Other
Cheryl Jamison
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Cheryl Jamison is the chef at ESMCO in Oklahoma City, where her cooking has a deliberately narrow, and therefore distinct, point of view. The kitchen centers on New Mexico food, a focus that gives the restaurant a clear regional identity and lends the menu a sense of place that feels intentional rather than broad. The title is direct, and so is the cooking: one chef, one restaurant, one culinary lane. In that clarity, Jamison’s work reads less like a scatter of influences and more like a line drawn with conviction.
The Essentials Jamison leads the kitchen at the restaurant in Oklahoma City and works from New Mexico food as her specialty. That emphasis shapes the experience around ESMCO in a way that is both specific and grounded. Instead of trying to be all things at once, the restaurant leans into a defined culinary register, and Jamison’s role is to hold that line. Her work there centers on New Mexico food, making regional character the restaurant’s most recognizable feature.
Signature
Cheryl's signature dishes include Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke and the Real Way to Barbecue and Texas Home Cooking. The titles themselves suggest the range of her culinary sensibility: one rooted in smoke and barbecue, the other in the vernacular of Texas kitchens. Together, they point to a body of work that is straightforward in name yet vivid in flavor, shaped by a respect for regional traditions and the kind of cooking that carries memory as much as technique.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Cheryl
What is Cheryl Jamison's current role?
As of 2026, Cheryl Jamison is Chef.
What is Cheryl Jamison known for?
New Mexico food.
What recognition has Cheryl Jamison received?
James Beard Foundation Book Award.
