Suzanne Tracht

The Path

Apprenticeship is the first line in Suzanne Tracht’s record, and it is where the work starts to show. At the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, the discipline was formal from the outset; from there, the path moved through chef roles at Westin Century Plaza and Hotel-Bel-Air, each room adding another layer of control, repetition, and standards. By 1991, as sous chef at Noa Noa in Beverly Hills, California, the demands of service would have required clean timing and steady judgment. In 1992, the move to Head Chef at Campanile in Southern California marked a firmer hold on the line. The same pattern continued as the titles rose. In 1996, she was appointed executive chef at Jozu, and in 2007 she took on the role of chef/owner at Tracht's in Long Beach, putting her name on both the front of house and the kitchen door. Since 2001, Suzanne has been chef/owner of Jar, where the restaurant and the cook are tightly linked. The record reads as accumulation: years at the stove, each step widening the scope without changing the fundamentals.

The Work Today

Braising sits at the center of Suzanne Tracht’s cooking, and it explains a great deal about the way the plates are built. The method asks for patience, steady heat, and attention to texture over time; in her hands, it becomes a way to draw depth out of ingredients rather than cover them. The result is cooking that stays grounded in process, with flavor that comes from restraint and repetition rather than force. Sourcing is the other fixed point in how Jar operates. Asked about the restaurant’s approach to the market and the season, she said, “Steakhouses typically don’t base their menus on the season, but the backbone of our dishes at JAR is that we source everything.” The line is practical, not decorative: ingredients are the base, and the menu is built to hold that line. That balance keeps the restaurant legible as a steakhouse while giving it the discipline of a kitchen that treats sourcing as part of the craft.

Signature

Suzanne Tracht’s signature dishes include signature pot roast and char siu pork chop. The through line is technique applied with restraint: dishes that carry depth, show control in construction, and let the ingredients do the work. They land with enough weight to read as substantial, but without losing the clarity that comes from careful braising and seasoned, deliberate cooking.

In Their Words “The main ingredients are oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, a lot of garlic, ginger, fermented Chinese black beans, brown sugar, soy sauce... The kitchen sink basically.” “Steakhouses typically don’t base their menus on the season, but the backbone of our dishes at JAR is that we source everything.”

Recognition

Suzanne Tracht has received Food & Wine Best New Chefs (2002).