Born in the Bronx and raised in Queens, Bailey learned to cook with her family, at the Château du Feÿ in Burgundy, France, then at The Oak Room at the Plaza in New York before becoming sous chef to Gabrielle Hamilton at Prune. Her dishes, inspired by America’s southern states and the African diaspora, include Chicken Country Captain, a traditional stewed chicken, and cabbage smoked on pecan wood. The restaurant is an art deco Greyhound bus terminal from 1938. With a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southeast and an episode of "Chef's Table", Bailey can now count herself one of the great chefs of the United States. She is vice chair of the board of directors of the Edna Lewis Foundation, whose mission is to preserve and celebrate the legacy of the chef known for "Southern food", the cuisine of the southern United States.
