About
Our Story
Jamie Bissonnette is a chef and founding partner of Boston-based hospitality group, BCB3. Jamie’s interest in cooking started when he was young, and it was in watching the greats like Julia Child and Jacques Pepin on cooking shows where he was inspired to get creative in the kitchen and really play around with recipes. His dedication to his craft and a desire to make every recipe his own soon brought him to Florida, where he studied culinary arts at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
Jamie was made a partner at Toro in 2007 and was the opening chef and partner of Coppa, Little Donkey, and Faccia e Faccia, all of which have become staples in Boston’s vibrant restaurant scene. His work has been celebrated throughout his career, winning Food & Wine’s inaugural People’s Choice: Best New Chef award in 2011 and the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast in 2014, as well as appearing on Chopped and America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation, battling on Iron Chef America, and serving as a judge on both Worst Cooks in America and Beat Bobby Flay. However, some of Jamie’s favorite moments of his career were being able to cook for Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, the chefs that first inspired him.
When not spending time in the kitchen, Jamie puts his passion into music, whether playing bass, collecting records, or spending time getting nerdy and updating turntables for the best sound quality possible. In fact, he notes the undeniable synergies between cooking and music—it was actually his love of punk and hardcore music that turned him onto vegetarian and vegan cooking as a teenager—equating recipes to songs: just because someone else wrote it doesn’t mean you can’t play it your way.
Jamie’s obsession with music is on full display at BCB3’s new listening bar, Temple Records, in which he built the analog system, as well as supplied the vast majority of the vinyl that is played each night. He also serves as the chef of 소맥 (Somaek), a welcoming, intimate Korean restaurant, and Sushi @ Temple Records, the subterranean sushi den underneath Temple Records. No matter the concept, Jamie and the BCB3 team will treat diners like a guest in their own homes, removing the structure and ceremony of going to a meal and instead finding a way to break the rules in a way that works—both in the kitchen and as a host.
Outside of BCB3, Jamie partnered with long-time friend and artist Darren Brass as well as Winchell Mountain Coffee, like Voltron, to create their most awesome passion project: Shinchu Coffees. Jamie also sits on the culinary board of Spoonfuls, a Boston-based food recovery operation that is the largest of its kind in New England. Jamie lives in the South End of Boston with his wife, Song, and their dogs, Ozzy and Steven.