Chef
Jonny Black
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, United States
i. Biography
Jonny Black is co-owner and Executive Chef of Chez Noir in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where coastal pacing meets the control required of kitchens trained in some of the country’s most exacting rooms. Born in the Bay Area, he moved through New York City and San Francisco kitchens before returning to the California coast with a restaurant of his own. The work reads as deliberate and polished because it was built in places where every plate, every movement, and every service carried weight.
The Path
Training at The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park gave Jonny Black the technical base that carried into professional kitchens. He entered New York City as an opening team member at Allen & Delancey in New York City and as an opening team member at Corton in New York City, learning how standards get set when a restaurant is still finding its rhythm. From there, he moved to Chef de Partie at Per Se in New York City, where consistency and precision were part of the job description. That sequence led into management. As Head Chef at Governor in Brooklyn, Jonny Black took on the responsibility that comes with leading a kitchen, then brought that experience back to California as Head Chef at Quince in San Francisco. The progression shows the range of the trade: formal training, opening-team work, station discipline, and the authority required to run service. Since 2022, Jonny Black has been co-owner and Executive Chef of Chez Noir. The restaurant marks a return to the coast and the point where years of operating inside serious kitchens became a place of his own.
The Work Today
At Chez Noir in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, Jonny Black works with two sets of responsibilities at once: ownership and Executive Chef leadership. That split is central to the role. It means shaping the food while also setting the restaurant’s operating identity and the standard it holds across service. The title at Chez Noir reflects the career that came before it. Years spent in New York City and San Francisco kitchens are now translated into a restaurant on the California coast, where the pace may be different but the expectations remain exacting.
Acclaim
Exacting restaurant work is the through-line in Jonny Black’s career. Chef de Partie at Per Se, cooking in San Francisco at Atelier Crenn and Quince, and ownership on the California coast all point to the same kind of training: composure under pressure, technical discipline, and steadiness through service. Chez Noir sits at the end of that sequence with those habits intact. The continuity is what matters. Opening-team work at Allen & Delancey in New York City and Corton in New York City, leadership at Governor in Brooklyn, and later work at Quince in San Francisco all feed the same profile: a chef formed inside serious kitchens and now applying that accumulated experience to his own room by the sea.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Jonny
What is Jonny Black's current role?
As of 2026, Jonny Black is Co-owner and Executive Chef.
Where did Jonny Black train or study?
Jonny Black trained at The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park.
