Jeanie Roland
American chef and restaurateur From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeanie Roland (born c.1966), is an American chef and restaurateur.
Jeanie Roland | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 (age 58–59) Waterbury, Connecticut |
| Website | chefjeanieroland |
Early life and education
Jeanie Kachergis was born to Alfred Kachergis, a Marine, and grew up in a Lithuanian neighborhood in Waterbury, Connecticut, developing an early interest in cooking.[1][2][3] She swam competitively starting at age 3.[4]
She started working in the restaurant industry at age 14, washing dishes.[1][5] She received a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Southern Connecticut State University, where she was a competitive swimmer, and in 1992 graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.[5][6][3]
Career
Roland's first professional position was at a private club in California, where she was verbally abused by her boss, whom she had considered a mentor but who made misogynistic comments to and about her in front of coworkers.[7] She and her husband then worked together as private chefs for a corporation.[4]
Roland became unemployed after a downsizing resulting from the September 11th terrorist attacks.[8] She and her husband moved to Florida and opened The Perfect Caper in Punta Gorda in 2001.[2] In 2012, she opened Ella's Food & Drink in Westerly, Rhode Island.[9][10]
Roland has written two cookbooks, Butter, Love & Cream (2018) and The Perfect Caper Home Cooking (2022)[1][11][2] Salon said of The Perfect Caper that "with the same relaxed elegance she brings to her restaurants...Roland imbues her writing with approachable warmth".[12]
She defeated Bobby Flay in an episode of Beat Bobby Flay and competed on Iron Chef Gauntlet, Season 2.[13][5] In 2020 she gave a private cooking lesson for Taylor Swift, a Westerly resident.[14][15]
Personal life
Roland is married to James Roland, a fellow chef; the two met in California.[3] They are co-owners of the restaurants.[1][2]
Recognition
Roland has been nominated seven times by the James Beard foundation as a semifinalist for Best Chef-South region.[16][1] CBS Boston said, "Restaurants simply don't get much better than Ella's Food and Drink in Westerly, Rhode Island."[17]
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.