John Currence
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John Currence is an American chef based in
Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...
. he owns four restaurants in the city of Oxford: City Grocery, Big Bad Breakfast, Bourè, and Snackbar in addition to a catering business, The Main Event. Currence also owns numerous Big Bad Breakfast locations in Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina. He won a
James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...
in 2009 for the category of Best Chef, South, at City Grocery. He later also participated in the third season of the
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television competition ''
Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo (American TV network), Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff (media), spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the ...
''.


Early life

John Currence was born and raised in the affluent Uptown/Carrollton neighborhood of
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
. The majority of his childhood was spent in New Orleans, but his mother took Currence and his brother out of elementary school for long weekends to travel around Europe. After graduating from Isidore Newman School, Currence attended
Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth ...
and the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...
. One of his part-time jobs while at the university was as a dishwasher at Bill Neal's Crook's Corner restaurant. His professional career began under Bill Neal at his
Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...
restaurant, Crooks Corner. In 1989, Currence returned to New Orleans to be
sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...
at Gautreau's, co-owned by Larkin Selman.


Career


Restaurants

Currence owns four restaurants in
Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...
: City Grocery, Bourè, Snackbar, and Big Bad Breakfast. He expanded Big Bad Breakfast to include locations in
Birmingham, AL Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 census, making it the second-most populous city in Alabama, and estimated at 1 ...
,
Homewood, AL Homewood is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is a suburb of Birmingham, located on the other side of Red Mountain due south of the city center. The population was 26,414 at the 2020 census. History Earl ...
,
Vestavia Hills, AL Vestavia Hills, colloquially known simply as Vestavia, is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a suburb of Birmingham and it is made up of Vestavia, Liberty Park, and Cahaba Heights. The population was 3 ...
,
Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-most populous city, the population was ...
,
Mobile, AL Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobile's population increased t ...
,
Florence, AL Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner, and had a population of 40,184 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Florence is l ...
,
Madison, AL Madison is a city located primarily in Madison County, near the northern border of the U.S. state of Alabama. Madison extends west into neighboring Limestone County. The city is included in the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the second-largest ...
, Destin, FL, Inlet Beach, FL,
Chattanooga, TN Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee's fourth-most populo ...
,
Franklin, TN Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,45 ...
,
Memphis, TN Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 census, making it the second-most populous city in Tennessee, the fifth-most p ...
,
Nashville, TN Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, South Pittsburg, TN, Spring Hill, TN,
Charleston, SC Charleston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of th ...
, Mt. Pleasant, SC,
Durham, NC Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County and Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 census, Durham is the four ...
, two locations in
Little Rock, AR Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
and three locations in
Louisville, KY Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
. He also owns The Main Event, a catering business based in Oxford for in-house and off-site catering. According to ''
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'', " u can't visit Oxford without hearing someone sing the praises of Chef John Currence." City Grocery was Currence's first restaurant, with a Southern and traditional Creole French menu, opened in 1992, and has been in Oxford Courthouse Square since 1996. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' recommended "its rowdy upstairs bar and elegant dining below". It was named one of the "South's Best Bars" by ''
Southern Living ''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama Alabama ...
'' in 2013. In fall 1999, it won its first of several ''
Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine, wine culture and wine ratings. It is the flagship publication of M. Shanken Communications, which also publishes ''Cigar Aficionado'', ''Whisky Advocate'', ''Market Watch' ...
'' Awards of Excellence. Big Bad Breakfast started in Oxford in 2008, but later spawned additional locations in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and South Carolina. It has received recognition from publications like ''The Culture Trip'', which named it one of the best diners in the South by in 2016, ''
The Daily Meal The Daily Meal is a food and drinks website. Launched in October 2010, it was the first site launched by Spanfeller Media Group, founded by former Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller. In 2016, The Daily Meal, along with Spanfeller Media Group, was ac ...
'', ''
Serious Eats Serious Eats is a website and blog focused on food enthusiasts, created by food critic and author Ed Levine. A Serious Eats book was published by Levine in 2011. Serious Eats was acquired by Fexy Media in 2015 and then by Dotdash in late 2020. ...
'', and ''
Travel and Leisure Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...
''. Snackbar opened in 2009, and its chef
Vishwesh Bhatt Vishwesh Bhatt is a James Beard Award-winning chef based in Oxford, Mississippi. Early life and education In 1985, Bhatt immigrated with his family from Gujarat, India to the United States at the age of 17, first settling in Austin, Texas. He st ...
won the
James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...
for Best Chef in the South in 2019. Currence bought barbecue restaurant Lamar Lounge in 2012. It received attention from publications like ''
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'' and ''Garden & Gun'', but closed in 2016. It reopened as Fat Eddie's, an American Italian restaurant, which itself closed in 2017.


TV appearances

Currence was featured as a contestant on season 3 of the reality television cooking competition ''
Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo (American TV network), Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff (media), spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the ...
''. He won the second week of the competition, "Everything Old is New Again", but was knocked out in the third episode. Bravo TV, the network on which Top Chef Masters is hosted, released John Currence's pre competition interview. Currence joined
Andrew Zimmern Andrew Scott Zimmern (born July 4, 1961) is an American chef, restaurateur, television and radio personality, director, producer, businessman, food critic, and author. Zimmern is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channe ...
on the
Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...
's ''
Bizarre Foods ''Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern'' is a travel and cuisine television show hosted by Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel in the US. The first season began on Monday, February 6, 2007, at 9pm ET/PT. ''Bizarre Foods'' focuses on regional cu ...
'', exploring The Blues Trail to try unusual
BLT A BLT is a type of sandwich, named for the initials of its primary ingredients, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It can be made with varying recipes according to personal preference. Simple variants include using different types of lettuce or tomato ...
sandwiches, including one made with testicles. He has also appeared on an episode of
Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain ( ; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and Travel documentary, travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the huma ...
's ''No Reservations: Parts Unknown'', about the Mississippi Delta and southern culture. In 2009 he was featured on the CBS ''
Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999, to January 7, 2012, replacing the original incarnation of ''CBS This Morning'', and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the net ...
'' during a segment called "A Chef on a Shoestring". The segment featured how to cook a three-course meal for four for under $35.


Publications

Currence has published the books, ''Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some'', ''Big Bad Breakfast: The Most Important Book of the Day'' and ''Tailgreat: How to Crush It at Tailgating''. He was a contributor to the cookbook ''Wild Abundance: Ritual, Revelry & Recipes of the South's Finest Hunting Clubs''. ''Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey'' was featured or reviewed by ''
The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'', which called it "a culinary rebel yell in a new key", as well as ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', ''Eater'', and others. ''Big Bad Breakfast'' was featured as the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' Cookbook of the Week.


Awards and recognition

John Currence was the recipient of the
James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...
in 2009 for Best Chef South. The Southern Documentary Project filmed the announcement and his acceptance speech. The Mississippi Restaurant Association awarded him the Restaurateur of the Year and Chef of the Year awards. In 2008, Currence won The Great American Seafood Cookoff hosted annually in New Orleans, Louisiana. The
Southern Foodways Alliance Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) is an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, dedicated to the documentation, study and exploration of the foodways of the American South. Member-funded, it stage ...
awarded Currence the Guardian of Tradition award in 2006, and he was awarded the Mississippi State Tourism Investment Award in 2015. In 2014 the
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is a literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book awards." ''Publishe ...
(SIBA) awarded Currence Best Cookbook Award for ''Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey''.


Philanthropy and activism

Currence was featured in ''The New York Times'' for launching the Big Gay Mississippi Welcome Table, a protest against Governor
Phil Bryant Dewey Phillip Bryant (born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 31st lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 2008 to 2012 an ...
's signing of the anti-gay House Bill 1523.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Currence, John Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Chefs from New Orleans Chefs from Mississippi American male chefs American restaurateurs