New York City Refined
In 2014, Chef Jae moved to New York City to work in some of the city’s most prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants including Oceana, Le Bernardin, the NoMad Restaurant, and most recently as the sous chef of the famed Café Boulud. “I came to New York to get better. I knew how to cook, but I needed to refine the skills in the kitchen, and I was ready to learn more about other parts of running a restaurant.” New York’s high-powered kitchens gave Chef Jae the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the industry’s biggest names, including Chefs Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud.
Despite long hours in the kitchen, Chef Jae stayed focused on her dreams, “The only way to kick some ass is to get your ass kicked first,” Jae laughs, “I knew what I wanted, that’s why I moved to New York. “I learned a lot from every job — at Oceana the importance of acting with a sense of urgency. At NoMad about being versatile in a lot of cooking techniques. I learned a lot about coordination and working with partners while I was a sous chef at Café Boulud. Le Bernandin taught me so much — Chef Ripert’s attention to detail was incredible. And also that they didn’t have to always follow the textbook. It was good to have their own identity of food and service. I started to apply that same strategy to my food and since then my career has changed.”
In addition to her work in restaurants, Chef Jae remains committed to celebrating diversity and cultural exchange through her culinary art. Her collaborations with partner organizations use food to bridge cultural gaps and tell intimate personal stories. She has partnered with the Korean Cultural Center in New York for a series of dinners and online content, authored a cookbook chapter for the Vilcek Foundation aimed at exploring the diversity of the immigrant experience, and has received national attention for her StoryCourse dinner pairing Chef Jae’s dishes with her own personal story of making it as a chef in New York. Chef Jae’s culinary abilities and inspiring personal background have made her a force for cultural change within the food industry.
In 2021, Chef Jae launched her first start-up, KJUN, in the middle of the pandemic, with an entire menu of innovative Korean-Cajun fusion dishes. Working from a basement catering kitchen, Chef Jae prepped, took orders, cooked, and ran deliveries before returning to wash dishes. Her unique, complex cuisine soon had New Yorkers captivated, “I didn’t think that many people would order, but they did.” KJUN received critical acclaim from the New Yorker Magazine, Bloomberg Food, the Infatuation, and Eater. “Eventually I got kicked out of my kitchen space because I was taking over with all the orders,” Jae laughs, “it makes me so happy to see that customers like my food.” In 2021, Chef Jae competed on Bravo’s Emmy-Award winning culinary show Top Chef Season 19: Houston, while restructuring KJUN for expansion in 2022. She looks forward to continuing to feed hungry guests for years to come. “Maya Angelou says your legacy is every life that you have touched. For me I feel like my legacy will be the life of every person that I have cooked for.”