Comeback King: From Prison to His Own Restaurant, Chef Anthony Caldwell Followed a Path Laid by Providence

Anthony Caldwell, 54, executive chef and owner of 50Kitchen. Courtesy of Anthony Caldwell

On a spiritual level, the journey of 50Kitchen is a lot longer than the 710 miles between Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Executive chef and owner Anthony Caldwell said divine providence got him from where he was to where he is today. And where he was ... was prison.

“I didn’t have the perfect life,” Caldwell said. “But prison, in the long run, was a good decision, because it’s where I learned how to cook.”