Chef Jay Mitchell

Mississippi born but Tennessee raised, Chef Jay Mitchell is the Head Chef at Tennessee Brew Works. 

Jay’s exposure to Southern cooking started when he was young. Ethel, his family’s housekeeper, would cook dinner for his family five nights a week. By watching Ethel cook, Jay was able to learn firsthand the foundation of Southern cooking and soul food. He became interested in cooking when he was a teenager, and began to help Ethel in the kitchen, cooking dinner for the family. He loved being able to provide for his family in a way that brought them all together at the end of every day.

After graduating Belmont with an entrepreneurship degree, Jay and a friend opened up a catering business in 2005 called Low and Slow, catering music video and movie shoots. After catering events driven through their own social network, Jay realized that he needed more of a culinary foundation.

Working at Taps and Tapas, Table 3, The Southern, and TomKats Catering he was able to grow an impressive skill set. Catering large corporate parties such as the CMA’s holiday party and Spotify’s release showed him what it took to pull off large-scale events and the financial benefits they reaped. With Jay at the helm, TomKats Catering grew enormously. He was often flown to other cities, such as New York or Atlanta, to cater television and movie sets such as Gotham, Turn, and The Walking Dead.

After leaving TomKats, with some time then spent at The Sutler, Jay eventually became Head Chef at Tennessee Brew Works opened up their kitchen The Taproom, creating inventive and thoughtful food alongside delicious craft beer.

Read his full bio and all about his work at Tennessee Brew Work here. 

Catch Jay at the Edible Kitchen this Saturday October 15th at the Nashville Farmers' Market. His Cutaway IPA Hot Wing recipe is here.