The Detroit restaurant industry lost one of its foremost chefs Saturday.

Jason Osburn, who was the executive chef at Otus Supply in Ferndale, died unexpectedly at age 45. The cause of death was not immediately confirmed.

“Not only a brilliant and ever-curious culinary mind, Chef was always eager to listen, teach and share,” Otus Supply wrote in a Facebook post thanking its customers for their condolences. “His wit, camaraderie and sense of community will undoubtedly be his lasting legacy.”

Osburn made a name for himself in the city’s food scene as an expert in all things fermentation, brewery and food sustainability, often employing traditional techniques coupled with modern twists in his dishes. He hosted pop-up dinners, called Felony Provisions, where he was able to employ his farm-to-table philosophy.

“He was an encyclopedia of culinary knowledge,” said Cody Wiseley, who started an Ann Arbor chef’s collaborative coalition with Osburn. “He was always sharing his knowledge. Someone once said that Jason’s forgotten more about cooking than most of us know to begin with.”

One of the founders of Otus Supply, Thom Bloom, said he started following Osburn through his Felony Provisions series before the pair agreed to begin working together in June. 

“(Osburn) was an amazingly passionate guy, he loves the craft and he loves the people,” Bloom said. “He had a keen sense for all that went into it, from butchery to the science and chemistry behind it. We were excited to have him at Outs, he enhanced what we were doing. The current menu is really about (Osburn).”

Before working as a professional chef, Osburn started MiCraftBeerCulture, an online publication dedicated to beer and food around the state. He wrote pieces highlighting breweries, hops farms and tasting rooms.

In a 2016 interview with Stir the Pots, started by New York chef Jeremy Shapiro as a space to speak to chefs about the dramas of the kitchen, Osburn said it was the communal aspect of food that attracted him to the industry.

“I appreciated that everyone came together over food,” he said in the interview. “Differences were set aside and guards were let down and people genuinely enjoyed themselves and their company. When the food was exceptional, there was no longer room for novelty.”

Wiseley said Osburn was among the best in the city, “I put him in a tier with (Doug) Hewitt from Chartreuse and Brad (Greenhill) from Takoi.”

“While the restaurants he worked at may not have been recognized for the cuisine that was being prepared, he was kind of a sleeper and underrated, he was really pushing the envelope with being one of — if not the — most knowledgeable person on fermentation and charcuterie,” Wiseley said.

Marrow, a James Beard Award-nominated whole animal butcher shop and restaurant hybrid in Detroit, took to Facebook to offer its condolences.

“If you cared about meat, or people, or food, then you probably know the huge influence this man had,” the post read. “He was deeply invested in the lives of those who surrounded him. He was an educator, a mentor, a friend and a pioneer. The loss of his mind and passion in the culinary community of Detroit (and beyond) is immeasurable.”

As well as Otus Supply, Osburn worked briefly at Axle Brewing and opened Gold Cash Gold with chef Brendon Edwards where he was the sous chef. He was active in Facebook groups across Michigan where he often answered questions or corrected his fellow chefs, Wiseley said.

More: Gold Cash Gold closes its doors due to multiple factors

Beyond the kitchen, Osburn was a devoted father and well-versed music fan, with his Facebook page littered with music links and lyrics, ranging from Etta Jones’ “Till There Was You” to Uncle Lucius’ “Keep the Wolves Away.”

Osburn initially worked in event marketing after college, according to his interview with Stir the Pots, before pursuing the culinary arts, working in various restaurants before growing frustrated of “reheating Sysco food” and “powdered hollandaise.”

All of that changed when he met Josh Stockton of Gold Cash Gold, when he was inspired by the thought of making the type of food he’d dreamed of, utilizing whole animals and innovative preservation techniques. From there, he catapulted into the Detroit food scene.

“I don’t think of myself as a chef or a cook or a ‘fermenter,’ I’m just someone who likes to play with their food,” he said in 2016. “In all honesty, I don’t take myself all that seriously. I don’t think most chefs should. We aren’t inventing cuisine, we aren’t discovering fermentation. We are simply reconnecting to processes and methodology that’s been forgotten or ignored or that the public has been intentionally misled about to profit someone somewhere. In a way, we’re storytellers.”

Contact Miriam Marini: mmarini@gannett.com.

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