David and Tonya Thomas are American chefs, restaurateurs, and food historians who work in Baltimore, Maryland. The couple has owned several restaurants.
David Thomas won a 2018 episode of the television food competition series Chopped and then won a 5-part "Champs Challenge" series in 2020.
David Thomas was born in Baltimore and raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York. His grandmother is Blackfoot and Thomas spent weekends at her 13-acre farm in Howard County, Maryland.
The Thomases opened Ida B.'s Table in 2017, naming it for activist and journalist Ida B. Wells, in a building that also houses The Real News Network, a non-profit that is an investor in the restaurant. The couple had originally planned a "reinvented, elevated" soul food restaurant, but after meeting with Jessica B. Harris, who asked them, "What makes you think soul food needs to be reinvented or elevated?", they refocussed on a concept of "African-American cuisine informed by its history." The restaurant is in downtown Baltimore on Holliday Street. In early 2020 they left the restaurant.
Previously they owned Herb & Soul, a farm-to-table restaurant in the Parkville neighborhood of Baltimore.
In 2017 the couple were featured in an episode of Heritage Radio Network's A Hungry Society. In 2018 David Thomas was featured at the James Beard Foundation's Juneteenth event.
In November 2018 David Thomas won a Thanksgiving-themed episode of Chopped. He prepared a butternut squash soup macaroni-and-cheese with spinach and liver, turkey breast with spoonbread, cracklings, and gravy, and a spoonbread pie with cranberry-and-port whipped cream. In February 2020 Thomas won a "Champs Challenge" series, competing with 15 other chefs.
In November 2022 the couple opened H3eirloom Food Group, initially focussing on catering. The couple produces a recurring dinner series.
The Thomases work with the American Institute of Wine and Food's Days of Taste program, which brings chefs into elementary schools.