Jeremy Fox
Rustic Canyon | Los Angeles
June 2017
Jeremy Fox grew up in Cleveland and Atlanta and made it all the way to college without thinking about food all that much. Then Fox saw the Stanley Tucci film “Big Night,” about a struggling Italian restaurant on the Jersey Shore, and he was inspired and compelled to action by its harrowing portrayal of the restaurant business. He switched gears, enrolling in culinary school in South Carolina.
After graduation, Fox cut his teeth at Charleston’s Anson and at Mumbo Jumbo in Atlanta before arriving in the Bay Area in 2001, where he put in time at San Francisco’s Rubicon and Charles Nob Hill. Crossing the pond to establish his chef bona fides, Fox staged at two Michelin-starred De Snippe in Belgium, and in London at Fergus Henderson’s St. John and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
After a brief stint in Aspen, Fox returned to Northern California, where he met his mentor, David Kinch. Fox joined the staff at Manresa as a stage in 2002, and over the next five years, rose to the position of chef de cuisine. Though he started working in meats, Fox evolved, eventually becoming known for vegetable cookery.
In 2008, Fox opened Ubuntu in Napa, a landmark, vegetable-forward restaurant that doubled as a yoga studio and signaled a new approach to modern dining. The plaudits poured in, including Food & Wine’s “Best New Chef,” and the number two slot on The New York Times’s list of the country’s best restaurants. In 2010, Fox won a StarChefs Napa-Sonoma Rising Stars Award for his game-changing eff orts.
Amid the many critical notices and public recognition, Fox left his post in 2010 and took a three-year hiatus from the kitchen to confront a career-long battle with anxiety and addiction. It was during this time he met his wife, Rachael. In 2013, a calmer, clearer Fox took over the kitchen of Rising Stars alums Zoe Nathan and Josh Loeb’s Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica. There, he focuses on forging relationships with local farmers and highlighting the bounty of California produce. In 2017, his first cookbook, On Vegetables, was published, and Fox was nominated for the James Beard Award for “Best Chef, West.”
2010 StarChefs Los Angeles Rising Stars Award Winner
2017 StarChefs Los Angeles Mentor Award Winner
