Jean Trinh

Career The foundation for Jean Trinh’s later work took shape at the University of California, San Diego, before editorial practice brought him into the daily mechanics of reporting and publication. At LAist in Los Angeles, he served as Deputy Editor, a role rooted in shaping stories, maintaining pace, and working inside a publication’s voice. That stretch of editorial work sits at the center of his career arc, where journalism, food, and the cultural conversation around both remain closely linked. Today, Jean Trinh is Freelance Food and Culture Writer of Freelance, Contributing Food Writer of Los Angeles Times, and writer of Jean Trinh (independent journalist). The list is spare, but the work is not: it points to a practice built across platforms and audiences, with each byline asking for the same close attention to criticism, narrative, and observation. His reporting keeps moving between food and culture, with the broader human context staying in view. Jean has said.

Signature

Ownership of Alquímico in Cartagena marks the shift from covering hospitality to shaping it directly. In that role, Jean Trinh is working inside the room rather than around it, with the discipline that restaurant ownership requires and the same attention to atmosphere, flavor, and experience that has marked his writing. Alquímico in Cartagena is the clearest site of that change, and the venue now sits alongside his name as part of his current practice. His background as a writer gives that work a particular edge. Years spent describing places, reading their signals, and considering how they are remembered now inform his work as an owner. At Alquímico in Cartagena, the transition from page to room is visible in the simplest terms: he is no longer only interpreting hospitality, but participating in its construction.

Recognition/etc Jean Trinh’s honors include James Beard Award nomination. It is a compact line, but an important one, placing his work within a recognized field and marking the regard his voice has drawn. For a career that has moved from editorial work into ownership, the nomination registers both reach and consistency.

Recognition

Jean Trinh has received The World’s 50 Best Bars 2022, Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award (2022).