Jody Adams

Chef, Restaurateur, Cookbook Author

Early Years

Chef Jody Adams' culinary persona is the convergence of numerous influences, including her mother, cookbooks, travel, work experience, and many, memorable meals. What first drew her into her mother's kitchen, and what keeps her enthusiastic and passionate in her own kitchens, is the food and working side by side with others. Her parents first taught her how to celebrate food. Living in England for a year as a teenager, Adams was enticed during shopping trips with her mother to European outdoor food markets, and classic regional European cuisine became her inspiration. With her immense talent and respect for top quality ingredients, she reinvents some of those classic recipes with indigenous New England ingredients, and is now considered one of the stars of modern American cooking.

Her initial venture into the culinary world began while attending Brown University, when she apprenticed as a recipe tester and class assistant to food writer and teacher Nancy Verde Barr. She went on to work under celebrity chef Lydia Shire in 1983, and in 1986 became Gordon Hammersley's sous chef at Hammersley's Bistro. From 1990-1994 Adams held the position of executive chef at Michela, bringing her to the realization that she was ready to run her own restaurant. With partners Karen Haskell and Michele Larson, Jody Adams opened Rialto restaurant in Boston's St. Charles Hotel in September of '94, and after only 4 months, Rialto received the Boston Globe's highest rating of 4 stars.

Recognition

In May 2001, the partners opened Red Clay restaurant, then in November of that same year Restaurant Blu, located in The Sports Club/LA, followed by Noir, a bar/lounge located below Rialto. Blu was named one of the best new restaurants in America by Bon Appetit magazine. Jody Adams has won numerous other awards, including Rising Star Chef (1992 Restaurant Hospitality), one of America's Ten Best New Chefs (1993 Food & Wine magazine), Best Chef: Northeast (1997 James Beard Foundation), and Best Chef (1997 Boston Magazine). She was also inducted into the "Fine Dining Hall of Fame" by Nation's Restaurant News in 2000.

Jody Adams' first cookbook, In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant, co-written with husband Ken Rivard, was published in January 2002. Three years in the making, Adams shares a lifetime of culinary inspiration and expertise, helping answer the question "why be just a good cook when you can be a great one?". In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant, was recognized by the International Association of Culinary Professionals with a nomination for Best Chefs & Restaurants Cookbook in March of 2003.

A fascination with high quality ingredients and the best ways to work with them have led Jody Adams on a successful and rewarding culinary journey. In her restaurants and in her book, her soul-satisfying cuisine inspires people to follow their instincts as she's followed hers. Her goal is to turn passionate eaters into passionate cooks - to discover flavors you didn't know existed and to be able to cook beyond your abilities.