Jason Steffans Fred's Chef de Cuisine Fred's Restaurant

Chef Jason Steffens hails from North Carolina where his family instilled in him at an early age the necessities of knowing one’s way around the kitchen. He had his own stepladder so he could reach the stovetop and stir pots of chicken soup and mash potatoes, as well as perform the ever-present chore of washing dishes. Once old enough to enter the workplace, the choice was obvious, and Jason began working under the tutelage of chefs in the local Lake Norman area, mastering line cook skills at the broiler and sauté stations.

By the time he graduated high school, Jason’s network of culinary peers was large enough to establish a reputation in certain circles as the "Master Chef" due to his acquired skills at holding together a crew of three talented individuals cooking for 600 hundred people a night. High volume upscale Lakeside Cuisine became his specialty: Sage-Stuffed Trout, New England Clam Chowder, Pan-Seared Halibut & Lobster Thermidor are a few examples of that style. Instead of pursuing a culinary degree, he felt there was more experience to be gained inng restaurants and proceeded to collaborate in the start-up of Lew's Fine Foods & Spirits and The Lakeside Landings, taking on the role of kitchen manager and head line cook respectively. In the following two years, he developed his skills at menu planning and food purchasing, as well as maintaining a thriving passion for the excitement of high volume line work.

When Jason turned twenty-three, he took a six year sabbatical from the cooking world and earned a fine arts degree at the University of North Carolina in Asheville. He found his love for the artistry of plate presentation transformed into a love for sculpture, and that became his focus until Jason’s roads of adventure took him to Florida’s Gulf Coast. It is ironic that Jason ended up in Sarasota as Sous Chef of Fred's Restaurant instead of pursuing a career as a sculptor. When asked why, he said: "I just couldn't escape the immediate gratification of making a good plate of food, having people enjoy it visually, and having it be palatable as well. The sculptural art world just ends up confusing people; most are seeking functionality, and that's not what I was about as a sculptor.

The art Chef Jason now creates transcends the functional and becomes nourishment, which is what he believes all art fundamentally strives for. “With food, it just becomes much more literal..." Jason says. Chef Jason has been with Fred's team for almost five years now and has received much recognition for his leadership as well as his unique ability to create superb food and wine matches in the course of developing and executing elegant winemaker dinners.

Fred's Restaurant
1917 S. Osprey Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34239