Those situations may have been tough but she was a hit. “You learn a lot about yourself when you are in those situations.” “It’s more fun talking about ‘Top Chef’ than when it was happening,” Hall laughed. “I knew exactly what I was getting into.”Īfter graduation, she went on to work as sous chef at the Henley Park Hotel, as executive chef at The State Plaza Hotel and The Washington Club, and as executive chef of Alchemy Caterers, all in Washington. “The perception of being a chef is glamorous, but it’s so much hard work and people don’t know that,” she said. She did that for five years before culinary school at L’Académie de Cuisine in Maryland. “As a fluke, I started a lunch delivery service, delivering to hair salons, flower shops, doctors’ offices,” she said. It was in London she fell in love with food before returning to the United States to live in Washington D.C. “For me, modeling was a bridge between being an accountant and doing what I wanted to do, even though I didn’t know what that was then,” she said. Her path toward food started with a move to Europe, where she found work as a model in London, Paris and Milan. She graduated from Howard University with a degree in accounting and worked in the industry for several years. Years later, when Hall started a lunch delivery service in Washington, D.C., she too, served a pound cake like Granny’s. “She wrapped it in wax paper and then aluminum foil and sent it off to all the grandkids when we were in college,” Hall said. She was also a baker who made a mean peach cobbler but was famous in the family for her lemony pound cake. But because Hall’s grandfather had high blood pressure, Granny cooked more healthful versions of everything for him and the family. Granny Freddie Mae, her mother’s mom, could smother pork chops and make biscuits with the best of them. Though they both made a variety of foods, she recalls it was comfort food that her father’s mom, Thelma, specialized in, including the best fried chicken. She credits both her maternal and fraternal grandmothers with creating the foundation of her palate in their kitchens. Growing up in Nashville, Tenn., she said she was surrounded by food and love. She took a few minutes to chat about her path to food adventures and a TV career. Hall is coming to the East Greenwich Dave’s Marketplace for a book signing in April for “Carla’s Comfort Foods: Famous Dishes from Around the World” (Atria Books, $29.99), which will be published on April 1. She worked as a model in Europe went to college for accounting and now, is author of her second cookbook.
She’s been a TV chef as a finalist on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef All-Stars.” She was a chef in Washington, D.C. She’s a daytime television co-host of “The Chew” on ABC.
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