Jody Adams

Vocation

American celebrity chef and cookbook author. The daughter of librarians, Adams attributes her fondness for food and cooking to her mother. During her time at Brown University, from which she graduated in 1980, she became interested in food as a profession when she had a part-time job working with Nancy Verde Barr, a professional food writer and teacher. " After a while, I learned I was much happier in Nancy's kitchen learning French and Italian cooking techniques than I was in anthropology class." In 1983 she worked at an upscale restaurant in Boston, MA under Lydia Shire, another celebrity chef. In 1986 she became sous-chef under Gordon Hammersley of Hammersley's Bistro; from 1990-1994 she starred as executive chef for Michaela's. Finally, in September 1994, with two partners, she opened her own restaurant in a prestigious Cambridge, MA hotel and named the restaurant Rialto. In November 2001 she partnered with three other people to open blu, a sophisticated restaurant located in an upscale sports club in Boston. She married her husband, Ken Rivard, on February 22, 1986 and they have a son, Oliver Maxwell and a daughter, Roxane Simone. According to their child's birth certificate, Rivard was born on December 8, 1951 in Petosky, MI In January 2002 she published a cookbook, co-written with her husband, entitled "In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant. Adams has been recognized by Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Food and Wine magazines, and, in May 1997 won The Perrier-Jouet Best Chef Award: Northeast at the 7th Annual James Beard Foundation award ceremony.