STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Starting to Sizzle with Chef Jay Le Soul
James Thomas Garrett III – aka Chef Jay Le Soul – is a private culinary artist in some of the city’s most exclusive homes and events.
“This is the spread I made for The Whispers concert. And here’s me with Don King,” he says as he scrolls through his business Instagram Page. Selfies with friends and celebrities are intermixed with inventive charcuterie boards almost too pretty to eat and elegantly plated meals worthy of any five-star restaurant.
“And this is me and Samuel L. Jackson. He was in town filming a movie and came to the concert I catered at PlayHouse Square.”
James gets excited when he talks about food and the A-list friends he’s made along the way as a result of his talent. But he’s not bragging when he talks about it. It’s genuine awe at how far he’s come.
A ROCKY START
Growing up the second oldest of five in a single parent household, James struggled.
He was overweight, with a series of health and behaviroal impairments that went largely undiagnosed through childhood.
Now he recognizes the racing thoughts and inability to focus as part of ADHD. But at the time, all he knew was that he was different from other kids.
By 7th grade, kids teased him relentlessly about his weight, especially in gym. He refused to take his shirt off and received an F. Failing “the easiest subject” didn’t go over well at home.
His father entered his life briefly when James was 9, and then again at 13 when James spent a summer in Boston. “My father’s side of the family is highly educated, college grads. I have an uncle who played pro football. It was so different from what I saw on my mother’s side,” he explains. (He’s quick to point out that his mother was successful despite having minimal education.)
That summer, his father, “a military marine guy” took him to a doctor. James learned about nutrition and dropped from 290 pounds to 160.
“I was a whole new person. But one with an attitude and a chip on his shoulder from all the bullying,” he admits.
HUNGRY FOR MORE
In 9th grade, James was working 40 hours a week as a dishwasher. By 10th grade, he added a second job at John Carrol University. Soon, having money and a lifestyle worthy of envy was more important than education.
When he landed a job in upscale Beacwhood, surrounded by luxury cars and million-dollar homes, James knew he didn’t want to just wash dishes. He wanted to OWN the restaurant.
As a kid, James enjoyed watching his family cook, remembering seeing them skin fish, make pies, and to do it all from memory. But at work, he met chefs who were trained to measure, manage costs, and run kitchens like a business.
He was increasingly frustrated with school, going less and less. When he actually attended, he was disruptive. It was during one of his final trips to the Principal’s Office he was told that when he turned 18 (just a few weeks away) he could drop out and complete a job program instead. This sounded like a great idea to a young man already working more than 40 hours a week.
With just six months left of high school, he withdrew. But the job program? He never attended.
Instead, he continued working and honing his cooking skills along the way, landing at a high-end hotel with a renowned chef.
“There I met a beautiful girl from Tennessee,” he remembers. They had one baby, and a year later, a second. He still had a desire for the finer things in life, but with a growing family came growing pressure – and old habits.
THE SPIRAL
In the years that followed, two more children were born. James was working 17-hour days in The Flats. “Shooters (restaurant) was just opening,” he says. The nightlife was booming and James was all in.
“Oh it was the greatest place to be. I loved The Flats. I partied in The Flats. I drank in The Flats….then I couldn’t make it home from The Flats.”
Throughout the telling of his story, James continuously references a skewed thought process, and something in his mind telling him he needed to do things, without knowing why, or if it was a good idea.
This time, his mind said sell drugs. Make faster money.
“My girl told me no. Said we didn’t need all that,” he remembers. “But I bulldozed right over her and made the decision to be a dope dealer.”
Drugs brought money. Then they brought violence, especially when he didn’t get his way. His relationship collapsed.
“At one point, I promised her I’d stop selling,” he said. “And I did.” But by then, he was using, too.
He no longer had a surplus (illegal) income, was spending what money he DID have on drugs, and was unable to function at work because of his addiction. His common-law marriage ended for good when, tired of being bullied, she fought back and stabbed him in front of their children.
Once a foodie, he found himself eating of garbage cans. Homeless. Addicted. Beaten. Shot at. In and out of psychiatric wards and treatment centers. Around him, people were dying, being robbed, taking their own lives. The ’90s, he said, were some of the darkest years of his life.
CLIMBING OUT
Everything changed for him in the late ‘00s. Locked up again, something clicked.
“An AA guy kept saying to me – You aren’t crazy, you are an alcoholic.” He came to realize that alcohol and addiction weren’t the problem, they were just terrible solutions to unaddressed mental health issues.
Sobriety came July 17, 2009 when the desire to drink and use completely left him. “An act of providence, divine intervention,” he thinks. Sixteen years later, sobriety is still the foundation of his life and career.
At 62, James runs a booming private chef busines, meeting politicians, celebrities, and millionaires along the way. They know his story and they trust him all the more for it.
His social media and influential clients draw in new customers. His kitchen provides jobs for young people trying to find their own way in a kitchen.
AA and cognitive behavioral therapy helped him when medication (and self-medication) didn’t.
He feels good now. He’s more relaxed and focused, no longer angry and the chip on his shoulder is long gone.
NEXT ON THE MENU : A GED
James counts Chrishawndra Matthews (founder, Literacy in the H.O.O.D) and literacy advocate/media personality Margaret Bernstein as dear friends. He listened when they encouraged him to check out Seeds of Literacy.
To his surprise, practice tests showed he wasn’t far from passing.
“I only missed them by 1 point,” he said smiling. “So I know that if I study just a little more, I can get my GED this year. And if not this year, next year. It’s never too late. I’ve got nothing but time and positivity on my side.”
Leaning back in his chair he proclaims “I love it here. I really love it. The tutors are…AMAZING. I’m blown away by their knowledge.”
After his GED, James plans to go to the entrepreneur program at Tri C, mentor more kids in hospitality, and ultimately, grow his business more so his children (or maybe 14 grandkids) can take over one day.
“Everywhere I go, I continue to carry messages of hope so that others know that recovery is possible,” James states. “Seeds of Literacy can help me and I know it can help other people.”
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