Jody Adams

Chef and Owner, Rialto restaurant

After earning a degree from Brown University, Chef Jody Adams began her culinary career as a line cook at Seasons restaurant in the Bostonian Hotel in 1983. In 1990, she became the executive chef at Michela’s in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Adams opened Rialto in September 1994 and four months later, *The Boston Globe* awarded her four stars (the newspaper’s highest rating). In 1997, Jody received The Perrier-Jouet Best Chef Award: Northeast, from the James Beard Foundation. Two years ago, Adams launched an internal educational program, Guerilla Grilling, designed to connect her staff to the farmers and artisan producers that supply the restaurant. Adams owns Rialto located in Harvard Square and has been praised for her creativity and support of local farmers by *The Boston Globe*, *Boston Business Journal*, *Gourmet, Food & Wine*, *The New York Times*, and other publications. In addition to running her restaurant, Adams and husband, Ken Rivard, are co-authors of, *In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant*.