Raheem Sealey
Growing up on the island of St. Croix, Chef Raheem Sealey exhibited culinary talents from a young age. He started cooking in the kitchen with his grandmother as a child and fond memories of working alongside her prepping the vegetables for Thanksgiving Dinner. With that inspiration at heart, he went on to work in prestigious resorts in St. Croix, quickly moving through the ranks from dishwasher to garde manager until he had learned to run all kitchen stations. After the birth of his daughter, Sealey decided to move to the states to pursue new opportunities for them both. In 2009 he moved to Miami and enrolled in the Cordon Bleu. While pursuing his education, his ambition kept him busy staging in some of Miami’s best kitchens including Michael’s Genuine. After graduation he took a position with Sugarcane, honing his skills on the robata grill. Those skills caught the attention of others and Chef Raheem was soon recruited by Zuma where he met Chef Michael Lewis. At Zuma he continued to develop his creativity, passion and leadership skills, rising to the rank of Sous Chef before moving on to Pao as an integral part of Paul Qui’s opening team. When KYU opened in February 2016, Chef Raheemjoined the team as Sous Chef and was quickly promoted to Executive Chef; thanks to his dedication, hard work, and talent. He lead the kitchen until the end of 2021 and under his supervision KYU got a numerous of accolade and listing such a as top 50 best restaurant to visit in America.
In 2019, when the pandemic and the lockdown happen, Chef Raheem decided to give a chance to his dream! He decided to open a smokehouse pop-up with his wife, Yohanir Sandoval, and his best friend, Mark Wint. His good friend Linda Reguieg put together an Instagram page and a website, and that was it, Drinking Pig BBQ was born! Since then his dream team continues to work every weekend on serving the best BBQ to Miami residents.
