Big Sur Style
Chef Jamie specializes in healthy, seasonal and organic food inspired by the wild, magnificent bounty of Big Sur and Monterey County. Her style is whimsical and pretty yet substantial and hearty. She makes it a point to utilize ingredients foraged herself in the wilds of Big Sur, grown on her Big Sur homestead or fished by her in the Big Sur ocean She also uses, whenever available, foods from fellow Big Sur homestead farmers in her dishes. For all else, she uses only organic foods from local farms and sustainable meats. Every dish she makes is from entirely scratch and from the heart. Her motto is that food, especially when eaten away from the home, should satisfy your deepest cravings. She believes that "food should make you want to close your eyes, hum and swoon, just like amazing music". And that she should “create things that bring back nostalgic memories of childhood for people...in a colorful and artistic way.”
Background
Following her training in Culinary Arts at the French Culinary Institute in NYC, Chef Jamie has worked in a variety of restaurants in New York and in California. She discovered her love for catering when she began helping out a friend who is a band promoter. Cooking for the musicians backstage and on tour in venues all across the state of California, Chef Jamie learned the fun way how to improvise to create a stellar meal to the stars by embracing seasonal, local, fresh produce. Her work as head pastry chef for California's Bay Area #1 Zagat rated Hotel Restaurant, Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn for 5 years helped her to develop an extensive knowledge of pastry arts and wedding cake design. She attended San Francisco Baking Institute Custom Wedding Cake course. She has catered weddings, private parties, music festivals and green rooms alike throughout Big Sur and up and down the coast of California. Arcade Fire, Cat Power, Will Oldham, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Bright Eyes, Silver Jews, Pegi Young, Gillian Welch and The Beach Boys are just a few of the artists she has cooked for.
"Jarrard’s success is more directly the result of everything she taught herself, spending years learning French technique and recipes from classic cookbooks. She figured out at an early age how to create dessert menus inspired by embracing the seasonal and fresh produce from local growers, home gardens and farmers markets." ~Monterey Weekly
Background
Following her training in Culinary Arts at the French Culinary Institute in NYC, Chef Jamie has worked in a variety of restaurants in New York and in California. She discovered her love for catering when she began helping out a friend who is a band promoter. Cooking for the musicians backstage and on tour in venues all across the state of California, Chef Jamie learned the fun way how to improvise to create a stellar meal to the stars by embracing seasonal, local, fresh produce. Her work as head pastry chef for California's Bay Area #1 Zagat rated Hotel Restaurant, Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn for 5 years helped her to develop an extensive knowledge of pastry arts and wedding cake design. She attended San Francisco Baking Institute Custom Wedding Cake course. She has catered weddings, private parties, music festivals and green rooms alike throughout Big Sur and up and down the coast of California. Arcade Fire, Cat Power, Will Oldham, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Bright Eyes, Silver Jews, Pegi Young, Gillian Welch and The Beach Boys are just a few of the artists she has cooked for.
"Jarrard’s success is more directly the result of everything she taught herself, spending years learning French technique and recipes from classic cookbooks. She figured out at an early age how to create dessert menus inspired by embracing the seasonal and fresh produce from local growers, home gardens and farmers markets." ~Monterey Weekly