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Our Story

Paul Fehribach and Mark Armantrout founded Big Jones in 2008 to bring honest Southern cuisine to Chicago. With a focus on the right ingredients with the best flavor, Chef Fehribach sources heavily from independent local farms and small producers in the American South. To put the truly unique flavors of the South on your table, everything is made in-house from the pantry to charcuterie and bakery. It’s a lot of work, but when you walk through our door the ultimate goal is to show you a good time.

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Paul Fehribach
Executive Chef

Paul Fehribach was born and raised in the rolling wooded hills of Southern Indiana, and learned to hunt, fish, and find wild foods from an early age. Ample time spent on the family farms of relatives together with the woodland backdrop instilled a keen palate in Him, reflected in the big, clean flavors he puts on the table along with a heated passion for true seasonal cooking.


Paul Fehribach is an eight-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes.

Books by Paul Fehribach

  • The Big Jones Cookbook

    Recipes for Savoring the Heritage of Regional Southern Cooking


    Paul's first book from 2015, with recipes from the first decade of Big Jones

Paul's hit new book: Midwestern Food

  • Chicago's WTTW

    Watch this 5 minute interview with Paul on Chicago's public television

Read all the rave reviews of Midwestern Food

  • WTTW article

    'More than casseroles and cheese'

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Rey Reyna
Chef de Cuisine

Rey Reyna was born and raised on a small family farm near Tlapotepec, Guerrero in Southern Mexico. The daily exposure to the freshest food gifted Rey a sharp palate and a taste for real home-grown food. During his illustrious career in the Chicago restaurant community before leading the daily kitchen operations at Big Jones, Rey refined his craft at Big Star, Longman and Eagle, and Tzuco. His time with some of Chicago’s best restaurants prepared him to become one of the city’s most underrated chefs.

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Zachary Chamberlin
Sous Chef

Zachary Chamberlin graduated from Columbia College with a degree in musical theatre, and then switched gears by coming back to his true love- cooking. Recently he has worked in the kitchens of Chato’s in Pilsen and Drawl in Lincoln Park, where he got to expand his knowledge and love of Southern cuisine. It’s that love and knowledge that Zac now puts into every dish at Big Jones, where he has worked for three years.

Zac lives in Andersonville with his wife Hannah and cat Maggie, and loves playing Dungeons and Dragons weekly in his free time.

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Blake Davy
General Manager

Blake’s time in some of Chicago’s top restaurants revealed his passion for food advocacy. This led him to work closely with culinary education foundations such as The Trotter Project, and The James Beard Foundation, and eventually to an MA program in Food Policy/Agricultural Legislation at NYU. He has been a long time admirer of Big Jones’ sustainability practices and is excited to be returning to Chicago’s restaurant industry as Service Director/GM of Big Jones