone black and they weren’t doing soul food. Which is crazy because when I worked for him, we did soul food. I was very blessed to be able to see a person, read about a person, get their cookbook, meet them and then get offered a job by that person and then run their restaurants by that person and then be mentored by that person.

Such an amazing amount of luck. I wanted to do this so I could do that for someone else. I want that restaurant to be somewhere where someone can come to me and seek that out and provide a safe space where they could do what I do. It’s not just black. It’s anyone who wants to represent their culture they may feel is underserved or undervalued because it doesn’t not have flavor. I want to create that space, so they can also create that space and so on and so forth.