Arjav Ezekiel

After graduating from college, Ezekiel was offered a job as a paralegal but was unable to accept it because of his undocumented status.^[1] He started working in restaurants in Washington DC, including Komi and Wolfgang Puck's Source, starting as a waiter and eventually becoming captain, and decided to make hospitality his career.^[1][2] He worked in New York at Gramercy Tavern and Untitled, both restaurants owned by Union Square Hospitality Group.^[1] He staged at French Laundry and Meadowood.^[1]

In 2021, Ezekiel and his wife, chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, opened Birdie's, a counter-service wine bar, in Austin, Texas where he manages the wine program.^[1][3] In 2023 Food & Wine named it their Restaurant of the Year.^[3][4] Arjav was Esquire Wine Director of the Year in 2022 and was the first ever recipient of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service in 2025-a national award. He was also named to the 2025 Time 100 Next list that year.

In 2012, he received documentation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).^[1] Ezekiel married Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel in 2018; the couple met in 2015 while working in at Untitled New York City and decided to move to Austin to open a restaurant together to enable a better work-life balance.^[1][3][4] The couple have a son born in 2022.^[3]

Ezekiel received a green card after his marriage and in 2023 became a US citizen.^[1] Before becoming a citizen, he never visited a wine region outside of the United States.^[1]