F&B FLORIDA 2019

Jeannie Pierola
Chef Owner
Edison: Food + Drink Lab


Chef Jeannie Pierola has been a four-time James Beard Foundation Semi-Finalist (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2019) and was the first Tampa Bay area chef invited to cook at the renowned James Beard House itself, which she did in October 2015, preparing a seven-course dinner paired with wine and cocktails. Over the course of her career, she has cooked for luminaries such as former President George H. Bush and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and TV icon Oprah Winfrey. She was also selected to cook at our country’s most prestigious food industry awards ceremony, the James Beard Foundation Awards. She’s been called “passionate” and “gifted,” as well as “articulate” and “funny,” traits that are clearly visible in broadcast appearances on Regis and Kelly, Tampa’s local morning Show, “Daytime”, CBS’s “This Morning” and Food Network favorites, “FoodNation with Bobby Flay” and “Best Of.” In addition, many of her recipes have been featured in national publications, including Delta Sky, Food & Wine, Restaurant Hospitality, Southern Living, Bon Appétit, and Florida International Magazine. In January 2014 and again in 2016, Tampa Bay Times’ Food Critic Laura Reiley named edison: food+drink lab, “No. 1 Restaurant in the Tampa Bay Area,” subsequently referring to Chef Pierola as amongst the country’s best chefs, while Margaret Swaine exclaimed that edison is her “favorite spot for dining” while in Tampa, in Canada’s Travel Industry Today magazine. Nicholas DeRenzo recommended edison as one of three “Where to Eat” locations in the June 2013 issue of New York magazine. Florida Trend Magazine’s Chris Sherman named edison one of 2012’s best new restaurants in the state and in 2015 through 2018, awarded edison a coveted Golden Spoon. The Tampa Tribune’s Food Critic Jeff Houck named Chef Pierola’s Soft Lobster Scrambled Eggs with Caviar one of his “Favorite Foods of 2010.” As Bobby Flay once exclaimed, “That girl can cook!”

Sessions :