Laurence Louie, the Quincy, Massachusetts chef who finished as a runner-up on Top Chef: Carolinas, is heading back to Greenville for a one-night dinner and meet-and-greet at Sum Bar, the dim sum restaurant and baijiu bar he connected with through the show. The dinner is set for Sunday, November 1, with a meet-and-greet planned for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Sum Bar.
Louie's Greenville stop is part of a broader tour he's doing to reconnect with friends he made through Top Chef: Carolinas, which premiered in March 2026 and was filmed partly in Greenville, as reported by the Greenville Journal. According to the Journal, Louie met Sum Bar owner Khailing Neoh during the competition, and he said he thought Greenville seemed like a fun town to bring his family back to — he even pointed to the splash pads at Unity Park and along Main Street as a draw. The Journal also notes that Quincy and Greenville are similar in size, which may be part of why the connection felt natural to him.
Louie owns Rubato HK Café, a Hong Kong-style street café in Quincy that he runs with his wife, Rary Ratsifa, according to Hingham Anchor. The restaurant started out as a bakery called Contempo, where Louie worked the cash register as a teenager. He and his mother reopened it as Rubato in 2022, per Axios. Rubato has since been nominated for a James Beard Award and named one of Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurants in 2023, according to Hingham Anchor's reporting.
From Chinatown Organizing to the Top Chef Kitchen
Louie's path to the stove wasn't a straight line. He began his professional career in community organizing in Boston's Chinatown, working for about five years for the Chinese Progressive Association, a nonprofit focused on developing youth leadership, according to the Greenville Journal. It was through that organizing work that he became hooked on food's power to unite a community, WBUR reports in its profile of the chef.
Louie began cooking as a line cook at Oleana in Cambridge before moving overseas, Axios notes. The Journal reports that he spent a year soul-searching in China before landing in London, where he lived for about five years and worked under chef Selin Kiazim. He has said living abroad sharpened his self-awareness, and meeting British-Chinese people there helped him reflect on his own identity as a Chinese American, per the Journal's account.
When Louie was cast on season 23 of Top Chef, he wanted to cook what he knew and represent the community that raised him, according to WBUR. He and New York-based chef Sherry Cardoso finished as runners-up on Top Chef: Carolinas, Axios reports, and he was later nominated for a James Beard award for best chef in the Northeast. Rubato's Top Chef-inspired specials reportedly sold out in under two hours after the show aired, per the same Axios report.
A New Bolo Bun and a Shared Philosophy
At Sum Bar, Louie has said he sees a kindred spirit in how Neoh approaches second-generation Chinese-American food, making it in new ways rather than sticking to tradition for its own sake — a comparison he's drawn to Shuai Wang's barbecue at King BBQ in Charleston, according to the Greenville Journal. King BBQ is also a stop on Louie's tour; the Weekly Specials CHS newsletter announced that Louie would take over the King BBQ kitchen on October 25. Sum Bar, notably, is the only stop on his tour that isn't paired with another former Top Chef contestant, per the Journal.
Neoh has said Louie's online posts about AAPI identity and the tension between corporate work and pursuing a restaurant career resonated with her, according to the Greenville Journal. At Saturday's meet-and-greet, the two chefs plan to premiere a new dish together: a bolo bun with chrysanthemum tea custard, which will be added to Sum Bar's lunch menu, the Journal reports.
Food has always grown naturally out of Louie's community-building and fundraising work, he has said, and it eventually became central to everything he does, per the Journal's reporting. Through his cooking, he has said he strives to recreate nostalgic flavors and moments for the people guests love, aiming simply to bring joy to the table. Sum Bar, located at 307 E Washington St. in Greenville, is a dim sum restaurant.
Tickets for Sunday's dinner are available through Resy, and tables at Sum Bar more broadly are also booked through the platform, according to the restaurant's own reservations page.
