Chef

Samuel Nataf

Discipline: Chef
Based in: Paris, France
Venue: Dumbo · Restaurant

i. Biography

Samuel Nataf co-founded Dumbo in Paris in 2019, setting the project around the plain-force clarity of smash burgers and the discipline that makes a simple format read as deliberate. The work has never leaned on embellishment; it has been about tightening the details until the concept holds its shape. As Nataf puts it: “We felt Paris needed something that mixed that Americana energy with real quality and care. Dumbo was born out of that: radical simplicity, loud flavour, and a style that felt true to us.”

Coming Up

Since 2019, Samuel Nataf has been the co-founder of Dumbo, and that role has meant shaping the project from the ground up rather than simply overseeing it. The interest here is in how a narrow brief can carry weight when the execution stays exact. In Dumbo, the format is direct, but the standard is not casual: the appeal comes from restraint, handled with intent, and from a burger proposition that is immediate without becoming blunt. For Nataf, the continuity of the work seems central to the point. The aim was not novelty as a tactic, but a concept with a clear position: clean execution, a defined tone, and a discipline that keeps the idea from drifting. The project’s language reflects that same approach. The energy is American, the standard is exacting, and the style is built to stay legible.

Where They Are Now

He remains in that role from 2019 to present, still close to the detail and still aligned with the same core proposition that launched the project. What Dumbo offers, in both flavour and atmosphere, is shaped by a shorter operating principle from Nataf: “It’s all in the details.” That line lands because it names the work plainly. The craft sits in calibration—texture, timing, consistency, and the small decisions that give a simple dish its authority.

Career - Co-founder — Dumbo, Paris (2019–present)