Bruce & Sara Naftaly

A little bit about Bruce & Sara Naftaly, and how they’ve come to this next chapter…

You could say Nettle Soup is Bruce Naftaly's lucky dish. Not only is Bruce famous for it but he charmed his wife Sara while picking nettles at Discovery Park on their first date. After meeting in his garden at his lauded Le Gourmand they bonded over a mutual need for what was at the time a rare ingredient: nettles. Back in ’98 you couldn’t simply order nettles as most chefs would today, they had to be found and once found Bruce would certainly have to pick them himself. While Bruce and Sara didn't call it a date, he brought a thermos of coffee and they picked 33 gallons of nettles together over the course of a day. Sara impressed Bruce with her technique (her touch is precise, and her knowledge, vast). Bruce wowed Sara with his unique flavors, instinct, and his go-by-your-gut nature. They bonded over a mutual love of classic French cuisine and a similar ideology when it came to where their food was coming from. Bruce and Sara met in March, were engaged in July, and by the following September they were cooking together at Le Gourmand.

From then on Bruce and Sara became a team both in the kitchen and in life. The pair ran Le Gourmand together and together opened the adjacent Sambar in 2003. In 2012 they decided it was time to slow life down a bit. Sara wanted to open a bakery and Bruce had been living at Le Gourmand since the restaurant started service in 1985. It seemed like time for a night off or two. They went on to be bakery and restaurant partners at Chophouse Row, with Amandine and Marmite, which later included a companion bar, Spirit in the Bottle. These are not chefs who can retire.

This brings us to the Bruce Naftaly Experience, whereby Bruce makes his break from the restaurant world to fulfill his love of teaching about food and preparing personal meals and events. Bruce is the forefather of farm-to-table cooking in Seattle, sourcing exclusively local meats and produce from within 50 miles of the city as the chef at Robert Rosellini’s restaurant The Other Place in the 70’s. Sara has lived and cooked all over the world studying both sweet and savory under renowned private chef Michel Boulard and Susan Spicer of Bayona in New Orleans. While others may have had the farm itself, Bruce & Sara now have the edible garden as they they continue the tradition of ingrediants that are organically sourced, whether from their yard or the local farmer.

As part of the Bruce Naftaly Experience, Bruce can offer cooking classes in your home (in addition to those at The Pantry), he is available on an ongoing personal chef basis and for private dinners and events. Look for future news on collaborations.