Tory McPhail

The Climb

Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, Louisiana was the early proving ground in Tory McPhail’s career, and the executive chef role there established the pace that follows a chef through every later room: long service, tight coordination, and an expectation that the line stays exact. In a house with name recognition, the work still comes down to repetition, timing, and keeping a famous dining room moving without strain. That kind of post tends to shape a chef into someone steady at the pass and measured in the dining room. Since 2021, the same discipline has carried into Jam!, Revelry, and Dave's Sushi, where McPhail serves as executive chef and mentor. The mentor title matters in trade terms: it places judgment, pacing, and standards alongside menu work. The job is not just to execute, but to transmit how a kitchen thinks under pressure and how a room is managed with intention.

Today

In Bozeman, Montana, McPhail has held the executive chef and mentor role across Jam!, Revelry, and Dave’s Sushi since 2021, and has also worked as executive chef and culinary director for three restaurants including Revelry. The menu there is framed through familiar but creative local products, which points to a kitchen built around what is near at hand rather than novelty for its own sake. It is a practical approach: take known ingredients and give them a different edge, a little more texture, a little more lift. At the Bozeman restaurant, that means Montana beef, smoked trout, and locally sourced produce. The line reads like a regional pantry handled with care—smoke, pasture, harvest, and produce that can stand on its own. McPhail does not describe a single fixed signature across the group; instead, he acknowledges the variation from room to room: “Each restaurant has its own thing going on. There’s a different swagger to each place.” That same openness shows in his response to working within a Japanese restaurant team: “It is wildly gratifying to be in a Japanese restaurant and learn from that team.” For a chef with a James Beard Award and a long New Orleans executive-chef chapter, the point is not arrival. It is the ability to keep learning while still leading.

Signature

Tory's signature dishes include Creole Black Skillet Pistachios and Fat Free Pistachio Chimichurri. The names point to a kitchen comfortable with contrast: spice against crunch, richness against brightness, Creole framing alongside a less expected use of pistachio. They read like dishes built to hold attention without over-explaining themselves.

In Their Words “Each restaurant has its own thing going on. There’s a different swagger to each place.”

Recognition

Tory's honors include James Beard Award, Best Chef: South (2013).