About Big Chef

Big Chef is a personal chef service serving the greater Chicagoland area. 

But if you've gotten this far, you probably already know that part, and are wondering who's behind Big Chef. 

We could tell you that she's a one-woman force for culinary excellence for the masses, who believes that everyone has the right to a fantastic meal that nourishes all their senses, no matter what they like to eat or what their dietary restrictions are. 

We could also tell you that she attended the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago,  is licensed by the Illinois Department of Public Health in Food Safety and Sanitation, and passed her ServSafe sanitation test with flying colors.  

We could even tell you she's been cooking since she was a small child, has been amassing a ridiculously large repository of cookbooks from an early age, and has been known to construct a rudimentary environmentally-friendly mixer prototype out of some twist ties, a rarely-used bicycle, a whisk, and controls operated by a friendly hamster named Bob.  (Well, maybe not that last part---but the first two parts of that sentence are true.)

This, dear friends, is the beating heart and soul of Big Chef.  She is, however, better known to the world-at-large as Janaki Jitchotvisut. No, this is not an assumed name, and yes, her parents are unrepentant. 

To learn more, we'd humbly suggest that you take a peek at The Spice is Right, the official weblog of Big Chef.  And, of course, you can always contact us directly.   We promise that we don't usually speak in the third person.  Honest. :)

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, we should probably note that there is actually a "we" involved, lest we sound horribly pretentious and/or utterly mad. While it's true that Janaki can cook up a storm and that Big Chef is all her doing, approximately 99% of the photos you see on this website were thoughtfully composed and taken by Joe Lucente. As is unfortunately the case, Janaki can make wonderful and lovely food, but she can't frame shots for anything. As a result, almost every photo taken that you'll see on this site was taken by Joe, excepting those that were taken with camera phones and/or look exceptionally odd otherwise.