Jackie Martine: In 1976, Jackie Martine moved to Berkeley, California, soon to become the birthplace of California Cuisine. There she befriended the small group of chefs associated with Alice waters. On the recommendation of Victoria Wise of Pig By The Tail, she was introduced to Koetsu Akasaka of Chez Panisse who was opening the Augusta Restaurant.” It was an exciting time; California Cuisine was about to happen. We were making it happen. We were the pioneers. The Café upstairs at Chez Panisse did not yet exist; Mark Miller was just going to open the 4th Street Grill. Jeremiah Tower was working for Time magazine. At Augusta, Koetsu and I were making an interesting synthesis between Japanese, French and Italian cuisine.” When Koetsu Akasaka left, Martine became Augusta ‘s Chef de Cuisine and guided the growth of the restaurant. When Ruth Reitchel in her groundbreaking article coined the words California Cuisine it was with Martine ‘s picture on it.

After opening Bistrot les Halles with Wolfgang Puck in 1981 Martine joined the staff of Narsai David’s legendary restaurant, Narsai’s. There she moved quickly from Sauté¾ Chef to Sous Chef and Chef de Cuisine. It was under her leadership in 1983 that Narsai’s received the prestigious “Hall of Fame Award” from the National Restaurant News, making her that year the chef of one of the top ten restaurants in the United States.
From 1991 to 2000, Jackie Martine has lead the culinary growth of Guckenheimer. When she joined, this company had 80 kitchens and had revenues of $ 90 millions. Nine years later Guckenheimer had 270 kitchens and revenues in the vicinity of $ 250 millions. Few Chefs have ever been part of such a phenomenal success and played such a critical role. In her capacity as Corporate Executive Chef Martine has spearheaded Guckenheimer creativity program and provided critical culinary training to hundreds of managers and chefs from Seattle to Dallas, Boston to San Diego.

In 1992,1993,1994, Martine received the Chef 2000 Award. In 1994 she became the Vice President of Chefs In America Award Foundation. In 1998 Martine became a board member of the Educational Foundation of the California Culinary Academy. She is a member of International Association of Women Chef and Restaurateur.

When she is not cooking or promoting food safety, Jackie Martine creates collages, writes novels and study Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony.