Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO?
Chef Raquel Lenzie started cooking at a very young age often standing on a chair to reach the stove. Through her early childhood culinary learning experiences and working in a family restaurant and other functions, combined with many years of corporate restaurant experience, Chef Raquel was motivated to start her company RL Restaurant Group in 2014.
Chef Raquel’s company is comprised of SLIDE Cafe, located downtown Birmingham, serving specialty sliders, gourmet sides, and signature salads and Panoptic Catering a full service catering operation, and coming soon SMOKE Bistro, LENZIE’s Restaurant & Bar and The Yellow Door, a unique speakeasy. Her company has catered events for organizations such as the Susan B. Komen Foundation, special employee events at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and in unique venues including Woodrow Hall and Hoover Randle Home. She has also showcased her recipes in live cooking demonstrations on ABC 33/40 Talk of Alabama, WBRC Fox6 Good Day Alabama, Birmingham Home Show and the Southern Women’s Show. She has been featured in Birmingham’s Wedding Magazine, iPush Magazine, and Birmingham’s Own Magazine with countless articles from al.com, bhamnow.com, and alabamanewscenter.com. Her delicious “five-cheese baked mac and cheese” recipe won Panoptic 1st Place - “Best of Magic City Mac” at the 2018 Birmingham Magic City Mac + Cheese Festival. Recently, one of her recipes was featured on the Chef Works website. Recently she has been a key representation for the culinary scene being a voice on countless local news stations as well as on the national news Fox & Friends with Ainsley Earhardt.
Chef Raquel is a regular participant in the Birmingham Bridal Lux Wedding Show, Greater Birmingham March of Dimes Signature Chef's Auction, Taste of Birmingham, Shelby County, and Hoover, and she won “Best Bite” at the 2019 Taste of Pelham. She was selected as a 2019 VIP Chocolatier Chef for the Disability Rights and Resource’s Annual Magic City Chocolate Challenge, the food and beverage vendor for the Inaugural Le Diner en Blanc International-Birmingham and was also a judge for Birmingham’s first nationally recognized Culinary Fight Club-Street Food Showdown. She was also highlighted in the City of Birmingham’s StrongHER campaign launched in 2019 by Mayor Randall Woodfin for Women’s History Month and Birmingham Business Journal’s 2021 Top 40 Under 40. More recently, Chef Raquel was named a finalist and appeared in three primetime shows on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel and a keynote speaker for Jack & Jill of America, Inc. 2022 Southeastern Region Teen Leadership Conference. Additionally, Chef Raquel is a culinary mentor for Girls Incorporated of Central AL, a member of the Birmingham Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Lawson State Community College Culinary Advisory Board and President of the Birmingham Chapter of the American Culinary Federation.