Meet the Team

Jody Adams - Expert Chef

The connection between Italian food and happiness came at an early age for chef Jody Adams. While shopping with her mother for ingredients in the Italian markets in Federal Hill in her hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, Jody developed a curiosity and passion for the culture of food. Jody and her sisters used to watch their mother at work, and later helped her cook for guests. Many Italian dishes that were prepared and served at the Adams’ household came from Elizabeth David’s cookbooks.

After graduating from Brown University with a degree in Anthropology, she traveled with a friend throughout Europe. And while the people, the culture, and the land were fascinating, the food, above all, captured her interest. "I spent a lot of time walking through the food markets in the small villages. It familiarized me with the places at a more intimate level. I remember my very first meal in Italy—a plate of spaghetti with clams, tomato, garlic and parsley. It is still, without a doubt, one of my favorite dishes. In Italy I learned that simple recipes with fresh ingredients are all you need to take a meal to its ultimate flavor peak."

Upon her return from Europe, Jody took a part-time job with longtime family friend and food writer/teacher, Nancy Verde Barr. She assisted in the classroom and helped test recipes for Nancy’s cookbook on the cuisine of Italian immigrants, entitled We Called It Macaroni (Knopf, 1991). Jody quickly realized that this was the career for her and she immediately began to work her way through the ranks of Boston’s finest restaurants.

Her start came in 1983 as a line cook at the famed Seasons restaurant where chef Lydia Shire was at the helm. Three years later, she helped open Hamersley’s Bistro as sous chef under Gordon Hamersley. In 1990, she took the executive chef position at Michela’s in Cambridge. It was there that Jody developed her reputation for carefully researched regional menus combining New England ingredients with Italian culinary traditions.

"I have an enormous amount of respect for local cooking traditions. Regional cuisine has had time on its side – it’s taken centuries to figure out how to make the best of what’s available nearby. Technique on its own doesn’t count for much. A new technique or personal interpretation only becomes part of the tradition when it enhances the taste of the dish’s ingredients."

Twelve years ago, Adams opened Rialto with restaurateurs Michela Larson and Karen Haskell, forming the Sapphire Restaurant Group. At Rialto, Jody developed a menu that included French, Italian, Spanish and Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. Four months after the restaurant’s opening, The Boston Globe awarded Rialto four stars, the newspaper’s highest rating, proclaiming that, "eating Jody Adams’ food at the stunning new Rialto is like stepping into a winter greenhouse just at the moment a spectacular hothouse orchid bursts into bloom, filling the senses."

With her husband, Ken Rivard, Adams published her first cookbook, In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant (HarperCollins Publishers, January 2002). It is a collection of recipes that follows her passions and palate as she cooks for family and friends, and encourages cooks to spend time in the kitchen.

Of her career in the food world, Jody says, "If you’re going to work in the restaurant business, you have to love it. The stress is high, the hours are long and the pay is nominal. The reward is in the culture. It’s full of interesting, creative people who excel in the art of performance and making people happy. I can’t imagine doing anything else."

As of January 1, 2007, Jody became the sole owner of Rialto. With the persistent and tantalizing memory of a plate of spaghetti with clams, Jody decided to return to her first passion, Italian food. The tagline, "Eat like an Italian," sums up the goal for the newly re-invented restaurant. Jody’s new Rialto embraces Italian style and life—a simple, beautiful, fun, and sensuous experience.

Outside of the kitchen, Jody is actively involved in organizations that support hunger relief and children’s issues, such as Share Our Strength, Partners in Health, the Greater Boston Food Bank, the Brookline Public Schools and Community Servings.

Jody Adams and Ken Rivard live in Brookline, MA, with their children, Oliver and Roxanne.