Jonathan Santiago

Black and white sesame tuna, sesame rice, and a pineapple teriyaki sauce. As a chef from Atlantic City, my food is heavily influenced by coastal ingredients, French technique, and bold global flavors. This dish represents the balance between refinement and comfort that I try to bring into every kitchen.

My culinary inspiration is Anthony Bourdain because he showed that chefs are more than recipes and restaurants — they’re real people with struggles, stories, scars, and passion. His honesty made me believe that people like me could still build something meaningful through food. From a culinary standpoint, I’m also inspired by Eric Ripert because of his respect for seafood, restraint, and technique. My cooking style blends bold coastal flavors with refined execution.

I would use the $25,000 to help build Culinary Stuff Co. into a real culinary brand — combining elevated coastal cuisine, chef education, and creative food media. A portion would go toward professional content creation, recipe development, and branded merchandise, while another portion would help me continue investing in my career growth and long-term goal of eventually opening my own concept. More importantly, it would give me the ability to create opportunities built from a second chan