Seattle — He may feel right at home now, but as a kid, the kitchen was the last place chef Edouardo Jordan wanted to be.
"My mom kind of drug me into the kitchen a few times and I hated it at that point. I was like no, I want to be outside playing football or just hanging out with friends,” Said Jordan. "That was one of the means of keeping me out of trouble and kinda like sparking another interest into something. And it slowly morphed into me enjoying being in the kitchen."
Growing up in Florida, Jordan was exposed to a steady diet of southern cooking.
"My grandmother kinda like instilled in me true traditional southern cooking. Cooking chitlins, collard greens, candy yams.”
His talent for food found the way to the Pacific Northwest when he fell in love with a girl from Seattle.
"Once I finished my apprenticeships at the French Laundry she was like, maybe we should move north to Seattle there're some good opportunities."
There were. He worked at the Herbfarm in Woodinville and enjoyed success as the executive chef a Bar Sajor in Pioneer Square. But he left all that behind to open his own restaurant in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood called, Salare.
"This restaurant is a reflection of everything I've learned and done over the years.
I'm from the south so you get a lot of expression of southern cuisine in my food."
Recently, Jordan’s talents have been getting national acclaim. Food & Wine magazine named him one of the Best New Chefs in America, and he was featured in a story in the New York Times.
"It's a blessing to finally get recognized I'll be honest with you about that,” Said Jordan. "I'm still taking it in. This is just who I am. I don't freak out and get crazy I'm pretty mild tempered person."
So no matter how hot chef Edouardo Jordan may get, he still wants to remain as humble as that little kid growing up, in his family's kitchen. "I'm cooking my heart. I'm cooking my soul. I'm cooking what my grandmother taught me, I'm cooking what my mom taught me."
