Chris Viaud is the chef and owner of Greenleaf and the soon-to-open Ansanm, both in Milford, N.H. Greenleaf is an award-winning farm-to-table restaurant, and Ansanm got its start in January 2021, as a pop-up there where Viaud, a first-generation American, could explore his Haitian heritage. The interest from his customers to learn more about Haitian food was so pronounced that when a restaurant space opened up, Viaud and his family teamed up to learn about the food that they grew up eating: Viaud’s mother had been the main cook, however she didn’t use recipes, but prepared meals based on taste and memory, so the whole family teamed up to develop the recipes , and the result is the soon-to-open restaurant.
Viaud himself is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., who then went on to spend three years cooking at Deuxave restaurant in Boston’s Back Bay, and helped open restaurants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire before debuting Greenleaf.
More recently he was a competitor on Season 18 of Top Chef.
Viaud recently shared his approach to developing the restaurant and discussed some of the dishes he plans to serve at Ansanm.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
