Bobo Catoe
Chef de Cuisine | Alewife | Richmond, VA
March 2022
Growing up in Sumner, Mississippi, all Bobo Catoe wanted to do was get his hands dirty in the kitchen with his mother and sister, but instead, his station was at the family’s garden. Just outside the home his grandfather had built, Catoe and his father spent days upon days planting, tending, and harvesting fresh vegetables for the family. Going on to study law at the University of Mississippi, he still had a lingering urge to get in the kitchen.
After graduating, Catoe enrolled at the Art Institute of Charleston, which led him to meeting two great friends and future mentors: Chef Sean Brock and Rising Stars alum Travis Grimes. Catoe met the duo at the Charleston Food & Wine Festival and with some persistence and finessing, he was able to secure a stage at McCrady’s Restaurant in Charleston. Although Catoe was green, Brock took notice of his hunger to learn and offered him a prep position at both McCrady’s and Husk.
Two years later, Catoe had worked through every station at Husk and was ready for a change. He and his wife moved to Richmond, Virginia and he jumped on the line at Rising Stars alum Joe Sparatta’s New American restaurant, Heritage, later moving up to sous chef at Southbound, co-owned by Mentor Chef Lee Gregory. Feeling restrained by the family-friendly menu, Catoe began hosting pop-ups called Stolen Goods, where every dish paid homage to a chef he had worked for in the past. In 2020, Gregory opened Alewife in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond with Catoe as executive chef. The local and sustainably-sourced seafood restaurant has been named one of the “Best New Restaurants in America, 2019” by Esquire and now, Catoe can spend as much time in the kitchen as he wants.
