The Southern-born chef has a background in fine dining but is loving being in the family-friendly environment of Blue Collar’s restaurants. by Allison Arthur photos by Ashley Merritt
AS
In the Kitchen with Jeremy Williamson
Jeremy Williamson
explains where
his love of food began,
he starts by saying, “Most people mistake Southern food for soul food.” I immediately know what the Georgia native means, since I am from South Carolina. He means eating corn and tomatoes, but only in the summer season and preferably when you just picked them in your backyard. Collard greens, fried okra and black-eyed peas, either grown in your garden or at the farm down the road, and cooked as a family effort. He’s talking my language. Besides having pure Southern roots, which are a good indication that quality ingredients are the star of the show, Williamson, 37, grew up in a family of avid cooks. “We cooked every meal,” he says. He also had the advantage of being close friends and neighbors with Chinese and Vietnamese families who exposed him to diverse ethnic cultures early in his life. All of these factors propelled him along a path that took him across the country as he worked his way up from earning a degree in hotel and restaurant management; to leading many fine dining restaurants; to eventually landing in Jackson Hole. Williamson moved to the valley to be the executive chef at Caldera House. “The first time I stepped foot in Wyoming was for my interview,” he says. Last summer, Williamson’s jiujitsu partner and Blue Collar founder Joe Rice saw the passion he has for the industry and recruited him to be the culinary director of his restaurant group. Now overseeing and hoping to improve upon what he respectfully refers to as a “great foundation and a loyal following,” Williamson is gently updating menus and methods at the group’s six (and soon to be seven) establishments in Jackson Hole.
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