Prize-winning pitmaster and chef Dominique Leach has overcome squashing and setbacks to reach the top
The reigning queen of barbecue, Dominique Leach, is “staking a claim for Black women” in the traditionally male world of short ribs and brisket, according to Food & Wine magazine. Winning the 2023 title in Food Network’s popular BBQ Brawl contest has helped put her restaurant and her hometown on the grill food map.
As a classically trained chef turned world-class pitmaster succeeding as a minority in the food world, Leach hopes her example encourages other people to believe in themselves and follow their dreams. She wants to be “an example to someone who looks like [me], that you can get it out of the mud.”
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After culinary school at the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago, Leach earned her chops working at some of the city’s finest restaurants: the Renaissance Hotel, Spiaggia, and the Four Seasons. While she appreciated the experience she got, she felt undervalued and reached a point where “I was out of ‘yes, chef’s and just ready to do it for myself.”
“This country was raised off of soul food and I believe it deserves more respect.”
She started Lexington Betty Smokehouse “without a loan, just working hard, saving money and putting it back in the business.” Debuting as a food truck, later adding a restaurant and catering service, the business is named after Leach’s grandmother, Betty King, from Lexington, Mississippi, who first introduced her to Southern cuisine.
“I wanted to pay homage to her,” Leach says, “but it also had a lot to do with representing our culture.” Leach felt it was important to celebrate and champion soul food because “in case you forgot, this country was raised off of [it] and I believe it deserves more respect than it’s getting.”
The restaurant aims not only to serve up tasty food but also celebrate the flavor of family. “When I think about some of the best and most important times in my life, they were when family was gathering,” Leach recalls. “You know that feeling—music blaring, watermelon juice running down your arms, the smell of meat in the air, everybody doing their shifts on the grill, everybody in the kitchen making different sides—potato salad, spaghetti, corn on the cob.”
Lighting a fire
Leach’s drive and determination to go it alone were tested early on in 2017, when someone torched her first food truck, which was parked outside where she and her wife, Tanisha, were living. When firefighters gave her the all-clear to go inside and assess the damage, she found a poster board biography that she displayed by the vehicle when it was on location untouched. “So, I pulled it out of the truck and just kind of publicly held it up and said, ‘Whoever thought they were going to stop me, they just lit a fire under me.’
“I chose to use that moment as inspiration to overcome something and just be a phoenix. I knew that if I could overcome that situation with grace and poise, that it would be an inspiration to someone else. And so that’s what I did, I just kept it moving.” Within just a few months, she had another truck on the road.
It wasn’t easy. Forced out of their home by fears whoever was responsible for the arson might come back, Leach and Tanisha were “practically homeless” for a time, living with friends and later camping out in the back of their first restaurant. “We had an air mattress, a lamp and each other, and so we just made do,” she recalls. “But all of those sacrifices were for a greater good; they got us this platform today, so I wouldn’t change anything about it.”
Leach faced the setback by doubling down: she quit the restaurant where she had still been working while she launched her new business to use the 401k money she had to replace the truck. Tanisha stepped up too, leaving her job to help Leach.
“I couldn’t do it without her,” Leach says. “I owe her so much for riding out with me and how all her energy goes into this, my dream. I can’t wait to be as supportive to her in anything, whatever drives her. She has been like the backbone; there have been times where I was depressed, or I just felt her energy kind of pulling me along.”
Setting an example
Running a successful food business isn’t just about great recipes but understanding customers’ changing tastes. While the food truck side has been “a fun hustle,” Leach is contemplating phasing that out to concentrate on other things. “Street food looks a lot different after the pandemic,” she notes. Her city’s dining scene is changing too, she observes. “Chicago used to be a very late-night city,” she says, “and now, if you don’t have dinner by nine o’clock, you’re probably not sitting in a neighborhood restaurant because everything closes early now.”
Part of her new focus will be television, with regular local spots and talk about other opportunities. BBQ Brawl wasn’t Leach’s first time in front of the cameras. She was a contestant on Chopped in 2021 and a judge on the Canadian show Fire Masters the following year. Then there is her forthcoming book, a memoir combined with favorite recipes.
Dominique Leach with fellow judges on Canada’s Fire Masters
Leach hopes her example as a minority in the food world inspires others. “It’s important to show kids that look like us that they do not have to become their surroundings and they do have options,” she says.
Going out on her own was an important step. “I didn’t feel like I was truly free until I was controlling my own time,” she says. “I was done looking for validation from other people, for someone to tell me I can. I was at a point in my life where I didn’t need any of those things and I believed in myself ultimately.”
Growing in self-confidence has been important. “It’s really a trip to develop those things,” she says, “but it was something I recognized that I needed. And so, I became my biggest fan and just really followed through on all the things that I wanted for myself so that I can be in this moment.”
DOMINIQUE LEACH: MY WAYMAKERS
My mom was a single parent, she had Achilles tendonitis and high blood pressure, but she just didn’t stop; she had set her eyes on a goal, to get us through school and provide a roof over our heads, and so she did whatever she had to. She worked overnight at American Express for eight years, which had to be so exhausting—to have little kids and still have to get them ready for school. A little bit of my drive comes from her.
My older brother planted a seed in me early on. I was working on the line at a hotel and just being a complaining employee: “They don’t listen to me. They don’t care about my opinion.” And he said something to me that I just had to hear: “Look, you’re an entry-level employee and nobody cares about what you think. If you want to work there, you need to just show up and do what’s being asked of you and hope that your opinion matters someday.” And I carried that with me, and I eventually developed a “just look down at your work and get it done” kind of mentality. But I never took those moments for granted because I felt like I was quietly honing my skills.
From an interview with Louis Carr
