Jennifer Biesty

Jennifer Biesty Chef-Owner Shakewell-Oakland Chef Jennifer Biesty started cooking in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, when she was in high school, after becoming one of the youngest students at the CIA in Hyde Park, NY. Biesty interned in New Orleans at the acclaimed Sazerac restaurant, after graduation she returning to Manhattan and joining the four star team of Aquavit with Marcus Samuelsson Biesty moved to San Francisco to cook with chef Loretta Keller at Bizou & C0C0500. She gained an in-depth understanding of the farm-to-table process, and took advantage of the freedom Keller gave her to handcraft farm to table menus. Biesty moved to Paris to gain experience of European culinary culture, spending time in France, Spain and Italy before settling in London cooking with Jamie Oliver, Ruth Rodgers and Rose Gray at The River Café. She returned to San Francisco to cook with Chef Traci des Jardins and Chef Richard Reddington at Jardinière restaurant. As Chef de cuisine at COCO5OO, StarChefs.com recognized Biesty as a Rising Star Chef. Shortly after this recognition Biesty competed on Top Chef season four an experience that she remembers fondly as florid accomplishment. Following Top Chef Chicago, Biesty became Executive Chef San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel and Scala’s bistro. It is here Biesty met her future Shakewell business partner, Executive Pastry Chef Tim Nugent, whom she worked alongside for five years before opening Shakewell. Biesty and Nugent brought bold Mediterranean and Spanish cuisine with a fun cocktail bar to the Lakeshore neighborhood of Oakland California and made Shakewell there home.