Jennie Kelley is a founding member of Polyphonic Spree, a reality TV survivor (MasterChef season 2), and creator/co-chef at frank, an underground restaurant in Dallas.
What was the food highlight of your year?
Well, this one is hard as I travel a ton with the band and am fortunate to eat at lots of yummy restaurants across the globe. But my highlight had to be dining at The Aviary in Chicago. Chef Andrew Brochu is always creating unique and awesome bites from a surprise-filled cracker jack bag to an inspired foie gras snickers bar.
What was the music highlight of your year?
I'm gonna have to go with touring with Sarah Jaffe. She's a label mate of ours, we're both on Kirtland Records, and her band toured with us this past Summer. She and her whole group are killer and it felt like summer camp was over when the tour ended. Her latest album is on repeat at my loft and she is just as great live as she is in person.
Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?
Yes! We were on tour and we had a show in Paris but we were staying in Brussels for a few days... we had this amazing old chateau we were all living in. Our host took me to the store and let me buy whatever would be great for dinner and that night I cooked, with a little help from my friends, this amazing dinner in a field in the middle of nowhere Brussels with goat and sheep walking around and all of us feeling like we were in a movie. It was a night to remember. Oh, and the food was killer.