Sarah Schafer

The Path

The Culinary Institute of America gave Sarah Schafer the formal discipline that underpins restaurant work: knife work, station control, timing, and repetition. That training fed directly into Gramercy Tavern, where she entered New York dining as sous chef and worked within the pace and exactness of a demanding kitchen. The early foundation was practical rather than decorative, and it set the terms for the roles that followed. Her experience widened across different kitchens and cities, with each position adding range without changing the core of the work. Schafer became Head Chef at Frisson in San Francisco, then served as kitchen leader at Anchor & Hope and at Irving Street Kitchen in Portland. The throughline is command across different house styles: enough flexibility to fit the room, enough consistency to carry her own standards from one service to the next. At Humble Spirit, that accumulated experience became more tightly tied to place. Schafer was Culinary Director at Humble Spirit in 2023, and since 2024 she has served as co-executive chef of Humble Spirit. In McMinnville, the kitchen sits closer to the agricultural and wine context around it, and that proximity shapes the daily frame of the work.

The Work Today

She now serves as co-executive chef at the McMinnville restaurant. That farm connection gives the role a clear practical frame. In Schafer’s hands, the kitchen reads as a place where proximity matters: to growers, to the land, to the rhythm of what is available and what is best. The result is a style that seems less about imposing ideas from afar than about responding intelligently and gracefully to what is right there in front of her.

In Their Words “Humble Spirit’s proximity to the source of food and wine allows me to be tapped-in a much more invigorating way.” “I am relishing the simple style of cooking [ISK] gives me. I can always bring the foam out later.”

Acclaim

Sarah's honors include James Beard Award semifinalist, Best Chef in the Northwest and Pacific region.