Savoring Success: Chef Jernard Dishes On ‘New Soul…
Chef Jernard Wells has taken viewers into kitchens across the nation, but now he’s savoring the success of bringing his culinary craftsmanship from the screen to the desk.
Source: Derek White / Getty
The celeb chef and host lately celebrated the grand opening of Cornbread & Butter alongside TV One, CLEO TV and Powerhouse Productions during a brunch centered on Black excellence, food and tv. The gathering marked three milestones: the C+B restaurant’s opening, the wrap of New Soul Kitchen and the 2026 Daytime Emmy nomination for Savor the City.
For Wells, the celebration represented years of building both on and off screen.
“Listen, I’m feeling so overjoyed, just feeling blessed, happy, and humble all at the same time,” Wells told BOSSIP’s very own Lauryn Bass. “You know, this is what it’s really about. We went out on a journey to tell the story of so many others, and look what we ended up gaining in return. Yes, Emmy nomination, baby. I’m loving it.”
From The Screen To The Table, Chef Jernard Is Serving His Story
Viewers who have watched Wells cook on New Soul Kitchen or journey in search of Black culinary tales on Savor the City can now expertise another facet of that journey in individual.
Cornbread & Butter brings Wells’ influences under one roof, combining acquainted Southern flavors with the techniques and inspiration he has collected throughout his profession.
“I took all those flavors of my heritage and put it under Cornbread and Butter, and the joy is to share with the world,” Wells said.
He desires diners to assume “upscale American cuisine” when they hear the restaurant’s title, and the opening brunch supplied a sensory introduction to what that means.
Blue tones brighten the eating room, while trendy bar particulars, assertion lighting, and indoor-outdoor seating create a polished but snug environment. The restaurant feels refined without requiring formality, permitting the food to stay the centerpiece of the expertise.
Guests sampled smoked Gouda shrimp and grits topped with Creole barbecue shrimp, rosemary and mint lamb chops, Thai chili inexperienced beans, and smoked Gouda macaroni and cheese.
The peach chicken and waffles reworked another Southern staple. Sweet tea-marinated chicken delivered a savory chew with a contact of sweetness, while peaches added moisture and taste to the waffles. A crispy cauliflower dish supplied a lighter option with a savory crust and accompanying sauce, demonstrating how the menu can accommodate different tastes while sustaining its Southern affect.
Wells’ choice to construct the restaurant in Grayson also brings his bigger culinary imaginative and prescient back to the group he calls home.
“I fell in love with the community,” Wells said of transferring to the world 13 years in the past. “Even while traveling everywhere else in the world, when I would come back home flying in to ATL Airport, shout out to Atlanta, of course; I want to be a legacy here, and that’s when I started building Cornbread and Butter, almost two years ago.”
The end result offers diners outdoors central Atlanta another option for an elevated brunch or dinner expertise while giving Wells a everlasting place to serve the flavors audiences have watched him explore on tv.
‘Savor The City’ Becomes A Love Letter To Black Culinary Culture
The celebration stretched past the restaurant.
Savor the City earned a 2026 Daytime Emmy nomination after taking viewers around the nation to explore Black culinary traditions, companies and communities.
Sonia Armstead, co-founder of Powerhouse Productions with Rochelle Brown, said the popularity carries explicit weight because the impartial manufacturing company developed the project from the ground up.
“This is the first time that something we have worked on from scratch, you know, pardon the pun, because we’ve worked on this from scratch, and to see it come to fruition, and to tour, and to show off America, a lot of our culture, and our history,” Armstead said.
For Armstead, locations such as Napa Valley demonstrated an important half of the show’s mission: highlighting Black life, companies and culinary affect in locations where audiences might not immediately assume to look.
“Our whole culture and history is everywhere,” she said. “Our stories are, are, like, embedded with our history, and it’s, they’re popping up all over. So it’s a great feeling, a great, great feeling.”
Michelle Rice, president of TV One and CLEO TV, described the nomination as recognition not only for the networks and manufacturing staff, but for the eating places, cooks and business homeowners showcased throughout the collection.
“It really was a love letter to Black culture for us, going around the country and, you know, really exploring Black culinary excellence,” Rice said. “Black businesses that are for us, by us.”
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nominated Savor the City for Outstanding Culinary Cultural Series alongside America The Bountiful, Best Ever Food Review Show, Fork & Hammer and Lucky Chow.
‘New Soul Kitchen’ Keeps Family Recipes And Stories At The Table
That celebration of tradition also carries into New Soul Kitchen, which Armstead said attracts from Wells’ household historical past as a lot as his formal culinary training.
Armstead hopes the collection encourages viewers to protect the conversations, recollections and recipes that can simply disappear when households stop gathering around the desk.
“You gotta pass on those stories, you gotta pass on those recipes,” she said. “I’m hoping that people sit down and make a reconnection with people they love at the dinner table. Even when we’re on the run, just make a connection.”
Rice echoed that sentiment, pointing to the accessibility of Wells’ recipes and the cultural historical past behind meals viewers might contemplate merely American staples.
“Our food is American food,” Rice said. “We were working in the kitchens, we brought all this amazing food over from Africa … and we have made our food American food.”
For Rice, creating a home for those tales stays central to TV One and CLEO TV’s mission.
She recalled a lesson from Urban One founder Cathy Hughes that continues to form her method to the work.
“We cannot rely on other people to tell our stories,” Rice said. “Not only can we not allow other people to tell our stories, but we cannot depend on them to get our stories right.”
Chef Jernard Says The Win Belongs To Everyone Who Bet On The Vision
As Wells celebrated the restaurant, tv milestones and the people behind them, he repeatedly returned to the group that helped make each attainable.
Source: CLEO TV & TV One / TV One, CLEO TV
He credited his viewers as nicely as his longtime relationships with TV One, Urban One, CLEO TV and Powerhouse Productions, notably Brown and Armstead.
“When you see what you see on TV and you see me, just know it’s a strong force behind,” Wells said of the Powerhouse Productions founders.
For anybody watching his journey while ready for their own alternative, Wells supplied a reminder rooted in the persistence that took him from Mississippi to tv screens, worldwide journey and now his own restaurant.
“Dare to dream, dare to believe, and dare to do what others won’t do,” Wells said.
Cornbread & Butter now brings many of those threads together: household recipes, Black culinary historical past, tv storytelling, entrepreneurship and group.
“That even makes me feel good when somebody bet on you and win,” Wells said. “When the house wins, everybody wins.”
Viewers can catch Savor the City through CLEO TV and comply with the Daytime Emmy Awards as the staff awaits the winner of Outstanding Culinary Cultural Series.
Those prepared to expertise Wells’ food past the screen can go to Cornbread & Butter at 2132 Britt Street, Suite 205, in Grayson, Georgia.
The post Savoring Success: Chef Jernard Dishes On ‘New Soul Kitchen,’ Cornbread & Butter & His ‘Savor The City’ Emmy Nomination appeared first on GWN.
