Washington, D.C., award-winning restaurateur Ashok Bajaj is pleased announce Jonathan Dearden as the new executive chef of Ardeo+Bardeo in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of the nation’s capital. Dearden’s restaurant experiences have taken him from Florida to the Windward Island of St. Lucia and New York. His culinary path includes staging at Michelin-starred restaurants including Alinea Restaurant in Chicago, Nobu Miami Beach, and Cakebread Cellars in Napa Valley.  Dearden’s career took off when he was hired by James Beard award-winning chef Allen Susser to work as his sous chef at Chef Allen’s in Aventura, Florida. Dearden was quickly promoted to chef de cuisine and the restaurant rated “#1 Food for Miami” and “Most Popular in Miami” in Zagat’s 2007 guidebook. 

Next Dearden was personally selected by Susser to move St. Lucia in 2008 to become the executive chef and later the multi-unit executive chef at the celebrated travel destination, Jade Mountain Resort and Anse Chastanet. This luxury resort has captured the AAA Four Diamond Luxury Resort; #1 Best Caribbean Resort, World’s Top Three Resorts from Travel and Leisure, and Top 3 Caribbean Resorts from Conde Nast Traveler. Here he was responsible for three kitchens and six restaurant concepts. Dearden was also actively involved in the property’s 30-acre organic farm, planning the creative farm-to-table menu and focusing on locally sourced fish and produce. He also participated in the region’s culinary festivals including the Spices of the Caribbean. 

After six years of island life and with a desire to return to the U.S., Dearden went to cook in the Hamptons at the Sunset Beach in Shelter Island, New York, serving as the executive chef under the leadership of Andre Balazs in 2014. From here he has accepted the opportunity to relocate to Washington, D.C., to work at Ardeo+Bardeo as executive chef.