Personalities

Alicia Jenish

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Executive Chef - Grand Café Brasserie & Bar

Alicia began her career at a young age, and moved to San Francisco to pursue her culinary career immediately after graduation from the Culinary Institute of America. She began working under Loretta Keller at Bizou where she first fell in love with rustic French cuisine. After some time at Bizou, Jenish traveled through Europe to further develop her culinary skills. She spent almost four months traveling through Italy, France and Spain where she continued to eat, cook, and fall in love with food. Jenish returned to the Bay Area to work as a butcher at Marsha McBride’s Café Rouge in Berkeley. It was during her time at Café Rouge that Jenish mastered her talents in charcuterie.

Jenish spent a year at Café Rouge, and then moved on to the Le Petite Robert bistro in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. There she worked her way up to chef de cuisine and worked closely with Chef Robert Cubberly. Jenish mastered her skills and techniques in French cuisine in her more than four years at Le Petite Robert. She left to open Lark Creek Steak and shortly after the restaurant opened, she joined chef and restaurateur Charles Phan at his Out the Door Westfield.

She spent three years at Out the Door working closely with Phan to develop and execute the restaurant’s menu. She went on to become the opening executive chef at the Café in the Academy of Science Museum in Golden Gate Park where she worked closely with not only Phan, but her first mentor, Loretta Keller.

After two years at the Café in the Academy of Science Museum, Jenish left to open Revival Bar and Kitchen in Berkeley. Revival Bar and Kitchen became a popular neighborhood restaurant, and the community welcomed Jenish’s passion in head to tail cooking.

In her latest role as Executive Chef of the Grand Café, Jenish has will bring her modern French brasserie cuisine to the Union Square neighborhood.