Jerry Traunfeld

The Path

Jerry Traunfeld’s career is built in stages: formal schooling, pastry work, hotel leadership, then long runs inside restaurants of his own. He trained at California Culinary Academy before taking the pastry chef post at Jeremiah Tower's Stars in San Francisco, where the work would have required exacting control and speed. He then moved to Seattle as executive chef at Alexis Hotel in Seattle, a role that extended that discipline into a broader kitchen operation. At The Herbfarm in Woodinville, Washington (1990–2007), the line of his work became more distinct. Jerry Traunfeld spent those years as executive chef, and the length of that tenure points to a kitchen built on consistency, patience, and close attention to flavor. By the time he left, his name was tied to a style of cooking shaped by repetition and refinement rather than noise. Ownership brought that same sensibility into two Seattle addresses. As chef and owner at Poppy in Seattle (2008–2019), Traunfeld carried his approach into his own dining room. He also served as chef and owner at Lionhead in Seattle (2015–2019), adding a second project while maintaining the same through line: technique first, then clarity, then a directness that came from experience.

The Work Today

What is notable now is the structure of the career itself: pastry training, executive responsibility, a long stretch at The Herbfarm, and then two Seattle restaurants under his own name. Jerry Traunfeld’s cooking reads as the kind that gets sharpened over years, not by reinvention for its own sake but by steady use. “It’s also the kind of food I cook at home.”

Signature

Jerry's signature dishes include The Herbfarm Cookbook, The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor, and sage and grapefruit cocktail. Taken together, those names point to a practice that moves between books and bar work, with herbs and citrus sitting squarely in the center of the register. The reference set is compact, but it shows a chef working with flavor as a system rather than a flourish.

In Their Words “It’s also the kind of food I cook at home.”

Acclaim

Jerry's honors include James Beard Award for Best American Chef: Northwest and Hawaii (2000).