Jason Cichonski

At the young age of 27, Chef Jason Cichonski, is the Chef and owner of Ela Restaurant in Philadelphia’s Queen Village neighborhood. Hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer that “few kitchens in town can match Ela’s food value-wise for pure excitement… from the first course to the last, the chef at Ela is hottest where it matters most.” Ela is co-owned by Chef Chip Roman, one of the city’s acclaimed chefs who first partnered with Jason to open his Chestnut Hill restaurant Mica, another top restaurant in the region. Prior to joining Chef Roman at Mica, Jason served as executive chef at Lacroix at the Rittenhouse when he was only 24 years old. Before his success at Lacroix, he worked in other highly-praised kitchens, including the Pluckemin Inn, a fine dining Italian restaurant in Bedminster, NJ and Moonlight, a progressive American restaurant in New Hope, PA. The five ingredients Jason always has on hand are: mustard crackers, ginger oil, kaffir lime leaves, smoked balsamic vinegar, ginger.