Rick Farmer
Chef Rick has been in the food service industry for over 35 years. Early in his career while living in California and later New York, he made connections which led to positions at some of the trendiest American regional restaurants of the day. This networking allowed him to travel and learn in Europe. Chef Rick then staged for 14 months at a Michelin starred restaurant in the Cote D’or in the Burgundian countryside.
Later, he moved to Biarritz, in the southwest of France, where he worked alongside the chefs that would really influence the way he thought about food. The “Basque” cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood, blended French and Spanish influences, which was a departure from the strictly traditional French cuisine he had experienced thus far.
Later, Rick and his wife Barbara opened Jarrett’s Restaurant in Memphis to critical acclaim and remained on the local restaurant critics Top 10 Best list for fifteen years. They were invited to do a Discovery Series Dinner at the James Beard house in New York and did several regional Beard events.
After closing the restaurant in 2010, Chef Rick went on to teach culinary arts at a local college until 2012 at which time he went to work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as one of their two Executive Chefs and is continuing his culinary quest. Chef Rick takes an active role in the training and development of the St. Jude culinary team.
Rick is especially moved by the opportunity to interact with patients and their families from many different countries and cultures. Those interactions often result in the opportunity to explore diverse cultures through food and learn how to cook different dishes that he might never have experienced.