A native of Fairfax, Virginia, Jack’s cooking career began with a middle school job at Subway. After cooking in Virginia and DC, he moved to New York at the age of 23, landing his fist job in the city at Babbo. He worked there for two years before leaving to help open Manzo at Eataly. He then left Manzo to be part of the opening kitchen team at Perla and has been at the restaurant since, first as a Chef de Cuisine and then becoming the Executive Chef in 2015. In his down time, Jack loves watching Redskins games and scouring the city for the best local sushi.

Originally from Dudley, MA, Lindsey started baking with her mom as soon as she could reach the counter. Having realized her passion for cooking early on, she attended the Culinary Institute of America where she studied culinary arts. Years later, she returned to take baking classes. After working in a country club outside of Boston, Lindsey moved to New York City to pursue pastry full-time. She worked at Bar Breton for two years, and then oversaw pastry production at Dean & Deluca. From there she landed at Jeffrey’s Grocery and Joseph Leonard, our sister restaurants just on the other side of 7th Avenue, as Pastry Chef. In the winter of 2016, she was made Pastry Chef at Perla cafe as well. Lindsey loves to knit and crochet when she has time, and her favorite artist is Kandinsky.

James was born in New Mexico and grew up outside of Detroit. At 16, he moved to Germany for a year and then returned to attend college in Michigan where he also started working in restaurants as a dishwasher. He eventually ended up at a busy Ann Arbor sandwich shop called Afternoon Delight where the energy and sense of team work got him hooked on the restaurant business. He worked his way up to a manager and then moved to a local bistro where he began to develop his knowledge about wine. In the early 2000s, he moved to Brooklyn when the culinary scene there was taking off. James landed at Saul, Brooklyn's first Michelin-starred restaurant, where he was immersed in serious farm to table food culture. In 2004, he moved to the newly opened Per Se where he worked for ten years as a captain, sommelier and manager. James then spent some time in Detroit and Chicago before returning to NYC to join the Perla team. James' first pets were a pair of goldfish, Dirty Harry and Mata Hari, and he is a certified scuba instructor.