Alexandria Native and Hell’s Kitchen Alum Chef Leigh is Cooking at the Masters ‘25
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Chef Leigh Orleans, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, and a breakout culinary star on Season 22 of Hell’s Kitchen, is now a private chef picking up extraordinary gigs all over the country. This week she is at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
“I am doing five dinners with rotating corporate guests and the sponsored player every night,” said Chef Leigh who spoke by telephone to Zebra from the kitchen of the beautiful private estate in Augusta, where she is cooking during the Masters 2025 tournament. Both the sponsor’s identity and the player’s name were off the record.
This is her second year cooking for a corporate player sponsor at the Masters, and she has the routine very organized, but some things you can’t anticipate. For example, caviar was to be in a starring role in her opening night menu. “It comes from from Cavi Morii, an awesome purveyor with an incredible female owner out in LA,” Orleans said. “It’s an incredible product and I’d ordered it early, but there was a shipping delay due to logistical issues with the weather, unrelated to the caviar company.”
“So, they put one of their employees on an American Airlines flight with a lunch box and some ice packs, and brought it to me all the way, which was an amazing save,” Orleans offered proudly. The caviar was front and center for opening night and was very big hit.
Orleans is cooking for at least 16 guests every night, plus staff. “Last night we did a surf and turf filet with a black garlic harissa prawn, and tonight is a New York Strip grilled on the Big Green Egg,” Orleans shared. “That’s going to be served with frites and a smoky pine nut salsa.”
Augusta is a pretty busy town at the moment, and we wondered how she managed to procure the fresh proteins every day. “Oh I’m lucky,” Orleans laughed. “I have a local butcher I get in touch with every morning, and he brings me what I need.” She’s referring to Jack Deese, who owns The New York Butcher Shoppe in Augusta, who told her when they met, “I can bring you anything you want, from oysters to ostrich!”
Orleans came in sixth on Hell’s Kitchen, but got a black jacket from Gordon Ramsay, and says that achievement alone was a win, since usually only the top five get to the black jacket level. The fans loved her and the experience bolstered her culinary credibility, adding a celebrity moniker to her name. Chef Leigh now travels all over the world as a private chef.
“From here I go to Nantucket with a wellness retreat group, and then after that to Sonoma County,” Orleans told us. “I travel all over!””
Chef Leigh grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, where she attended Waynewood Elementary and graduated from West Potomac High School. She holds a business degree from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, has a degree in culinary arts from the Savannah Culinary Institute, and a masters from the Culinary Institute of America.
Orleans calls North Carolina home, where she lives with her Blackhawk pilot Army Captain husband Elliot, and their two cats.
Chef Leigh hinted that she will soon be on another competitive cooking show for the Food Network, but it is too soon to share the details.
