LaToya Cross Chef Kiki Louya

Detroit has an increasing amount of cachet among the culinary elite — and we’re not complaining.

One of the players making noise in the culinary industry is Chef Kiki Louya, co-owner and co-founder of The Farmer’s Hand and FOLK, located in the historic Corktown neighborhood at the corner of Trumbull and Bagley. The Farmer’s Hand is a locally-focused, artisanal grocery and cafe that supplies the neighborhood with Michigan products and fresh foods. FOLK, her latest business endeavor, is the restaurant extension of the grocer-cafe, and shares the same mission of locally-sourced ingredients, high-quality meals and community building.

Chef Louya, who grew up in the Rosedale Park neighborhood, recently made headlines as one of sixteen black chefs recognized by the New York Times for changing the culinary landscape and having a direct impact on their community.

“When I talk about food, I don’t know how to not talk about the people involved in it,” Louya says. “No matter where you’re from in the world, you can use food as that common language. Regardless of whatever’s going on in the community, we can sit down, break bread together, have a meal and share thoughts.”