Chef Jason Cheek’s passion for Southern food began at a young age. Coming from generations of deep-rooted North Carolinian tobacco farmers, he spent most of his childhood on his grandparents’ farm, where dinner was picked from the fields, and whole hogs slow cooked over coals.

In 2007, Jason moved to Boston, landing in the kitchen with renowned chefs and restaurateurs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette at KO Prime. Under their leadership, he learned the art of charcuterie and whole animal butchery, and worked at Boston’s award-winning restaurants, Toro and Coppa. Jason went on to lead operations at both Sam’s and The Maiden, and eventually reunited with Ken and Jamie for the highly acclaimed Little Donkey in Cambridge. He opened his first restaurant, Southern Proper, in Boston’s South End in 2018.