Forty years of cooking in the Tidewater, Virginia area has culminated in the award-winning Todd Jurich’s Bistro in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. Mostly a self-made chef, Todd Jurich has been cooking professionally since 1976. He attended The Lausanne School of Cooking in Lausanne, Switzerland and The Thai Cooking School at The Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
Todd was cooking in his own venue, “The Iron Gate House” in Virginia Beach by 1983, when he won his first of now twenty local Portfolio “Golden Fork” Awards. Todd’s previous award-winning restaurants also include “Crawdaddy’s,” “The Coyote Café” and “Menus”, all in Virginia Beach.
In 1991, Joan Lang said in Restaurant Business, “It’s one thing to take daring culinary risks in a cosmopolitan town like Washington or New York, but it’s quite another to follow your muse in a place like Virginia Beach."
Since opening Todd Jurich’s Bistro in 1992, the restaurant has been a cornerstone in the revival of downtown Norfolk, Virginia. It features a seasonal menu with the very best of the Chesapeake Bay region including heirloom vegetable gardens and products from small producers from all over the state of Virginia, as well as the expanding global market.
In 1998, Todd hosted a dinner at The James Beard Foundation in New York City where local New Yorkers found that Norfolk was no culinary backwater. He returned in 2006 for an encore.
The restaurant has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Restaurant Business, Nation’s Restaurant News, Southern Living, Food and Wine, and Travel and Leisure Magazines.
After a visit in 1999, R.W. Apple Jr. said in The New York Times, “Norfolk’s standout, Mr. Jurich is a wizard with Eastern Shore shellfish.” Also in 1999 Todd Jurich’s Bistro was featured on the show, “Dining Around” on the Television Food Network.
The restaurant has received “The Wine Spectator Award of Excellence” since 1998. Sante Magazine in 2002 and 2003 awarded “The Best Wine Dinner Menu Southeast” citing, “Todd Jurich’s Bistro, whose extensive wine dinners prove their commitment to special events menus, boasts a unique concept that flows with the menu and purchasing in the region.” The Bistro also holds the Triple AAA Four Diamond Award for 2002 through 2006.
Todd Jurich is a member of The James Beard Foundation, The International Association of Culinary Professionals, and The Council of Independent Restaurants Association.
