Chef Rashanna Newsome has a dirty secret about the beginnings of her culinary career. The operative word is dirt, more specifically. "I might get in trouble for this if my mom reads it," Newsome laughs.

"When I was little, I used to take pots out of our kitchen, then go outside and make mudpies. There was one pot in particular that I liked — the one my mom made her spaghetti in — along with one of the kitchen spoons, and I would go outside to our little shed in the back and dig up dirt, grab some water, and then stir it up. I would be talking to myself out there like I was on a cooking show. I would take that mixture and spoon it into pancakes to harden, then sneak everything back inside."

She does want to note that the burgled pots were always cleaned after use.

Newsome is the Head Chef at The Manship Wood Fired Kitchen, where she's spent 13 years building a career that started at a salad station. Known for her imaginative flavors and riffs on classic dishes, she helps keep the flames and culinary innovation burning in the capital city.

"To be honest, I don't know what drew me into telling myself, 'Hey, you need to cook,'" Newsome said. "I think it was because every time I would go into the kitchen, my mom was in there cooking. I can see her now, smell the spaghetti that she always made. It's still one of my favorite dishes of hers."

From Salad Station to Head Chef

Newsome started at Manship in 2013, hired on the spot after her interview. She began on the salad station — "the salad girl," as she was known — teaching herself the rest of the kitchen by watching other stations during service. A few months in, she went back to Chicago to finish a semester at Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute. While she was away, Manship called with a promotion: sous chef.

Newsome's visits to her father in Atlanta gave her early exposure to cooking for large groups. "My dad was on the chef team for big events at the Georgia Dome, so he saw and cooked for a lot of people," Newsome said. He would wake before dawn and prep for hours ahead of concerts and games at the arena.

In 2018, Newsome left Manship to become Executive Chef at Aplos Simple Mediterranean, where she spent about a year and a half. Executive Chef Alex Eaton later brought her back to Manship to lead catering, and she's been there since.

An Overall Win for Greek Empanadas

Newsome's catering résumé includes an "Overall" award win at a North Louisiana food and wine festival, where she served Greek empanadas topped with a housemade salsa. She sold out and drew a line at her table for the entire event — a moment she almost missed because she was already packing up when they called her name.

The one question you'll never hear Newsome answer, though, is what her favorite dish to cook is. "I love cooking and experimenting," Newsome said. "I'm trying to perfect every type of cuisine. When somebody asks me, 'So, what's your favorite thing you like to cook?' I say, 'You just let me know what you want, and I'll make that. That's my favorite thing.'"