Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenner Tomaska.
Hi jenner, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the southern suburbs of Chicago, and I actually started working in restaurants when I was 14, as a cook and dishwasher at a local restaurant. I didn’t necessarily know at that age exactly where it would take me, but I fell in love with the kitchen and the pace, creativity, and camaraderie that came with it.
I went to Johnson & Wales University, where I studied Culinary Arts and Food Service Management. After school, I spent some time in Hilton Head before coming back to Chicago. I wanted to really learn the city’s fine-dining scene, which led me to mk The Restaurant, where I worked under Michael Kornick and Erick Williams. Erick had a big influence on me, particularly in understanding that a restaurant could have a larger purpose and that how you treat people is just as important as what you put on the plate.
In 2011, I joined Next, working under Grant Achatz. I started as a chef de partie and worked my way up through sous chef and chef de cuisine before becoming executive chef in 2016. Next was an incredible education because the restaurant completely changed its concept multiple times a year. I was responsible for helping create and execute those different worlds—from the food to the service and even the plateware. It taught me an enormous amount about creativity, research, discipline, and, probably most importantly, how to lead a team. During that time, I was also fortunate to be recognized as a James Beard Rising Star finalist twice.
Leaving Next was a difficult and defining moment in my career. I had spent nearly a decade there, and suddenly I had to figure out what came next. Looking back, I think that uncertainty was exactly what I needed. It forced me to stop thinking about what restaurant I wanted to work for and start thinking about what kind of restaurant I wanted to create.
That eventually became Esmé, which I opened in 2021 with my wife and partner, Katrina Bravo. We wanted to create something that brought together food, art, hospitality, and philanthropy in a way that felt genuinely personal to us. Esmé became our opportunity to build a restaurant from the ground up and define what we wanted fine dining to mean.
Esmé earning a Michelin star was obviously an incredible milestone, but for me, the bigger achievement has been building a team and a restaurant that continues to evolve. Today, I’m interested in continuing to create restaurants that are ambitious without taking themselves too seriously, that respect technique but aren’t afraid to have fun, and that make people feel something beyond simply having a good meal.
The funny thing is that after more than 20 years in restaurants, I still feel like I’m figuring it out. And I think that’s what keeps it interesting.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. One of the biggest transitions for me has been realizing that I’m no longer just the chef. When I started out, my focus was almost entirely on the food—how to make the best dish, how to run the best service, how to push myself creatively. As I’ve grown, that has changed dramatically.
I’m still chasing the dream of being a chef and creating restaurants that I believe in, but now I’m also running a business. That means thinking about payroll, finances, rent, vendors, staffing, and all of the decisions that come with making sure a restaurant is sustainable. You’re not just responsible for yourself anymore. You have a team of people who are counting on you and their families who depend on those jobs.
That has probably been one of the hardest parts of the journey—balancing the creative side of why I got into this business with the reality of making sure the business works. I want to create places where my staff can build careers, feel respected, and know that there is some stability behind them. To do that, the restaurant has to be financially healthy.
There have been setbacks and moments where I’ve questioned whether the path I chose was the right one. But those moments have also made me a better leader and business owner. I’ve had to learn that chasing a dream isn’t just about having the courage to create something—it’s also about having the discipline to make that dream sustainable for the people who are trusting you with their livelihoods.
That responsibility is something I take very seriously. It’s a different kind of pressure than being a chef, but it’s also what makes the next chapter of my career so exciting.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work today is really centered around Esmé and the idea that a restaurant can be much more than a place to serve food. Esmé is a platform for other creatives, particularly artists here in Chicago.
We invite local artists to partner with us and use the restaurant as a way to explore their work from a completely different perspective. I get to sit down with these artists, learn about their process, and get a peek behind the curtain—how they go from an initial idea to a finished piece, what inspires them, what challenges them, and how they make creative decisions along the way.
Then we try to translate that process into food.
That’s the part of my work that I find most exciting. I’m not interested in simply putting an artist’s name on a menu or making a dish that looks like one of their paintings. I want to understand the why behind their work and find a way to tell that story through cooking, hospitality, and the experience of the restaurant.
In that sense, Esmé isn’t just my creative outlet. It’s a platform that gives other people a place to tell their stories. I get to collaborate with artists, designers, musicians, and other creatives and, in the process, learn how they see the world. Every collaboration changes the way I think.
I think that’s also what sets us apart. We’re constantly inviting someone new into the conversation. The restaurant becomes this intersection of food, art, and ideas, and the goal is for the guest to leave knowing a little more about the person behind the work—not just having eaten a good meal.
What I’m most proud of is that we’ve created a place where creativity doesn’t have to belong to one person. Esmé gives us the opportunity to share the platform, collaborate, and hopefully help shine a light on the incredible creative community that exists here in Chicago.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I feel incredibly fortunate when I look at where I am today. There have certainly been moments of bad luck and setbacks, but I’ve come to realize that a lot of what people call luck is also about the people you surround yourself with and the opportunities you’re willing to take a chance on.
The thing I feel luckiest about is the team I’ve been able to cultivate. I get to work with incredibly talented, creative, hardworking people every day, and I don’t take that for granted. Building a restaurant is never an individual effort. Whatever success we’ve had at Esmé is because of the people who have chosen to believe in the vision and put their talent into it.
I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who opened doors for me, opportunities that came at the right time, and people who took chances on me throughout my career. But I’ve also learned that when those opportunities come, you have to be ready to take them and work incredibly hard to make something of them.
So when I think about luck, I don’t necessarily think about one big break. I think about all of the people and circumstances that have come together to allow me to build what I’m building now. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to create a place where talented people can do great work—and hopefully build something they can be proud of too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.esmechicago.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esme_chicago/?hl=en
