Meet the Lesbians of "Top Chef " Season 4

Jennifer Biesty

Jennifer Biesty started her cooking career busing tables at a small restaurant in Brooklyn, where she was born and raised. She later worked and lived in Europe, and those influences can now be found in her cooking, which she describes as seasonal, rustic fare. When asked about competing against her girlfriend, Biesty said, "Flirting [with Zoi] definitely made it more interesting. For everyone."

AfterEllen: Do you prefer Jen or Jennifer?
Jennifer Biesty: Jen's fine. My friends call me Beast.

AE: Beast? Are you sure they're your friends?
JB: [laughs] My last name is Biesty.

AE: I'll think I'll call you Jen. So, when you and Zoi both made it onto Top Chef, you knew you'd have to compete against each other. How did you work that out?
JB: We processed it a lot before we went. I had fear that the other contestants would think it was unfair [or] that we would come up against some aggravation, that there would be some drama, either because we were a couple or because we were gay.

AE: You were processing and worried there would be drama? Do you realize how gay that sounds?
JB: Yeah. [laughs] It was really difficult to compete against your partner. You have a lot of fun with it, though. When we were processing, we were thinking about all the bad things that could possibly happen. And then we were like: "Just throw that away. Think about all the fun this could be and the excitement." And if we had to go up against each other, [we'd] try to keep a sense of humor about it.

AE: Did you meet each other at work?
JB: Yes, I was a chef at a restaurant called Bizou. When Zoi moved from Seattle to San Francisco, she came in looking for a job. The owner, who was also a chef, hired her, and then we worked together for six months. Then I left to take another job.

But it was kind of like love at first sight. [However,] we were just friends because we were both in relationships for about four years. Then [we] ended up getting out of those relationships and we met back up. I pursued her, and four years later, we're still together.

AE: I asked Zoi this, and now I'm going to ask you: How do you hard-boil an egg?
JB: I like to start with boiling water, drop the egg in with salt into the boiling water and then, nine minutes. Eight and a half is better for the perfect yolk. Then the other way is to start with cold water and let [it] boil and go three minutes; that will you give you a perfect set-up yolk. But if you miss it, coming to a boil …

AE: You're screwed.
JB: The safer bet is to start with boiling water and go for eight.

AE: You and Zoi do it the same way, but I'm sure you know that.
JB: [laughs] That's funny.

AE: On The L Word, the sous chef character Lara was mistakenly called a soup chef.
JB: [laughs] Yeah.

AE: Is there such a thing as a soup chef?
JB: No.

AE: I think there should be.
JB: I would make a good soup chef. I love soup. I love to make soup, actually.

AE: What's better when its cold and raw outside?
JB: Seriously. Some ribollita.

AE: Some what?
JB: Ribollita? Ribollita means "reboiled." It's a Tuscan-style soup made of beans and usually a cavolo nero, which is black cabbage, like a kale. You take day-old bread and then throw that in. … It's like a really rich, thick soup that is finished with Tuscan olive oil.

AE: What is your signature dish?
JB: It changes seasonally, but I'd have to say it's a pasta dish where it's coriander, seared ahi tuna with cappellini, dressed with a bottarga vinaigrette, finished with preserved lemon.

AE: Does this dish have a name?
JB: No, not really.

AE: You could call it Pasta à la Beast. And what the hell is bottarga?
JB: Bottarga? All through southern Italy and Sicily, they take tuna roe and salt it, press it and hang it to dry in the sun. It's considered to be one of the great seasoning elements in southern Italian cooking. It has the same quality as anchovy, but it's very distinct.

AE: Food is a big memory trigger — the smells and tastes that instantly take you back to a moment in your life. What brings you back to your childhood?
JB: Salisbury steak. That was my favorite thing my mom would make [for me]. If my mom said, "What do you want to eat for your birthday?" it would definitely be Salisbury steak, smothered in onions and mushrooms. And mashed potatoes.

AE: When you go to a lesbian pot luck, do you make all your friends feel bad about their dishes?
JB: [laughs] I don't go to lesbian pot lucks, but no, I try not to. People are often intimidated to invite me over for dinner, but I'm just thrilled for someone else to cook for me.

AE: That's probably the last thing you want to do after working all day or all night.
JB: Actually, what also happens is people invite you over for dinner and they're actually inviting you over to cook.

AE: Nice!
JB: Yeah, exactly.

Go to interviews with Zoi Antonitsas and Lisa Fernandes.

The fourth season of Top Chef 4 premieres Wednesday, March 12, on Bravo at 10:00 p.m. ET. Look for our Top Chef recaps beginning on Monday.