Jonathon Sawyer
An old world German chef was the best thing to happen to Jonathon Sawyer. Back in the early 2000’s Sawyer found himself in engineering school staring at an auto-cad program on a computer screen every day and cooking in a local Dayton Ohio restaurant every night. The Chef, staunch in his stubborn ways one day came to Sawyer and said in his thick German accent “you, you are good at cooking.” Surprised & enamored with praise coming from his surly German boss he realized engineering school wasn’t for him and promptly dropped out to attend to culinary school.
He would find his love in the kitchen. Not an uncommon occurrence however the years that followed would be. Sawyer would go on to work for Chef Charlie Palmer in New York City before opening a Parea in NYC & Lolita in Ohio for Michael Symon. After his son Catcher was born he headed home to Cleveland where he went on to build a small empire of restaurants including The Greenhouse Tavern, Noodlecat, & Trentina, as well as a probiotic vinegar business. In 2010 Chef Sawyer won the Food & Wine “Best New Chef” award and in 2015 he won the James Beard Foundation Award Best Chef: Great Lakes.
When Jonathon is not in the kitchen he is hanging out with his wife Amelia, their two kids Catcher & Louisiana, their three dogs Potato, Clementine Francis Bean, and Brenda Walsh.