Jessica D. Brown Sous Chef  

I grew up in a suburb just outside of Minneapolis (yes, it truly is beastly cold there). At fifteen, I worked in my first kitchen. It was at an organic natural foods bakery, and if you weren’t careful, you could knock a co-worker over just by turning around. From the bakery, I went on to work in a variety of great kitchens in Minneapolis, the most note-worthy being at Lucia’s Restaurant & Bar under the tutelage of James Beard Award winning chef Lucia Watson. With my parents’ blessing, at 18 I enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America. With degree in hand, I moved to Massachusetts and took on the job of sous chef at the new American restaurant Lexx in Lexington, Ma. Ten months later I was tapped by Laura Brennan to be her Chef de Cuisine at Caffe Umbra in Boston’s South End. In March, 2007, I joined The Sapphire Restaurant Group to open Rocca Kitchen & Bar as Sous Chef. Along with my co-Sous Chef, Dan Raia, we create and execute the menus for Rocca’s Sunday Suppers. I have been active in Women Chefs & Restaurateurs since 2000 and I am a junior member of WCR’s Board of Directors. My greatest culinary treat is when I get to go home and my mom cooks for me.