Café Johnnie’s Thursday night Jazz Series dinners might seem like a slow step for the restaurant’s new chef, Jessica Cabo.

As a third runner-up on the first season of the FOX television program “Hell’s Kitchen,” Cabo had her share of high-pressure service under the direction of chef Gordon Ramsay, one of the world’s most famously demanding want-it-right, want-it-now master toques.

A self-taught chef, Cabo didn’t mind the heat.

“I can cook,” she said recently, taking a break in Café Johnnie’s tranquil dining room at Cameron Art Museum.

Cabo didn’t win “Hell’s Kitchen,” but Ramsay was impressed with her spunk and drive, and Cabo continued cooking, working for a time with Los Angles hot chef Roy Choi and eventually making her way back to Wilmington.

Years before “Hell’s Kitchen,” the Huntington, N.Y., native spun pizzas at Wilmington’s late Numero Uno pizzeria while she attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the late 1990s. She went on to become a headhunter and a top Yahoo sales rep. Her love of cooking popped up again, Cabo said, when a friend suggested she audition for “Hell’s Kitchen” while Cabo was living in Los Angles.

“I’m a beach girl,” Cabo said of her decision to return to North Carolina. Plus, her mother, Debbie Cabo, lived here.

Today, the pair works together at Café Johnnie crafting Cabo’s fresh, often California-influenced cuisine. Cabo emphasizes local ingredients, including produce from Cottle Organics in Rose Hill. Of late, her dishes have included creamy mushroom soup chunky with assorted mushrooms and beet salad with goat cheese, Cabo’s own spiced pecans and blood orange dressing.

“I don’t braise a lot of meats,” Cabo said.

Thursday night jazz dinner menus have included Cabo’s avocado fries – deep-fried, tempura-style avocado slices – served with chili and roasted tomato salsa, soft tacos with Vietnamese-inspired fillings and crispy oyster lettuce cups with citrus ponzu and jalapeno crème.

The dinners happen in conjunction with Cameron Art Museum and Cape Fear Jazz Society Jazz @ The CAM concert series. The 6-8 p.m. March 7 show features Roger Davis, Nina Repeta and Madafo. The series’ last show, April 4, features Doug Irving Quartet.