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Jackson Kalb is one of the 15 contestants to participate in Top Chef Season 19. He is a chef and entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California.
Kalb runs LA’s Italian restaurant Jame Enoteca and Ospi along with his wife, Melissa Kalb. He is also the partner of and chef at a breakfast burrito eatery called Wake and Late.
Jackson and Melissa got married in January this year. In a swoon-worthy proposal, Kalb proposed to his now-wife Melissa in January 2020 during an NBA game.
The grand proposal included a flash mob, live DJ, Bruno Mars, and basketball player King James. The couple posted about their experience on social media. Take a look:
Jackson Kalb’s culinary journey
The credit for Kalb’s love for cooking goes to Food Network. When he fell ill at the age of 11, he binge-watched its shows and once he turned 12, he found a catering company that could train him in the culinary art.
He trained throughout high school and then graduated in 2013 from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. After graduating, he worked as a culinary manager at the Hillstone Restaurant Group. During this time, he met Melissa, who later became her life as well as business partner.
Kalb left the Hillstone Restaurant Group and went to Italy for two years to learn everything about pasta. When he returned, he joined The Factory Kitchen as Chef de Cuisine in 2016 and later as executive chef at Bottlefish (in 2017).
His bio on Bravo’s website mentions his upcoming plans as:
“In 2022, he plans to open his third restaurant in Los Angeles, Gemma di Mare. He is also developing a line of jarred pasta sauces and producing software to help independent chefs.”
All about Top Chef Season 19
Kalb is one of the many talented chefs vying for the Top Chef America title, a grand prize of $250,000, and a feature in Food and Wine magazine.
Top Chef Season 19 will be hosted by Padma Lakshmi, who will also judge the contestants’ skills alongside head judges Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio. Throughout the season, the cooking show will also welcome several guest judges including Marcus Samuelsson, Wylie Dufresne, Bricia Lopez, Eric Ripert, Carlotta Flores, Alexander Smalls, Daniel Boulud, and Hunter Lewis.
Top Chef premieres on Thursday, March 3, at 8.00 pm ET on Bravo.
