Justin Tootla

Bloomfield Hills native and chef Justin Tootla appears on Season 23 of Bravo’s award-winning culinary competition series “Top Chef,” which takes place in the Carolinas. This season launched in March and will conclude in June.

Tootla fondly remembers an “idyllic childhood” growing up next to Cranbrook Schools campus. “It was an amazing place to grow up…I was born in the ‘80s and grew up in the ‘90s, so the last generation to leave the house in the morning and come home at night having spent the day outside exploring and in the woods.”

He explained that during his upbringing, he was exposed to both typical midwestern dishes like meatloaf and “killer strawberry shortcake” through his mother, and Indian South African food through his immigrant father and aunts.

Considering his current culinary career, he reflected: “My aunties and uncles lived closed by, and we would go to their houses where my aunties would make from scratch food…Many of my relatives have passed and I wish I would have recorded their recipes.”

He added, “Food was immigrants’ connection to their culture.”

Tootla attended Detroit Country Day School and transferred to Andover High School. In high school, he worked flipping burgers at legendary Hunter House. After graduation, he moved to the Seattle area where he earned a B.A. in Fine Arts at Northwest College of Art & Design.

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I began to see that being a painter was not a career path for me as it was very personal –I felt like people were reading my diary,” he admitted.

As a lifelong camper and outdoor enthusiast, he decided to pursue a career as an outdoor instructor instead, traveling throughout the U.S. and internationally while working in restaurants during off seasons.

It was only after breaking his leg and spending three months in a cast recovering at his family’s Beulah cabin “starring at the ceiling” that Tootla said he came to the realization that he had a love for cooking and wanted to pursue a culinary career.

Enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America, he met his life partner Jennifer Lee Jackson. After graduating, the couple worked in various acclaimed restaurants throughout the country before moving to Michigan in 2017 and opening Voyager, a celebrated seafood-focused restaurant in Ferndale. Three years later during the pandemic they launched Bunny Bunny in Detroit’s Eastern Market which honored Justin’s Indian and South African roots as well as Jackson's American Southern upbringing.

Currently, they work as culinary consultants zigzagging the country and consider Leelanau their home base. “Michigan is always home…We absolutely love Detroit and hope to find our way back.”

As for “Top Chef,” the longtime couple have become the first life partners to compete against each other in the series. The show features 15 premier chefs competing for a grand prize of $250,000, among other perks.

The Michigander has become memorable this season not only for his good nature and creative culinary skills but also as the only chef who regularly wears shorts in the kitchen: “If it’s over 30 and sunny, I’m wearing shorts – my legs don’t get cold.”

“’Top Chef’ has been an amazing and incredibly difficult experience. A lot goes on behind the scenes. It’s a challenge as a chef and a human being. It requires patience and perseverance – all while the clock is ticking,” the chef said.

As for the other cheftestants: “We all got along and uplifted and supported each other through the process…It is representative of where we are as an industry. We still have a group [text] thread and check on each other every day.”

For those considering a career in the culinary arts world, Tootla advised: “It’s an incredibly difficult business to be in…Work on the fundamentals – I still work as a line cook everyday putting things in a pan and taking things out of a pan. Knowledge goes a long way.”

Story: Tracy Donohue

Photo: Paul Cheney/Bravo