Jessica Biederman, executive chef at Urban Farmer in LoDo, considers the culinary arts “a career field that really chooses you.” Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, she went to college with the goal of becoming a pediatrician, but that vision soon changed.
“I would put cooking shows on in the background while I was studying,” Biederman said. “And I started to put the books down and watch the food. I realized there was a really big interest there—so I changed my major to culinary arts and never looked back.”
Broadening Horizons
Ever since, Biederman has been “fortunate to be in the right places at the right times,” in her words. Those places have just happened to be all over the country. She cut her teeth as a sous chef in Washington, D.C., where she worked for such famed chefs as Eric Ripert and Michael Mina, she went on to serve as exec chef of The Bristol Lounge at the historic Four Seasons Hotel in Boston. There she stayed until the COVID-19 pandemic came along and changed everything—including her outlook.
“When you’re in this industry, time just passes by so quickly,” she noted. “I started to think about all the things I wanted to do but never had time to do. Because in our minds, it’s always like, ‘Oh, I’ll get to it. I’ll learn how to ski, I’ll learn how to play guitar.’ And all of a sudden you’re 40 and you didn’t do any of those things.”
One goal was to work a grape harvest, and so she did, namely at Oregon winery Belle Ponte. Another was to teach—and again, so she did, landing at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder.
“I really wanted to understand what young cooks expect from me as a chef,” she explained. “Because it’s a completely different environment now than it was when I was a line cook 20 years ago. The old-school restaurant mentality is real dog-eat-dog; it’s cutthroat. And it’s really important to me that I create a different environment for the people that work with me [in terms of how they’re] treated, mentored, and trained.”
Making It Sing
Biederman naturally brought the insights she gleaned from teaching to bear on her return to the restaurant realm. Following stints as executive chef at both EDGE Restaurant & Bar in Denver’s own Four Seasons Hotel and the downtown location of Water Grill, she signed on to her current position last fall to oversee what she called “the push for Urban Farmer 2.0.”
“We want to reposition ourselves among steakhouses in the city [by] making sure that we’re aligned with being urban but also really focusing on supporting our farmers,” said the chef. “That is probably what I’m most passionate about: using good-quality ingredients and not taking away from those.”
For instance, she noted, “If you’re going to have a Dover sole on the menu, you make a perfect sear, perfectly debone it, add a perfect sauce, and that’s all you need.” That said, she added, “I wanted to introduce more and more technique-driven skill as well to be able to teach the team.”
Take the new black truffle–stuffed chicken roulade with herbed dumplings and carrot puree: “We felt it was [more] upscale to remove the bone and [therefore] the work for the guests,” she explained. “It’s perfectly cooked and crispy, and it’s more stunning, I think, when it comes out.”
Or take the new ahi tuna crudo with furikake rice crisps. “It’s got fresh strawberries, Fresno peppers, a pineapple aguachile broth, and soy-flavored popping boba,” said Biederman. “You can have a dish that’s high-skill even though there’s really only five ingredients to it. Sometimes, we chefs [think], ‘The more I put on the plate, the better it is.’ It’s not really true. My favorite quote is, ‘If you have a great instrument, all you have to do is make it sing.’”
The Takeover
“You’ll get kind of a snippet, clips into what we do, and hopefully become a regular,” said Biederman about her takeover of DiningOut Denver’s Instagram stories on June 11. “One thing I’d really like to do is highlight the ingredients that we get within a 20-mile radius: mushrooms, greens, honey, things like that.”
In that sense, the takeover will serve as a preview of the tasting menu dinner Urban Farmer is hosting on June 18, featuring not only local produce but also Brunson Meat Co. and The Family Jones Distillery.
Follow DiningOut Denver’s Instagram stories on Thursday for more details. And be sure to like and comment on the post for a chance to win a $100 gift card from the restaurant.
Visit Urban Farmer Monday through Friday from 4 to 11 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 1659 Wazee St., Denver, urbanfarmersteakhouse.com
