Ari Taymor

The Path

Market-forward cooking has been the throughline in Ari Taymor’s work, and in 2026 that approach carried into the role of Executive Chef at Thompson Savannah. The assignment fits a career built on seasonality, discipline, and the habit of letting ingredients set the terms before technique takes over. Technique first arrived through self-teaching, then through an internship at La Chassagnette in Arles, France. Work in the kitchens of Flour + Water in San Francisco, California, Bar Tartine in San Francisco, California, and Plate Shop in Sausalito, California added range, but the center held: restraint, precision, and ingredients kept close to their natural state. Alma in Los Angeles, California (2011–2017) was the shaping chapter. As chef and co-founder, Taymor gave form to ideas that had already been in motion, turning improvisation into a more articulated kitchen language. That period placed his work inside the wider conversation around contemporary California cooking. Consulting extended that language beyond a single dining room, with work as Chef Consultant at Standard Hotels and Creative Consultant at Ace Hotels. A later role as Executive Chef at Southbound Hospitality Group in Miami, Florida carried the same broad vocabulary into a different setting.

The Work Today

Born in Hawai'i and raised in Palo Alto, California, Ari Taymor leads the kitchen at Thompson Savannah. Market-forward cuisine remains the useful shorthand: cooking that tracks freshness, season, and immediate condition rather than forcing ingredients into a fixed script.

Signature

Broken beets and apples, hazelnuts, malt and anise is the clearest statement of Taymor’s plate language. The dish pulls in earth, fruit, and spice without losing control of the frame; it moves across texture and flavor while staying legible.

In Their Words “It's really about putting flavors and textures and temperatures together in a way that's inspired by memory, or is perhaps something that I want to say.”

Acclaim

Ari Taymor has received Bon Appétit — Best New Restaurant in America (2013). Best New Chef (2013), Best New Restaurant in America, and Rising Star Chef nominee are the honors attached to Ari Taymor. Read together, they mark a career that drew notice early and kept earning it as the work expanded from Alma into consulting and later leadership roles.