i. Biography
In Bellingham, Washington, open-flame cooking at the restaurant is built from a short set of materials: charcoal, regional ingredients, beef bones, wine, ashes and turmeric. In James Zamory’s work there, heat functions as a working medium rather than a backdrop; it marks, concentrates and changes the ingredient while keeping the construction pared down. The same material logic extends outside the plate. Canvases made without paint use organic pigments and remains from the kitchen, turning byproduct into visual matter. Fire, fat, mineral darkness and golden spice stay within one operating vocabulary.
Formation
Culinary discipline often shows in structure before it shows in style. Training at University at Albany gave James Zamory a foundation that carries into a kitchen practice defined by restraint, process and material control. The cooking is not organized around ornament. It depends on handling, timing and the willingness to let heat carry the work. Restaurant craft changes when creative intent and operating responsibility sit in the same hands. As chef, owner, and co-founder of Carnal, James Zamory ties the cooking, the business and the original direction of the restaurant into one Bellingham project. The work is rooted in the Northwest and organized around flame as the central tool.
Present Day
Regional sourcing gives the Bellingham project its geography, and open fire gives the kitchen its method. James Zamory is owner at Carnal Restaurant, and he also serves as chef, owner and co-founder. The cooking focuses on regionally sourced ingredients. They arrive with local context, then meet charcoal, smoke, rendered richness and restraint. Packaged meat snacks under the house brand carry the restaurant’s beef work into a smaller format. Black Truffle & Black Garlic Beef Sticks are made with 100 percent grass-fed Washington beef, fermented black garlic and real Black Truffle, then slow-dried and brushed with a bone-marrow glaze from the signature short ribs. The form is compact, but the method keeps the same concerns: beef, fermentation, truffle, drying and glaze used for depth, concentration and controlled change.
Signature
Signature dishes include Carnal Beef Jerky and Sticks.
Peer Recognition
Michelin-trained discipline appears in James Zamory’s work as control over heat, texture and process. The value of that credential is not surface polish; it is the ability to decide when to push heat, when to hold it back and when to leave a simple ingredient enough room to carry the plate. Carnal’s record in Bellingham is defined by regionally sourced ingredients, open-flame cooking with Thaan Charcoal, and artwork made from the same organic matter that moves through the kitchen. Those facts place the work in a specific Northwest practice: fire as method, beef as material, pigment as extension and restraint as the governing rule.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of James
What is James Zamory's current position?
James Zamory is chef at Carnal — Mexican.
Where did James Zamory train or study?
James Zamory trained at University at Albany.
What is James Zamory known for?
Carnal focuses on regionally sourced ingredients.
