Personalities

Adam Jones

Adam's Links:

Palomino

As Executive Chef for Palomino, Adam oversees operational excellence of the kitchen, delivering uncomplicated, artisan cuisine from their Mediterranean inspired menu. Adam was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. His passion for food started at an early age mainly inspired by his father's cooking. His continual interest in food led him to his first restaurant job at the age of 13. Each restaurant he worked with broadened his knowledge base of food preparation and flavor. He decided to focus in the kitchen and make his profession a culinary career. As his practical food knowledge grew, Adam realized he needed to formalize his culinary education to reach his full potential. In 1995 he entered the culinary program at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis. While attending school, Adam worked at the Hacienda Manchester and received an introduction to regional Mexican cuisine. In 1997 he completed his externship at the Lake Forest Country Club, where he focused on plate and buffet presentation. Anxious to study in a more competitive environment, Adam set his sites on San Francisco. He completed the culinary program at City College of San Francisco, and graduated from the prestigious California Culinary Academy in 1998. Adam returned home for his internship at the Ritz Carlton Kansas City, where he opened their first informal venue, Café 401. During this time he became Sous Chef at Starker's Private Reserve, where he specialized in preparation of beef and game, and pairings to an award winning wine list. Hungry to return to the San Francisco food scene, Adam later returned to San Francisco to replace longtime friend and mentor, Christopher Idso, at the Franciscan Restaurant. His mastery of seafood preparation helped to transfer this landmark restaurant from a Fisherman's Wharf icon to a place where the locals went for modern cuisine. Upon the sale of the Franciscan, Chef Adam decided to take his work toward a different direction, and joined with one of his heroes at Restaurant Michael Mina, where he headed up procurement for Mina's legendary restaurants. In 2006, Jones took an opportunity with the Hotel Whitcomb as Food and Beverage Director for the hotel, as well as Executive Chef for their restaurant, Market Street Grill. There, he transformed the cuisine toward a fusion of Asian and European flavors, and crafted a wine list that won Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence after getting certified as a Spanish Wine Master. Yearning to get back into a more lively restaurant scene, Adam left after 3 years to join Palomino as Executive Chef, where he continues to introduce new menu items to a young, bustling, adventurous clientele. Chef Adam has been featured in numerous cookbooks featuring local farm-to-table cuisine, has appeared often on the ABC-7 morning news, does cooking demonstrations for local farmers, and enjoys his spare time snowboarding, heavy metal drumming, organic farming, and making gelato and sorbetto.