Preeti Mistry

Training at Le Cordon Bleu gave Preeti Mistry a formal base before she moved into kitchens with different demands and codes. Early work at Peter Gordon’s Sugar Club in London placed her in a restaurant known for polish and precision. Back in the United States, she helmed kitchens at deYoung Museum in San Francisco and later helmed kitchens at Google headquarters in Mountain View. Across those rooms, the work required the same discipline: adapting technique to the house, whether the frame was cultural, corporate, or something in between.

In 2009, Preeti Mistry appeared as a contestant on Top Chef: Las Vegas, bringing her work into a national format where timing, range, and presence are all part of the craft. That visibility was followed by ownership at Juhu Beach Club in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, California, from 2012 to 2017. Ownership changed the scale of the work: the restaurant was hers to shape from the ground up, with her name attached to both the kitchen and the experience.

Since 2021, Preeti Mistry has been podcast host of Loading Dock Talks with Preeti Mistry. The format extends the chef’s practice beyond service, giving room for commentary and conversation. For a career that has moved between execution and reflection, the microphone becomes another tool of authorship.

At Silver Oak Cellars, Preeti Mistry works as executive chef, a role that calls for both structure and point of view. Asked about the future of restaurants, she has been direct. On the subject of another restaurant, she said, “I don’t want to open another restaurant of my own. That’s for sure.” She added, “More than anything, I just am not interested in opening a restaurant unless it has a deeper purpose.” The position is plain: a restaurant has to justify itself beyond service alone.

Taken together, they point to a body of work that does not sit in one format. The list moves between cookbook, podcast, and collaboration, showing a practice that treats writing, voice, and shared work as part of the same repertoire.

Preeti’s honors include James Beard Award, Audio Programming (2025) and James Beard Foundation nominee, Best Chef of the West (2017). The recognition tracks a career that has carried weight in more than one arena: kitchen leadership, broadcast work, and the wider field of contemporary food culture.