Chef Jamie Adams with il Giallo Osteria and Bar on Food and Beverage Radio

Chef Jamie Adams 
il Giallo Osteria & Bar

The youngest of five children born in Atlanta, Jamie Adams was intrigued by every aspect of Italian culture - from its cars to its language; from its people to its food. His passion for Italian cuisine was fueled by his mother, a native of New Orleans and fabulous cook in her own right. To this day, Jamie’s fondest memories are of cooking in the kitchen with his mother, or at relatives’ homes and kitchens in New Orleans, where his family visited regularly.

While studying music, biology, and English literature at Georgia State University, Adams simultaneously worked for The Mad Italian Restaurant in Atlanta. It was here that he realized his profound appetite for the restaurant business: the desire to immerse himself into Italian cuisine and great hospitality began to smolder.

Fanning these flames was the fact that his siblings, who had traveled to Italy, came home with stories of meals they had enjoyed in quaint Italian towns. These stories and his love for Italian cuisine led him to create his own Italian adventure. “In 1985, I found myself in the Mestre train station with a 200 Lire Gettone in my hand, hoping against hope that someone on the other end could speak English,” reflects Adams. “Thus began an almost five year stint that was supposed to only be one. I went on to find and work in many of the places that I had heard so many stories about and I made friendships and connections that forever changed the course of my life,” he recalls.

Upon returning to Atlanta, Adams received several offers to cook in the city’s top Italian kitchens, but immediately knew that working at Pricci (then Cappriccio), the Italian crown jewel of the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, was the perfect setting for his talents. Adams impressed owner Pano Karatassos, by making several pasta dishes from scratch just like his time in Italy at several Michelin starred restaurants. He was given the title of Sous Chef and thus began a more than 20 year relationship with Pano and his prestigious restaurant group.
In 1993, the company took over Veni Vidi Vici and Adams was named Executive Chef. The restaurant was formerly owned by one of the gran dames of Italian cuisine, Marcela Hazan, coincidentally, one of Adams’ most profound culinary influencers.

Adams left BLRG for a short while, when he opened the boutique restaurant, ENO in Midtown Atlanta. In addition to an economic downturn, during this time, Adams was as he refers to it, “the lucky recipient of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts, fondly referred to as “Cabbage-CABG,” also known as a quadruple bypass. After taking some time off to recuperate, as a compliment to the long-time, mutually respectful business relationship between Pano and Adams, the Chef was asked to rejoin the Veni Vidi Vici team.

While at Veni Vidi Vici, Adams realized that he and restaurant General Manager, Leonardo Moura, shared a mutual desire to create and run their own Italian restaurant. Adams and Moura shared their dream with Pano Karatassos, and it was decided that Veni Vidi Vici would close, enabling the pair to open their own restaurant. In creating il Giallo Osteria and Bar (meaning both yellow and mystery in Italian), the passion and experience Adams obtained in Italy will fuse together in this Coastal Italian restaurant in the upscale Sandy Springs neighborhood.
Adams has been a featured chef at The James Beard House in New York, competed in The Food Network’s “Chopped,” selected to participate in a TBS-TV “Super Chef Cook Off”, and was highlighted on “Great Chefs of the South, and “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” In addition to building a loyal following and maintaining his great health as an avid cyclist, Chef Adams is exceptionally proud of his fundraising efforts for many organizations that are important to him, including Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry and Moving in the Spirit,