Chef and Owner

Bill Taibe

Chef and Owner, Kawa Ni

Discipline: Chef and Owner
Venue: Kawa Ni · Restaurant

Portrait of Bill Taibe

i. Biography

Bill Taibe’s work in restaurants is built on the discipline of ownership and operation: pacing, mood, service, and the small systems that make a room hold together. Across Kawa Ni in Westport, Connecticut and Denver, Colorado, that approach has stayed consistent. The result is a body of work defined less by spectacle than by control, continuity, and the ability to make a dining room function with purpose.

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The Climb

A long operating arc is the clearest way to read this career. Bill Taibe’s early years as owner and operator at The Whelk in Westport, CT (2012–2025) and owner and operator at Don Memo in Westport, CT (2020–2025) established a practice centered on direct involvement and a steady point of view. Those roles fixed the terms of his work: menu shape, room feel, and the consistency that lets a restaurant settle into itself over time. From there, the work expanded without losing its center. LeFarm (since 2009), Kawa Ni (since 2014), Jesup Hall (since 2019), and Kawa Ni Denver (since 2025) extend the same operating logic across multiple addresses. Each opening adds another layer to a Westport-based career that has been assembled incrementally, with longevity doing as much work as any single launch.

Today

Bill Taibe’s current role as owner and operator of Kawa Ni in Westport, Connecticut, and Denver, Colorado, is a practical one: keeping rooms moving, aligned, and presentable at the same time. The work is less about a single identity than about maintaining standards across locations, with the daily demands of hospitality carrying equal weight in each. That continuity is the point. The present tense of the business reflects the same operating temperament that shaped the earlier chapters: keep the place running, keep the experience coherent, and let the work show in the room before it shows anywhere else.

Career - owner and operator — LeFarm, Westport, CT (2009–present) - owner and operator — Kawa Ni, Westport, CT (2014–present) - owner and operator — Jesup Hall, Westport, CT (2019–present) - owner and operator — Kawa Ni Denver, CO (2025–present) - owner and operator — The Whelk, Westport, CT (2012–2025) - owner and operator — Don Memo, Westport, CT (2020–2025)

In Their Words “I feel that we approach food and kitchens the same way; organized, passionately, and effectively which makes it enjoyable to work together.”

Recognition

Bill Taibe has received James Beard Foundation, Best Chefs (2011). Bill's honors include Semifinalist, Best Chefs (2011). Bill Taibe is a chef-restaurateur associated with Kawa Ni, the Japanese izakaya concept he opened in Westport in 2014 and later expanded to Denver in 2023. The Japanese izakaya concept he opened in Westport in 2014 and later expanded to Denver in 2023. he opened in Westport in 2014 and later expanded to Denver in 2023.

FAQ What is Bill Taibe's current role? Bill Taibe is owner and operator. Where did Bill Taibe work before? Bill Taibe's earlier career included The Whelk and Don Memo. What recognition has Bill Taibe received? Semifinalist, Best Chefs (2011).