Joe Frillman

Coming Up

At Osteria di Tramonto, Joe Frillman moved from Prep Cook to Sous Chef beginning in 2006, and that climb established the habits that follow him through later kitchens. The work was about precision, pace, and respect for service, with flavor built through repetition rather than flourish. As chef at Balena and then chef at Perennial Virant, he added range without abandoning the basics: control of the line, attention to rhythm, and a style shaped by steady advancement rather than noise. Since 2017, Daisies has given Joe Frillman a place where those earlier lessons can operate under his own name and responsibility. The role of Executive Chef and proprietor places the technical and managerial sides of the work in the same frame, with the restaurant serving as the clearest expression of what his kitchens have been building toward.

Where They Are Now

At Daisies, the cooking is built around seasonal, farm-to-table pasta and vegetables, a direct extension of the vegetable-centered work associated with Perennial Virant. The point is not to separate pasta from produce, but to use pasta as a format that can carry the season cleanly and without excess. The result is grounded, deliberate food, with vegetables treated as central structure rather than garnish. The kitchen’s logic at Daisies runs through local and seasonal thinking, micro-seasonal attention, and preservation methods including pickling, fermenting, and canning. Joe Frillman uses those techniques as part of the same working vocabulary, so the menu reflects continuity across the season instead of a break between harvest and service. That gives the plates a practical order and a sense of restraint that reads clearly to another cook.

In Their Words “I don’t know if it’ll ever be possible, but my goal is to get 100% of our ingredients from Tim.” “Daisies is kind of a mashup of those two guys’ styles.”