Jenem was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to San Francisco when he was only 7 years old. His Mother was a single parent, working the night shift, so cooking to him, became more about survival.

When his 10 year old brother would create culinary masterpieces at home, his family always thought that his brother would have become the Chef. But, the family soon realized, that spam and rice wasn’t going to impress anyone.

Jenem never thought of pursuing a career in Culinary, but in order to earn money for school, he took a part time job doing kitchen work. At only 16 years old, he slowly learned the basics of cooking and continued to work in food service throughout high school.

After graduation, Jenem was accepted into Art school for Advertising, but instead took college classes in biology and anatomy, in order to focus his career in Medicine. It wasn’t until he was a sophomore, when he realized that cooking was his passion. It was the perfect balance of science and art, where he really thrived.

Jenem then went on to take different jobs in catering and different restaurants. Graduating from culinary school at the age of 21, he quickly escalated to become the Executive Chef of a small Huntington Beach restaurant.

Since then, Jenem has returned back home to San Francisco, where he has been cooking ever since. Classically trained, his food is influenced by San Francisco, the City he loves, and is surrounded by the family and community, who supports him.