Jody Adams

Jody Adams (born c. 1956/1957) is an American chef and restaurateur. Adams owns and operates TRADE and Porto in Massachusetts. She was owner and executive chef of Rialto in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for over 20 years. In 1997, she won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in America Northeast.

Early life and education

Jody Adams was raised in New England. Adams grew up eating New England cuisine, prepared by her mother.

She left Hamersley's in 1990 to serve as executive chef at Michaela's in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. Adams created menus focused on regional Italian and New England cuisine. For work at Michaela's, Adams was named one of the top ten chefs in the United States by Food & Wine in 1993. The restaurant earned four stars from The Boston Globe within four months of opening.

In 2002, Adams' book In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant was published.

Adams bought out her partners at Rialto in 2007, becoming sole owner. The restaurant was named one of the best in the country by Esquire in 2007. She would open two more restaurants five years later, in 2016: Saloniki, a Greek fast-casual restaurant, and Porto, a Mediterranean restaurant, in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston in July 2016. Saloniki and Porto were opened in partnership with Eric Papachristos, with Jon Mendez also co-owning Saloniki.

Television and culinary writing Adams was a contestant on the second season of Top Chef Masters.

One of her favorite ingredients to cook with is scallops, which she describes as "quintessential New England fare."