Wildman started his career in Los Angeles at Doug Arango’s Restaurant in West Hollywood, which earned a two star review in the Los Angeles Times during his tenure there. In 2004, he moved on to work at the critically acclaimed Spago in Beverly Hills, refining his palate and perfecting his ability to balance and season artfully crafted dishes.
In 2005, Wildman left Spago to begin work at Table 8 with Chef Govind Armstrong. While working at Table 8 for the next few years, he was an intricate part of the menu and concept development for 8 oz. Burger Bar and helped open new locations of Table 8 and 8 oz. nation-wide. While he was there, Table 8 received three stars from the LA Times, and 8 oz. received one and a half stars from the LA Times and was listed in LA Weekly on Jonathan Gold’s “Essential 99” list of restaurants in the city.
In 2011, Wildman moved on to work with Chef Andrew Kirschner and help design, conceptualize as well as operate as the Executive Sous Chef at Tar & Roses in Santa Monica. While there, Tar & Roses was awarded the best new restaurant award from Angeleno Magazine.
2013 Wildman returned to his roots in Santa Cruz County as the Executive Chef of Cafe Rio in Aptos. Being back on the Central Coast provided Wildman the chance to delve deeper in to the history of California and the importance of respecting culinary craftsmanship. During this time Wildman really began to embrace cooking his own style of classic California Cuisine: melding the philosophies and flavors of rustic country cooking, mission-era foods and rancho style Californio Cuisine with the abundance of fresh seafood from the Monterey Bay and local produce from the Pajaro Valley.
2015 brought on new opportunities and Wildman couldn’t pass up the challenge to cook privately for 9-time NBA All-Star & Olympic Gold Medalist, Paul George. It was only after taking a step out of the convenience of the restaurant kitchen to the comfort of a home kitchen full time that all of the years of experience seemed to come full circle as Wildman truly began to understand the needs of a home cook. Home made condiments such as spice blends, barbecue rubs, sauces, marinades and the like have always been a very important ingredient in Wildman’s cooking in each of his restaurants. However, creating a range of different unique and healthy meals daily at home proved to be the catalyst to search out alternatives to the generic products carried on most grocery store shelves.
In early 2015, to fill the void he found on those grocery shelves, Wildman created Bird Valley Foodstuff in order to share some of his favorite foods, condiments and recipes by offering exciting products at affordable prices without compromising taste or quality of ingredients. With Bird Valley Foodstuff, Wildman aims to simplify cooking at home while inspiring the home cook with the same products and recipes that he uses daily for his clients.
When not in the kitchen you will generally find Jacob with his head buried in a pile of cook books, out on a long bike ride, home-brewing some beer or woodworking, building custom farmhouse style furniture for himself and friends.
Chef Jacob Wildman additionally provides personal and private chef services, personal cooking classes, private chef consulting, restaurant consulting and catering. For all additional services offered please visit chefwildman.com.
