Ed Cotton is the chef and partner of two coveted New York City restaurants, Jack & Charlie’s no. 118 in the West Village and Leonetta in Murray Hill. 

Ed’s culinary journey began after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in ‘98. He moved from his hometown of Boston to Las Vegas to help Chef Todd English open a new location of Olives at the Bellagio Hotel. From there, he moved back to Boston to work as Executive Sous Chef at the award-winning restaurant, No. 9 Park. In 2003, Cotton made the decision to relocate to New York City; for the next ten years, he would work in the kitchens of Michelin-starred Chef Daniel Boulud, Chef Laurent Tourondel, and Chef David Burke. In 2017, Cotton started his own consulting company Ed Cotton Consulting, where he worked on recipe development for many businesses, restaurants, dining concepts, and magazines. Most recently, Cotton served as the Corporate Executive Chef for Tourondel’s hospitality group (LTH), where he oversaw the culinary programs for 12+ restaurants globally.

In addition to his professional career, Cotton was the Sous Chef for Iron Chef Cat Cora on Food Network’s “Iron Chef America”. He also competed on Season 7 of Bravo’s “Top Chef” in Washington D.C., where he came in runner-up at the finals in Singapore. He also competed and won against Bobby Flay on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay”.