Jonathan Pridgen
Locust | Nashville TN
July 2026
Jonathan Pridgen always believed he'd have a career anchored by passion. But it wasn't until he took a break from his career in the music business to stage at Porter Road Butcher in Nashville, Tennessee in 2013, that he realized he was more passionate about meat than melodies. Looking for inspiration, Pridgen went to dinner at The Catbird Seat, where a conversation with Chef Trevor Moran led to a friendship and a job. At Chef James Peisker's recommendation, Pridgen skipped culinary school and spent the next three years at The Catbird Seat, picking up skills across every station, from sausage making to pastry.
Rising Stars alum Ryan Poli advised Pridgen to build more traditional technique, so in 2017, he joined Cúrate in Asheville, North Carolina under Rising Stars alumni Katie Button and Felix Meana. His interest in whole animal butchery deepened at the Spanish tapas bar, and in 2022 they sent him to Spain to study charcuterie firsthand. He staged at Disfrutar in Barcelona, spent time at a local butcher shop and charcuterie company, then moved on to Ultramarinos Marín to gain experience working with fish.
In 2024, Pridgen returned to Nashville and joined the Locust team as a research and development specialist, reuniting with Moran and building the restaurant's charcuterie program. He defines his approach as technically intense in service of deceptively simple results, seen in items like his unctuous tuna salami. He is working toward his own brick-and-mortar, but in the meantime spreads his knowledge to anyone with genuine passion and an honest interest in charcuterie.
