by Rose Wilde, Photos by Alan Gastelum
When I sat down with Rashida Holmes in her Silver Lake–adjacent restaurant, she had just been nominated for her third James Beard Award. This time was for Best New Restaurant, one of two restaurants nominated from California and the only one from Los Angeles. Bridgetown Roti is Rashida’s love letter to her family’s homeland of Barbados, its culture, and its cuisine. From the walls—covered in bright colors and adorned with paintings and intimate family portraits—to the logo reflective of the trident found on the flag of Barbados, everything expresses a history of a homeland celebrated through food.
Before Holmes and I dig in, Chef Uyen Lee of Bé Ù Kitchen stops by with a box of pastries from Café Tropical to congratulate Rashida, saying, “This [award] means a lot to all of us to see recognition.” Holmes is gracious with praise, noting that this nomination means the most to her because it is for Bridgetown Roti and what the team has built since opening in 2024.
Holmes’ recent rise may seem meteoric but, like every Los Angeles “overnight success” story, it has been years in the making. Holmes grew up on the East Coast, playing point guard in basketball with her heart set on the NBA (and then the WNBA) despite her shorter height. When she wasn’t on the court, she was watching classic cooking shows like “Iron Chef,” even now able to remember ingredients that she responded to viscerally as a child. Feeling lost at the University of Pittsburgh, Holmes left college early, surprising her parents (and herself) with a decision to go to culinary school. By the first semester, Holmes felt at home.
“I loved it instantly,” she says. “I loved the sport of it, the instant gratification, working with my hands to create something. Loved the team aspect, and then we got to eat at the end of the day! And I was good at it. It was ‘follow instructions and make a thing.’ I can do that. I can follow instructions, read, and do what it says. I only later realized this was a skill set. Right away one of my instructors told me to go get a job in a restaurant. He singled me out and told me I wanted to graduate with work experience.”
That was the auspicious start of a culinary career that would include stints in Philadelphia at Daniel Stern’s MidAtlantic, where she became sous chef in under six months, and in Pittsburgh at Soba under Chef Danielle Kane, who became her first mentor and encouraged her to make food her life. Hoping to escape East Coast winters, Holmes visited a cousin in Los Angeles and immediately moved here. In her adopted hometown, she built a strong relationship with Chef Kris Morningstar at Ray’s + Stark Bar and later became the chef de cuisine at Terrine. She would also spend time honing creativity at Rustic Canyon, the Freehand Hotel, and Botanica.
In a culinary stratosphere often filled with toxic personalities, Holmes exudes the feeling of a rare calm port of call in a kitchen’s constant storm. In the years I’ve known Holmes, whether working with her in restaurants, expo-ing a popup for her or cooking alongside her at events, she’s either taking the pressure of the kitchen in stride or laughing it off. When I remark on this quality, she agrees she has been a peacekeeper in most kitchens where she’s worked.
“I think it’s a bit of my personality and my experience,” Holmes says. “Moving around a lot as a kid gave me the ability to adapt quickly. I can match energy and read people. Being a Black queer woman in white-male-dominated spaces for most of my career has helped me understand and navigate spaces well. I can’t be frazzled. Even if it is ridiculous, you just acknowledge that and deal with it.”
After leaving Botanica, Holmes looked for executive chef jobs but couldn’t find any food or position that inspired her. A friend recommended she take a step back and write down all the foods she loves to eat. “The menu flew out of my head. Curry chicken! Codfish cakes, of course!” She immediately filled notebooks with ideas for the rotis and patties she devoured as a child while visiting her mother’s homeland of Barbados.
“‘Cool,’ I thought, ‘but what do I call it?’ Bridgetown? Perfect, the capital of Barbados. But for me, it’s also a bridge between the work I have been doing the last 11 years, my family, my life, and my culture. It made me realize who I was. Immediately I thought, ‘Why have I not been making Caribbean food this whole time?’”
Bridgetown Roti quickly grew from popups, to patties sold from her house during the pandemic, to a regular feature at Los Angeles’ biggest food events, to finding a permanent home in 2024 on North Vermont Avenue, where her mother is a partner in the business. Now you can get Holmes’ buttery rotis, viral[DA1] patties, and beloved codfish cakes Tuesday through Sunday in a shop whose color and design are also worthy of a permanent home on your grid. The new jerk chicken meal had me licking my fingers. Pro tip: Get a Coco Limeade to go and thank me later.
[DA1]Q: Is this really the adjective we want? Explain?
