The win has a twofold benefit. "First and foremost, it will help me get my own restaurant, which is what I've always wanted to do," said Sbraga, 31. "That was the major reason I went on the show."
Second, it will elevate his profile, nationally and locally. During the six years he has cooked steadily in the region, Sbraga has collected a dizzying list of entries on his resume and a reputation as a chef's chef - a steady hand in the kitchen.
Household name? Not so.
"Intensely creative, very focused, all about the food" is how Bradlee Bartram, vice president of operations for Starr Restaurants, describes him. Sbraga is ending a term as executive chef at the Starr-managed Rat's restaurant in Hamilton Township, Mercer County.
Food dominated his childhood, and the focus was Harvey's Bakery, owned by his parents, Harvey Beachem and Maria Sbraga, with locations in Pennsauken and Willingboro.
"When other kids were watching cartoons on Saturday morning, I had to go to work with them," said the chef. He uses the surname of his Italian American mother; his father is African American, and Sbraga notes he is the first African American Top Chef.
Sbraga said the PBS cooking shows of Graham Kerr had inspired him to take culinary arts in high school at the Burlington County Institute of Technology, where "I was a clown but was always passionate about food. The first year, I almost got kicked out doing dumb stuff."
But it was there that he won his first cooking competition.
And where he met Jesmary Santiago, his wife of eight years and a pastry chef. They have a daughter, Jenae, 5, and a son, Kevin Angelo ("Angelo"), who is 3 weeks old.
After high school, Sbraga left for Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I., and in his second year did an externship in Brussels, Belgium.
"Everything was in French," he said. "Total culture shock."
