Jean-Marie Josselin

The Path

French training set the terms for the rest of the work. At Lycée Hôtelier de Paris, Jean-Marie Josselin learned the structure that later carried through L'Escargot in Chamonix, France, where he worked as apprentice, and Montorgueuil in Paris, France, where he was line cook. Those early kitchens gave him the technical base that would travel with him through later posts in the United States. The career arc widened in 1982, when he became chef at restaurant in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, followed by chef at Hotel Hana Maui, Hawaii, United States from 1984. From there came executive chef at Registry Hotel in Los Angeles, California, United States (1986–1988), then executive chef at Coco Palms Resort in Kauai, Hawaii, United States (1988–1990). In 1990, he became owner and chef at Pacific Café in Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii, United States, later owner and chef at Euro-Pacific 808 in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States from 2000, owner and chef at Josselin's Bar & Grill in Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii, United States from 2011, and owner and chef at JO2 in Kapaa, Maui, Hawaii, United States from 2014. Today, Jean-Marie is chef of Rustica.

The Work Today

At Rustica in Saint Augustine, the current cooking still tracks the method developed at JO2 Natural Cuisine in Kapaa, Kauai: work from what the island offers, and keep looking for ways to use produce from a different angle. Unexpected ingredients are part of the structure, not a side note; menus changed often to stay aligned with Kauai, and the relationship with farmers remained central to how the kitchen operated. He put that approach plainly: “We have to work closely with the farmers, and try new vegetables.” The line describes a practical way of cooking, but it also points to a way of managing a kitchen: alert, collaborative, and willing to adjust when the ingredients demand it. A second remark from that period makes the same case: “We have to change the menu frequently—we really rely on what’s happening on Kauai.” The dishes followed that logic. JO2 produced shave ice over zucchini made with the sweet white pulp around cacao beans, and a bao stuffed with barbecue jackfruit, a vegetarian twist on manapua. The point of the work was not novelty for its own sake, but a disciplined use of texture, memory, and produce to build plates that stayed close to the market while still making room for surprise.

Signature

Jean-Marie's signature dishes include A Taste of Hawaii.

In Their Words “We have to change the menu frequently—we really rely on what’s happening on Kauai.” “We have to work closely with the farmers, and try new vegetables.”

Acclaim

Jean-Marie Josselin has received James Beard Foundation, Best Chef for his region (Northwest/Hawaii). One reason Jean-Marie Josselin is counted among the pioneers of Hawaii regional cuisine is that his work helped define a local culinary voice without losing sight of technique. The French lesson stayed active in that thinking: “They teach not to kill. It changed the thinking of my cooking.” The line reads as a practical rule as much as a philosophy, and it explains the balance in Josselin’s cooking between restraint, invention, and respect for what the ingredient already is.