South Florida Michelin-star chef, formerly of 42 grams in Chicago, charged with second violent domestic assault

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

WEST PALM BEACH — A renowned Michelin-star chef based in South Florida with former ties to Chicago is charged with a brutal assault on a woman that left her in critical condition with bleeding in her brain.
Jacob Bickelhaupt, 41, a co-founder of Konro in West Palm Beach, had a well-known history of domestic violence. He had pleaded guilty in 2017 to attacking his ex-wife and business partner in Chicago, leading to widespread public backlash across the city and the closure of his Michelin-starred restaurant 42 Grams.
But Bickelhaupt's career bounced back after his move to South Florida, where he earned another Michelin star and where, he told the Sun Sentinel in 2022, he was working on himself and making 'amends' for his past behavior.
42 grams chef battered his ex-wife. Now he has filed a $250,000 defamation lawsuit against her.Now, the chef is charged with another violent domestic assault that left a woman in the intensive care unit in need of emergency surgery. He faces felony counts of aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability and battery causing bodily harm.
The victim, who also worked with Bickelhaupt, had collapsed while having a seizure at a Palm Beach International airport ticket counter as she was trying to purchase a flight to Denver, Colo., according to a probable cause affidavit.
Had she gotten on the flight, doctors later told her family, she would probably have died.
'They caught her in the nick of time,' her sister said.
Paramedics rushed her to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she told Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies that she had been in a car accident.
But medical staff told deputies that the woman's injuries were not consistent with a car accident. She had two blackened eyes, facial swelling, bruising from shoulders to wrists, and a subdural hematoma requiring emergency surgery, according to the affidavit. Eventually, she gave a sworn statement to police, where she said that Bickelhaupt had attacked her for two hours as she tried to escape.
The attack had begun when she approached him, asleep, on the couch in the early hours of the morning, trying to get him to come to bed, she said, according to the affidavit. They began to argue, and she went back to the bedroom. He followed her, then began to punch her in the face and kick her, causing her to fall to the floor. When she tried to crawl away, he continued to attack her.
When West Palm Beach Police officers visited the victim's home later, they found blood splatter in multiple rooms, on bedding, walls, and furniture, according to the arrest report.
When the attack was over, the victim managed to get a rideshare to the airport, where she planned to return to Denver, where she had grown up.
At the hospital, the woman immediately identified Bickelhaupt as her attacker, but was unable to write her own name or sign the paper because of her 'physical condition rapidly deteriorating,' according to the affidavit. She required emergency surgery for the brain bleed and had an irregular heartbeat.
Bickelhaupt was taken into custody the same day. He invoked his Miranda rights and requested his attorney when approached by police.
Following a court appearance on June 3, Bickelhaupt was found indigent and granted a public defender. His bond was set at $90,000 along with a no-contact order with the victim, GPS monitoring, and a no-weapons order. He remained in the Palm Beach County jail as of Wednesday afternoon, according to inmate records.
Bickelhaupt had initially gained fame with the Chicago-based restaurant 42 Grams, which earned two Michelin stars. Then, exactly eight years ago on June 4, 2017, he was charged with drunkenly attacking his ex-wife, Alexa Welsh, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground, then striking her with a glass bottle of sparking water. Her injuries required staples, according to Eater Chicago.
'Violence is a cycle. How does the saying go?' Welsh told the Sun Sentinel on Wednesday. ''Those who do not learn history …' I sent [the victim] a message of support. I hope she's able to make a full recovery.'
Court documents reveal domestic violence past of 42 Grams chefBickelhaupt was arrested in the 2017 attack on a charge of domestic battery, which was then downgraded to simple battery, to which he pleaded guilty. He was released a month later.
'What I did was a very situational, passionate, alcoholic long story,' he told the Sun Sentinel for a profile in 2022. 'It was horrible, and it never should have happened, and what I did was 100 percent wrong. And that's why I'm trying to make amends to all that stuff. I'm going to live with what I did forever. I punish myself more than anyone else can punish me, I promise you that.'
After the attack and the ensuing backlash, he moved to West Palm Beach in 2022 and co-founded Konro, which earned its own Michelin star in 2025.
In response to questions about Bickelhaupt, Michelin said in a statement Wednesday that it 'firmly condemns all acts of violence, aggression and harassment, which violate fundamental human rights and severely impinge on the values of an entire profession. Since its inception in 1900, The MICHELIN Guide's purpose has been to provide consumers with dining recommendations enabling them to enjoy high-quality food and drink. Above all, the Guide recognizes collective achievement by awarding distinctions to restaurants rather than to chefs.'
Asked whether Bickelhaupt would have his star for Konro removed, the organization said 'MICHELIN Stars are annual distinctions and therefore our Inspectors revisit the restaurants annually. At this time, Konro has been listed as temporarily closed on our website as we update all restaurants in real-time.'