Edouardo Jordan

In 2015, Jordan opened his own restaurant, Salare in Ravenna, Seattle, with some help from a Kickstarter campaign.^[3] Salare's menu is based in Jordan's French and Italian training with some Southern influences.^[1] He was named a StarChefs Rising Star and won Eater Seattle's 2015 “Chef of the Year” title.^[2] He was named one of the Best New Chefs of 2016 by Food & Wine magazine.^[4]

In 2017, Jordan opened his second restaurant, JuneBaby, featuring Southern food and located just down the street from Salare, and it received national attention.^[5] It was selected as a Critic's Pick by Pete Wells of the New York Times.^[6] At the 2018 James Beard Foundation Awards, Jordan won the title of Best Chef: Northwest, and JuneBaby won Best New Restaurant.^[7] The Puget Sound Business Journal named Jordan to its 2018 list of 40 Under 40.^[8] Seattle Magazine named him one of Seattle's Most Influential People.^[9] People magazine named Jordan as a finalist for sexiest chef alive.^[10]

On June 8, 2021, Eater reported that Jordan had announced the permanent closing of Salare.^[11] JuneBaby is set to close in December 2023.^[12]

Jordan was accused of misconduct by four of his former co-workers at work (Elmer Dulla, Soni Strandell, Suzi An, and Ahmed Suliman), according to a June 13, 2021, article in the Seattle Times. An additional ten workers said that he "made sexual comments, including about their breasts, or frequently touched them in unwanted ways, like hugging them from behind at work."^[13] On the day the article was published, four managers of Jordan's restaurants, Salare and JuneBaby, quit their jobs. Edouardo placed the remaining staff on two weeks' paid leave during this time to reassess the damage caused by the allegations.^[14] As of January 2022, no criminal charges, no Human Resource reports, no civil cases or class action suits were filed, nor were any civil actions brought against Jordan as a result of these accusations.