Jamie Lynch
Years of Participation
2015-2023
Jamie’s affinity for the restaurant business began when he was only 16, working his first job as a dishwasher at a local bar and grill in a Massachusetts fishing town. “I fell in love with the intense, high-octane kitchen life there,” he says. “That’s where it all started.”
While attending the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, Jamie completed an externship at Aqua in San Francisco under famed chef Michael Mina. After graduating, Jamie returned to NYC, where he was offered a prestigious position at Le Cirque 2000 in The Palace Hotel. He polished his technique while working under Chef Andrew Carmellini, who would become his longtime mentor.
Jamie continued his training at culinary heavyweights Aureole under Charlie Palmer and Daniel Boulud’s, Café Boulud, again under Andrew Carmellini before settling in as Sous Chef at Touquevillle Restaurant in Union Square.
The events of 9/11 brought him down south to Charlotte, NC in 2002, forever changing his culinary style.
Since opening Church and Union Charlotte in 2012, Jamie has garnered many accolades; Cheftestant on Season 14 and Season 17 All Star, on Bravo’s Top Chef and voted BEST CHEF in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2020 by Charlotte.
In his spare time, Lynch enjoys being on his sailboat and spending time with his teenaged son, Max, who has grown up in Church and Union’s kitchen and already displays a strong work ethic just like his father’s – working at a 5th Street Group restaurant!