Chef Profile Video: Chicago’s Jennifer Kim Brings It Home
One basic human fact is that you have to eat to survive. Surviving in the literal sense only requires the nutrients found in the food itself, but surviving in the figurative sense, especially in elite kitchens, requires something deeper. “Often, we treat the food — the product — we treat it with more respect than the people behind it,” Chef Jennifer Kim mused to Eater Chicago in 2019.
She garnered recognition from The James Beard Foundation and The Michelin Guide for her first solo venture, a Korean and Italian inspired eatery in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood called Passerotto. The restaurant, like many great places, fell victim to the COVID-19 wave of restaurant restrictions and closed in September of 2020. But, the spirit of the restaurant remains deep within the chef and her work.
Korean food, in general, is a versatile and generous landscape. Korean chefs like Roy Choi brought Korean flavors to California’s competitive taco market, Edward Lee travelled south and built an empire on adding that cultural flair to traditional dishes like fried chicken and succotash, and Kim staked her claim in this world by seeing the common thread between between the quest to achieve the cuisine of an Italian nonna and the Asian harmony of umami.
Her dishes tell the story of many American children born to immigrant parents, they honor the past and look toward the future. Part of that future, for Kim, must include everyone. She’s led workshops and seminars about elevating female, minority and LGBTQ chefs in the culinary world. She’s passionate about curbing abusive egos in the kitchen that stall young chefs in their place and perpetuates the idea that an executive chef always looks like a loud, white male.
While we’re sure that Kim is struggling with the loss of the family and community she created in her brick and mortar’s kitchen, she’s unsurprisingly turned back to the kitchen of her childhood home to inspire what comes next. The pandemic offered a lot of time for reflection and for Kim, fermentation. Her jars of expertly pickled and preserved concoctions were a way to connect to people she couldn’t see in person, easy to drop off on porches or sell as pantry items to customers who couldn’t be seated inside. Pivoting to pop-ups, preserved foods and diving deeper into the Korean part of her history, we can’t wait to see what she does next.
Raise a Glass with Chef Jennifer Kim produced by Neon Bites for The James Beard Foundation and Rabbit Hole Distillery
