the Row 34 Cookbook
Author: Jeremy Sewall
Publisher: Rizzoli
Publication Date: October 12, 2021
Jeremy Sewall may have been born in upstate New York, but he’s had the heart of a true New Englander since spending summers in Maine as a child. There he and his family feasted on lobsters, clams and other classic New England specialties. The water has played a large role in his lineage; fishing has been a Sewall family livelihood for generations. Today, Jeremy sources lobsters for all of his restaurants from his cousin Mark Sewall, who captains his 38-foot boat out of York Harbor, Maine.
Sewall started his culinary training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He began his professional career in Maine at the AAA Five Diamond White Barn Inn. Seeking adventure, he moved to Europe where he worked for French restaurateur Albert Roux in London and Amsterdam. Returning to Boston, he accepted a position at the famed Back Bay institution, L’Espalier, where he also met a charming and beautiful pastry chef, Lisa, who later became his wife.
Jeremy and Lisa moved to San Francisco where he spent five years as the Chef of the Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur, California. During his time there, Jeremy was one of five chefs in the country nominated as a Rising Star Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 2000.
In 2003, Jeremy moved back to New England with a baby boy in tow and opened Great Bay restaurant where he garnered accolades from The New York Times, Esquire and Gourmet, among others. In February 2006, Jeremy and Lisa followed their dream of opening their own neighborhood restaurant, Lineage in Brookline, MA. A working wood-burning oven, their appreciation for fresh ingredients, and Jeremy’s authentic approach to modern American cuisine helped shape its market-driven menu. The restaurant served its last meal to its devoted following in 2016 so that the Sewall’s could focus on their family and other projects.
Building on the success of Lineage, Jeremy opened Island Creek Oyster Bar in Boston’s Kenmore Square in 2010. In 2013, he and his partners opened an approachable beer and oyster bar, Row 34, in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood to much acclaim. A second Row 34 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire soon followed, as well as a second Island Creek Oyster Bar in Burlington, MA. At the helm of the restaurants, he garnered many awards both locally and nationally – from Saveur, Zagat, Boston magazine, Bon Appetit, GQ and many more. Sewall has appeared on PBS’s hit show Simply Ming, Bravo’s Top Chef and The Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay.
In 2021, after a successful decade in business together that gave rise to the conception of four revolutionary restaurants, Chef Sewall separated from his business partners, becoming the steward of the restaurants alongside Managing Partner Shore Gregory. The pandemic forced Boston’s Island Creek Oyster Bar to close permanently, and the Burlington location transformed into a Row 34, becoming the brand’s third outpost.
Jeremy released his first cookbook, James Beard Award nominated The New England Kitchen: Fresh Takes on Seasonal Recipes, with co-author Erin Byers Murray in 2014. He then co-authored a second book in 2016, Oysters: A Celebration in the Raw, with Marion Swaybill; the book presents a wide-ranging visual exploration of the iconic shellfish. Sewall partnered with Erin Byers Murray again in 2021 to release The Row 34 Cookbook.
Getting back to his fisherman roots, Sewall partnered with the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Sea Grant to farm Steelhead Trout in 2018. The program houses thousands of fish in a prototype IMTA (integrated multi-trophic aquaculture) system that floats in the open ocean just off the coast of New Castle, New Hampshire. This system also houses seaweed and mussels which mitigate the impact of the farm on the ocean.
Jeremy heavily supports the Friends of Dana Farber Organization, raising more than $1.25 million year to date. One of his greatest joys is teaching and mentoring culinary students at Boston’s Pine Street Inn and the Culinary Arts Program at Boston University alongside the incomparable Jacques Pepin. As an active alumni and Fellow at the Culinary Institute of America, Sewall founded the Corky Clark Scholarship Fund. Dedicated to the CIA and culinary education, Jeremy sits on the Advisory Board where he works to bring real kitchen experience to the culinary curriculum.
Through Sewall’s restaurants, books, and teaching he is truly dedicated to celebrating the diversity of New England seafood and the passion of the people who bring it to us. For Chef Jeremy Sewall, it’s in his blood.