“For me, and for most chefs at this point, New America just represents who we are as Americans,” says Chef Kyle Fowlkes of his lively new restaurant — Saté: A New American Experience. “We’re this melting pot and hodgepodge of cultures and creativities and backgrounds, so I think that just speaks to our society… New America means [we’re] all these flavors combined together.”
In Newport News’ City Center, a fresh new restaurant is expertly intertwining the flavors of Southern, Asian and New England. With each of the four letters in its neon-illuminated title a different bold color, Saté: A New American Experience promises the journey within its name.
As guests walk up to the front door on Town Center Drive, indoor dining tables line the restaurant’s front and side windows. A boldly colored sitting space welcomes customers into the main dining room, immersing them in the center of the space as they wait for a table. Twisted lighting elements peek through the metal-mail dividers that hang through the wall cutouts, beckoning visitors deeper into the back bar area and private dining room.
“I designed the whole building myself,” Fowlkes says. “Having the different environments and different rooms was done strategically because of the title of this restaurant — Saté: A New American Experience. I wanted people to be able to come and dine here and experience something different. You could come here one week, sit in three different areas, and basically get three different experiences.”
Fowlkes recalls “growing up in the kitchen with my grandmother, with my grandfather, with my mom… I tell people all the time, my grandfather was actually probably the best short-order cook I ever knew,” Fowlkes says with a grin.
Initially attending Christopher Newport University as a music major, “I lived, slept, dreamt music and band. Then, life just sort of pivots and takes you to different places,” he says, Fowlkes took a year off from school and during that time, he discovered his passion for the culinary arts and his desire to become a chef. He enrolled in Johnson and Wales and graduated from its culinary school.
“When I finally decided to leave music — I played trumpet for 13 years — the transition into food wasn’t that difficult because I had grown up watching cooks in the kitchen at a young age,” Fowlkes continues. He worked as a kitchen manager at 18 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Festhaus. Following his graduation from culinary school, and then working in Williamsburg, he gained even more kitchen experience at Embassy Suites by Hilton at the Hampton Convention Center.
In September 2020, the Saté food truck opened for business, which has become known as the Roaming New American Kitchen. According to Fowlkes, the name Saté comes from the word “‘sate,’ to be fulfilled, and satay is an Asian word for skewered.” The food truck’s original offerings were bowls that included skewers of protein, which became a daily special. Demand and popularity continued to grow, and Saté has remained the number one crowd favorite out of 40 other food trucks at the Newport News Shipyard.
Fowlkes remembers that “last year, the goal was always to get to this brick and mortar, to this restaurant.” And August 2023 marked the beginning of the Saté’s lease on life in City Center in a physical restaurant space, as Saté: A New American Experience. Saté Kitchen — both as A New American Experience and The Roaming New American Kitchen — has been showered with local awards and community recognition.
“Since a bulk of my cooking style is rooted in Southern and Asian fusion, I want to kind of stay true to that. It’s taking a classic Southern item but mashing it with an Asian technique,” Fowlkes says. The current menu’s strawberry shortcake spring rolls were created with Fowlkes’ grandmother’s recipe for million-dollar pound cake.
Other frequently ordered dishes include the espresso crusted lamb chops, tuna poke nachos, deviled eggs, crab cakes and she-crab soup. Fowlkes’ personal favorite? The pan-seared sea scallops.
Beyond his dedication to his work, Fowlkes describes himself as both a movie lover and “a huge sneakerhead.” His impressive collection, which includes about 340 pairs of sneakers, are “pretty much all Jordans.”
“My Nana — I spent a lot of time with her, and a lot of things that we make in the restaurant are little things that remind me of her and nods to her,” Fowlkes says. Nana’s chicken is another restaurant favorite. “I’m very proud to continue to honor [my family] and what they’ve taught me with the restaurant.”
TO THE POINT:
Saté: A New American Experience
Address: 694 Town Center Dr., Newport News, VA 23606
Contact: Chef Kyle Fowlkes
Phone: 757-330-2299
Website: sateexperience.com
