Bio
Jeff McInnis is an American chef who was a contestant on the fifth season of the reality television competition Top Chef, from 2008-2009.
Top Chef Bio
Jeff got his culinary start at age 15 by cleaning local fish while working on Florida fishing boats and a year later began peeling shrimp, cleaning squid and cutting fish for The Marina Café.
Jeff embarked on his professional career as a Sous Chef at Atlanticville Restaurant and Café outside of Charleston, South Carolina while attending school at Johnson & Wales University.
He went on to hone his culinary skills as a Sous Chef in San Francisco at Azie, an upscale Asian fusion restaurant, and later served as a Sous Chef at the Five Star Orient Express resort in Virginia where he expanded on his knowledge of French and American cuisines.
Returning to his native Florida, Jeff worked directly under Chef Norman Van Aken and then joined The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach culinary team. He currently serves as Chef de Cuisine of The DiLido Beach Club.
His recent sabbaticals include traveling to North Africa, Turkey, Italy, and the Greek Isles to discover new techniques which he uses daily at home with Florida ingredients.