Around the world in 25 kitchens
Friday, 4 September 2026
For American chef Jason McKinney, the road to opening his own restaurant has taken him far from his hometown of New York. Rather than immediately opening ‘Elizabeth’ – the restaurant he has spent years dreaming about – Jason is taking a detour, travelling around the world, cooking, learning and immersing himself in the food cultures of 14 different countries. Now, that journey has brought him to South Africa, where he is spending two weeks at Creation Wines on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge.
During his time at Creation Wines with owners Carolyn and Jean-Claude Martin, Jason will be cooking alongside their team, hosting masterclasses for their chefs and preparing two special dinners, both of which are already sold out.
For someone who has travelled so far in pursuit of knowledge, the journey that brought Jason to this point began in a very different place. Long before the international kitchens, a successful food business and plans for his own restaurant, he was a young boy from Florida who simply loved to cook.
By 16, Jason was holding down two full-time jobs to help support his family. He completed high school a year early and found an opportunity to work in one of Disney’s food and beverage programmes. Without formal culinary training, he worked his way up through increasingly demanding kitchens, eventually joining a restaurant that served around 800 people a night. It was there that he told the chef about his dream of one day working at The French Laundry, the legendary three-Michelin-starred restaurant in California. The chef told him it would never happen and that he should forget about it. Rather than discouraging him, it fuelled Jason’s ambition.
Jason went on to do a four-year apprenticeship at Sea Island Resort in Georgia, where he learned discipline, hospitality and the foundations of cheffing. While there, he met a chef who had worked at The French Laundry, who encouraged him to pursue his dream.
By then, Jason had a plan. First, he would get into The French Laundry and learn from the best. Then he would build his experience, raise enough money to open his own restaurant and eventually make that dream a reality. While on leave from the resort, Jason tried to reach out to The French Laundry to make an appointment with renowned chef and owner Thomas Keller, but he couldn’t get anyone’s attention. So Jason printed out his résumé and made his way to California. “My father helped me buy a suit, I bought a bottle of wine, and then I drove to The French Laundry in Napa Valley,” he says.
When he arrived, Jason was nervous enough to panic. But, steeling himself, he walked through the doors during a busy service and found himself face-to-face with Chef Thomas Keller. He asked if Thomas had a moment to chat and, once seated, handed over his résumé and the bottle of wine. After asking Jason a few questions, Thomas asked if he could start on Sunday at noon. Jason said yes. That Sunday, he also met Chef Tyler Vorce, who would become his best friend.
But getting through the door was only the beginning. The French Laundry was notoriously demanding, and Jason describes it as an “equaliser”, where even Michelin-starred chefs could find themselves struggling. Within two months, he had been promoted twice and found himself working as a fish butcher – a notoriously stressful position that involved handling thousands of dollars’ worth of seafood. He would arrive as early as 2am to stay on top of the workload. He studied books on fish and visited the aquarium to better understand how they moved, helping him learn how to butcher them properly.
After two years in the position, he moved up again and was eventually awarded The French Laundry’s Core Award for all his hard work. Jason remained at The French Laundry for five years before leaving to start off on his own. He worked briefly as a private chef for a client named Mitch, who became one of his biggest supporters.
In 2018, Jason launched a business with Tyler called Truffle Shuffle. Two years later, they appeared on the reality TV show Shark Tank, where they secured a deal with Mark Cuban. They sold Truffle Shuffle in 2025, bringing him one step closer to opening his own restaurant. Named ‘Elizabeth’ after his mother, the restaurant is planned to open in New York in 2027. It will be an intimate, 30-seat chef’s-counter experience, where guests will watch Jason cook.
After the sale of Truffle Shuffle, Jason made his way to Bangkok, where he spent two months learning creativity, precision and modern technique at Gaggan. The experience fuelled his desire to keep learning, and in January 2026, Jason set off on his official international culinary tour (www.whereischefjason.com), seeking out incredible restaurants and chefs around the world while filming and sharing his experiences.
Since then, the journey has taken Jason, his wife Polina, and cameraman Geraldy ‘Gigi’ Grandiosa through kitchens in Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and now South Africa. While at Creation Wines, they will also be taking time away from the kitchen to experience more of the Cape Whale Coast and Cape Town. They have already visited children at the Pebbles Project on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, with Carolyn arranging further visits to Grootbos and Marine Dynamics. They will also be exploring Hermanus with experienced local guide Susan Mann.
It is this sense of connection that seems to sit at the heart of Jason’s journey. The food is important, of course, but so are the people, stories, landscapes and communities behind it.
By the time ‘Elizabeth’ welcomes its first guests in New York in 2027, Jason will have cooked in 14 countries and collected countless ideas, techniques, ingredients and memories along the way. For now, though, the restaurant can wait – there is still plenty to learn, discover and enjoy before his ultimate dream becomes a reality. For anyone chasing a dream, Jason’s advice is simple: “Be relentless. Have a vision”.