James Beard award-winning chef/owner Jody Adams celebrates regional Italian cuisine interpreted with New England ingredients at her landmark restaurant in Harvard Square. Chef Adams has been praised for her creativity and business acumen by local and national publications from The Boston Globe and Boston Business Journal to Gourmet, Food & Wine and The New York Times.

Jody's culinary career began sfter graduating with a degree in Anthropology from Brown University. She began as a line cook at Seasons restaurant in the famed Bostonian Hotel under chef Lydia Shire in 1983. Three years later, she helped open Hamersley’s Bistro with Gordon Hamersley as his sous chef.  In 1990, she took the executive chef position at Michela’s in Cambridge. While at Michela’s, Jody developed her reputation for carefully-researched regional menus that combined New England ingredients with Italian culinary traditions. And in 1993 Food and Wine Magazine named Jody “one of America’s ten best new chefs.” In September 1994, Jody opened Rialto. Four months after the new restaurant’s opening, The Boston Globe awarded Rialto four stars, the newspaper’s highest rating, proclaiming that, “eating Jody Adams’ food at the stunning new Rialto is like stepping into a winter greenhouse just at the moment a spectacular hothouse orchid bursts into bloom, filling the senses.” The public quickly took notice, with awards and press accolades streaming in over the years. In 1997, Jody received the James Beard Foundation award for The Perrier-Jouet Best Chef Award: Northeast.  In addition to running Rialto, Adams published a cookbook, In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant (HarperCollinsPublishers; January 2002). She co-wrote the book with her husband, Ken Rivard.  In 2004 Gourmet named Rialto one of “world’s best hotel restaurants.”

In January of 2007, Jody bought out her partners and became the sole owner of Rialto. With the help of famed architect Maryann Thompson, she renovated the restaurant, introducing a new design aesthetic with diaphanous curtains, s-shaped banquettes and a color palate of sage, wheat and white. The new décor was paired with a new menu, now focused on regional Italian cuisine. The changes were met with praise from the public and the press. The Boston Globe awarded the renovated Rialto four stars once again and Esquire Magazine named Rialto one of the best restaurants in the country in 2007.

Outside of the restaurant, Jody is actively involved in organizations that support children’s advocacy and hunger relief both domestically and internationally. She is committed to supporting The Greater Boston Food Bank, Share Our Strength and Partners In Health.