Jason Tuley

The Path

Jason Tuley trained at Knife & Barrel before stepping into a string of polished leadership roles that traced a steady rise through Northern California dining. That early training formed the backbone of a career that would soon carry him through some of the region’s more exacting kitchens, where his titles reflected not only responsibility but trust. He served as Executive Chef and owner at Anchor Woodfire Kitchen in Santa Barbara, CA, bringing together the rigor of ownership and the day-to-day discipline of the pass. From there, his path continued north and inward, to Executive Chef at TBD in San Francisco, CA and Executive Chef at Gitane in San Francisco, CA (until 2016), before taking the helm as Executive Chef at Picco in Larkspur, CA (until 2016). Each stop along the way added a new layer to a career shaped by movement, refinement, and the steady accumulation of experience. The progression reads less like a series of isolated posts than like one long conversation between chef, kitchen, and place—an evolving practice anchored in leadership. More recently, he brought his experience to Parlour Restaurant Group in Oakland, CA as Consulting Chef (2023), extending the same seasoned perspective into a different kind of role, one that suggests both flexibility and earned perspective.

The Work Today

La Ancla, his Mexican pop-up concept at Anchor Woodfire Kitchen, had been written for over a year and was built around locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients. The idea carried the texture of long-held intention: something imagined carefully, then brought into view with patience and purpose. At Anchor Woodfire Kitchen, the concept offered a more personal expression of Tuley’s culinary voice, one that leaned into freshness and the clean immediacy of ingredients at their best. Of the project, he said, "This is what I’ve always wanted." The line lands with the simplicity of a chef speaking not in slogans, but in fulfillment.

Signature

Signature dishes include La Ancla. The name itself evokes the concept’s identity, a signpost for the work that Tuley has made central to this chapter of his career.

In Their Words “As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to open a small taquería using locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients.” “This is what I’ve always wanted.” Taken together, these words sketch a throughline between ambition and realization: a long-held desire for something intimate, ingredient-driven, and deliberately rooted in the farm-fresh.

Acclaim

His work has included ownership, Executive Chef leadership, and culinary direction. In that span, Tuley has moved fluidly among the responsibilities of building, guiding, and shaping kitchens, with each role reinforcing the breadth of his experience and the consistency of his trajectory.