Chef Jennifer Lee Jackson Wiki, Age, Partner, Top Chef

Jennifer Lee Jackson Biography – Jennifer Lee Jackson Wiki

Jennifer Lee Jackson is an American professional chef and a contestant on season 23 of Bravo’s reality-TV show Top Chef. Born and raised in Georgia, Jennifer learned to cook at a very young age from both of her grandmothers: her paternal grandmother Nanny’s in Georgia, and her maternal grandmother Mozzy’s in West Virginia.

Originally a Political Science major, she found her true passion while cooking at a restaurant during college. Mentored by the restaurant’s chef, she was inspired to apply to culinary school, redirecting her career toward the culinary arts.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, she completed an externship at Chez Panisse. She then moved to New York City where she worked at Prune, training under Chef Gabrielle Hamilton.

After relocating to Colorado and then Chicago, Jennifer settled in Detroit, MI with her current partner Justin Tootla. In 2017, they opened Voyager, a seafood forward restaurant that garnered spots on the Best New Restaurant lists of Food & Wine, Esquire, Eater, and Thrillist.

In 2020, Jennifer and Justin opened Bunny Bunny which received matching accolades despite the difficulty of the pandemic. Since finishing their time as consultants and Co-Executive Chefs at Gilchrist Farm Winery, they have been traveling and consulting while searching for Bunny Bunny’s next home.

Jennifer Lee Jackson Age

Chef Jennifer Lee Jackson was born in 1985 in Statham, Georgia. She is 41 years old.

Partner

Jennifer Lee Jackson lives in Detroit, MI, with her partner Justin Tootla, also a chef and fellow contestant on Top Chef Season 23. The couple met at the Culinary Institute of America. When asked about competing against her partner, Jennifer said they were supportive of each other, but once the challenges started, the familiarity with each other’s cooking became a challenge.

“It was a lot more emotional, like the back and forth of realizing, ‘oh, I’m actually competing against my partner,’” she said. “I don’t think I fully thought what competing against each other plus 13 other people would really mean until you’re in it. We’re like, ‘this is intense.’”

Top Chef

Georgia chef Jennifer Lee Jackson is competing in season 23 of Bravo’s Top Chef. The 23rd season of the Bravo show is set in the Carolinas. Jennifer said she was nervous, not intimidated, when she found out the show would shoot in Asheville and Charlotte. The added component of cooking southern food on southern turf created an added level of pressure that she had to prepare for.