Meet Chef Jen
Food has always been the focal point of my life.
Growing up overseas I was exposed to so many different cuisines, textures, flavors, fruits, vegetables, you name it. I love hearing stories from when I was a toddler living in Jamaica, chewing on sugar cane to abate the pain from teething. Or remembering all of the fresh fish we ate while vacationing in Thailand every winter in high school. From hosting dinner parties as a child with my parents to spending countless hours in the kitchen making cookies whilst living in India in the late 90s and early 2000s. Food has always been the way that I communicate love and gratitude and it seemed like the obvious next step after I graduated from The University of Mary Washington.
I attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Afterwards I cooked for Patrick O'Connell at The Inn at Little Washington, in Washington, VA. During that time I studied wine with the Wine Director and eventually joined the Sommelier team at The Inn. After working for Chef O'Connell I joined Jose Andres' team in DC and worked for him at several of his restaurants, Cafe Atlantico, minibar & Zaytinya over the course of 5 years. During which I received my Advanced Sommelier training from Wine Spirits & Education Trust.
In 2013 I left the restaurant world full time. Newly married, my husband, David, and I moved to St. Louis. Over the next five years we welcomed two beautiful children, Annabelle & William. In 2019 I decided to get back into the food world and hosted my first cooking class in December of that year. I was so unbelievably excited to be doing what I loved again and then in March of 2020... Well, we all know that story.
During the pandemic I focused on in-home private dinners, which ended up being such a wonderful way to safely interact with clients AND bring them delicious food while so many restaurants had to shutter. During that time I created some very unique experiences for my guests including recreating dishes from Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, date nights in, crazy themed charcuterie boards & so much more. While my cuisine style leans towards refined American with a Mediterranean influence there are so many other styles that I love to weave into each of my menus.
