photo by steed media service

Omar Jones has had a lifelong love affair with the kitchen. Surround him with pots and pans and all the cares of the world are shaken off his shoulders and thrown into the corner like an old jacket. It matters not what the required dish is. Just turn on the stove and watch as a blissful state of serenity washes over him.

“I just love cooking. It’s nothing particular. I love cooking all types of food, working with different chefs, different cultures, different backgrounds,” says the sous chef at the upscale InterContinental Hotel in Cleveland. As the second in command at the hotel, Jones is charged with the Citrus Restaurant, which boasts a menu of seafood and exquisite appetizers. It’s been a long, exhilarating trip up the, er, food chain for the former culinary arts student. “I had to work from being the [entry level] cook to a line cook, I had to move around to three or four restaurants. And I finally got a break at the Intercontinental Hotel and I moved up from there.”

Now that he’s here, he is poised and perched to take his five-star game to the next level. Jones and food will rise as far at their “steamy” relationship will take them. “This is all l love doing and I want to be an executive chef someday. It’s just a matter of time. If I keep moving around, getting different experiences … when opportunities come, you gotta take advantage of them.” -terry shropshire

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