Anita Lo

Anita Lo is a Chinese-American chef. She opened the restaurant Annisa in Greenwich Village in 2000. Food & Wine magazine named her one of ten “Best New Chefs in America” in 2001, and in the same year the Village Voice awarded her “Best New Restaurant Chef. In 2005, Anita Lo co-founded Rickshaw, a dumpling bar with several locations in New York City and appeared on the first season of Iron Chef America, defeating her competitor Mario Batali. In 2008, she opened Bar Q, an Asian barbecue restaurant in Greenwich Village. In 2009, while Anissa was closed for repairs following a fire, Lo appeared on the first season of Top Chef Masters, finishing fourth out of 24 chefs. In October 2011, Lo released her first cookbook, "Cooking Without Borders," which highlights her passion for bringing multicultural flavors to her American kitchen. Her recipes celebrate the best flavors and ingredients from around the world at a time when access to international ingredients is greater than ever before. Interspersed are stories from Lo’s life, memories of her travels and tips on cooking. In February 2014, critic Pete Wells re-reviewed Annisa in The New York Times, bestowing the restaurant with a prestigious three stars. In the review, he calls her food “remarkable” and “impressive,” and the restaurant “graceful and unfussy.” In 2015, Anita Lo was the first female guest chef to cook for a State Dinner at the White House, under the Obama administration. She prepared a 4-course meal for the visiting Chinese president, Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan. In May 2017, after holding a Michelin star for nine consecutive years, Lo closed Annisa on financial grounds, citing the continuous increase of real estate taxes and of minimum wages.