Edward Lee
Chef/Owner 610 Magnolia

Edward Lee hoped someday to be the proprietor of a restaurant with the reputation of 610 Magnolia. It never occurred to him that it could happen when he was 31.

The New York City native began working in restaurants at 14, cooking in several restaurants in the newly built Trump Tower on 5th Ave. He graduated magna cum laude in literature from New York University but returned to the culinary world after a brief stint in publishing.

Lee trained with famed New York chef Frank Crispo and worked at several smaller New York restaurants. In 1998 he opened Clay, an Asian-inspired restaurant that prospered for five years in the NoLiTa section of Manhattan. Lee took a break from Clay in 2001 to travel throughout Europe and cook under the continent’s finest chefs. When he returned to the U.S. he finished his education by visiting some of this country’s legendary restaurants, including Napa Valley’s French Laundry, Ryland Inn in New Jersey and Galileo in Washington D.C. His goal was to learn how the great cuisines of Europe were interpreted in the U.S.

Lee learned about 610 Magnolia when a customer at Clay told him about Ed Garber. Lee visited during Derby Week 2001 and returned in March 2003 to study under Garber for several months. Garber’s approach mirrored Lee’s involvement in the farm-to-table agricultural movement. And Lee was impressed with Kentucky’s rich array of growers. Ultimately, Lee decided 610 Magnolia would be the perfect place to continue his culinary mission: cooking a New American cuisine globally influenced but utilizing local organic products.

Along with business partner, Brook Smith, Lee is chef/proprietor of 610 Magnolia. He continues to travel worldwide in search of restaurants that raise the bar on fine cuisine.

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