Anson Stevens-Bollen
From left: Shrimp scampi with zuchinni noodles, cured salmon tartar roll and an arugula and roasted pear salad with gorgonzola and walnuts. We don’t say this lightly, but chef Jackson Ault is a genius.
A friend of mine once dated a woman who worked as Tobey Maguire’s private chef. True story, though none of us who were close with the guy got to meet Spider-Man, which still stings. The job sounded cool, though: She’d travel with the family and make ‘em food and she got to experiment and really flex her chops (#swish). She likely wasn’t cheap.
Point is, within the world of richies lies a whole slew of private services us normies couldn’t possibly hope to understand or access, and there’s plenty of room in there for talented chefs to thrive. No shade; I think it’s cool that a set of people covered in tattoos who come from a culture of too much smoking and drugs found a way into the payroll accounts of the wealthy. But even so, if the people on *this side* of the poverty line don’t have access to something, how great can it really be? In Santa Fe, new company Santa Fe Chef knows this better than anyone, and with a phenom in the kitchen and a level two sommelier/longtime industry management stalwart handling the rest, the company could go a long way toward demystifying the process of hiring a private chef, catered events, meal services, delivery and more, all while trying to price itself affordably.
This is the story of Jackson Ault and Jamie Taylor, a married couple, parents, and a pair of absolute restaurant pros with decades of experience between them, as well as the types of resumes that should put any questions about quality to rest. Ault’s not a culinary school guy, more like a work his way up through the ranks guy, and he’s been in one kitchen or another since he started at Pranzo when he was 15. That’s a long way to say he’s exactly the kind of chef you want—one who wanted to do it so badly they were willing to work just about any job in a kitchen they could find. OK, to be fair, he did have a little help.
“My high school girlfriend’s dad was a classically trained French chef, and he got me my first job cooking with Jeff Copeland at Pranzo,” he tells SFR. “Name a nice restaurant in Santa Fe, though, and I’ve worked there.”
If ever you dined at Il Piatto, for example, you’ve had Ault’s food and likely met Taylor; she managed there following stints at Pranzo, the Chocolate Maven and elsewhere. When the pandemic came around, however, and Taylor and Ault found themselves facing shutdowns, money shortages and staff who had no choice but to try and find other work, something shifted. Il Piatto did get some of those sweet PPP bucks, but when owner and executive chef Matt Yohalem decided to close the joint permanently, Ault and Taylor decided they were finally ready to take a new step.
“We spent months making sure our employees were OK, and it was awful,” Taylor says. “But we came up with this idea that the world was maybe going a little bit more toward the idea of private chef, or at least away from crowded restaurants.”
For years they’d discussed a brick and mortar business at which she’d manage, he’d cook—and though Santa Fe Chef (can you believe that domain was available?) didn’t go the route they’d first dreamed, they say, it’s actually kind of better. In a nutshell, Ault and Taylor are available for private events or for regular weekly delivery service. A cursory glance at sample menus on santafechef.com proves Ault can do pretty much anything—I might die if I don’t get to try things like the ahi tuna crudo, the red chile honey pulled pork or the pumpkin pie with bourbon peanut brittle—even if he’s the first to tell you he’s most known for his Italian dishes. Still, he elevates every dish with his fine dining know-how, and customers still get input. The smart ones defer to Ault and Taylor’s expertise, both in terms of courses and wine pairings. From there, some items and dishes come out of a commercial kitchen on the Southside, others are made on site, which, Ault says, not only ensures the freshness factor, but proves to everyday people they can do remarkable things in their own homes.
The freshness bit is key, he says, adding that while all of his ingredients are organic, fresh or both, locally sourced is more important at Santa Fe Chef, in fact, than certified organic—a lengthy and expensive process that ultimately proves very little. So the pair works with vendors such as seafood wholesaler Above Sea Level, Susan’s Fine Wine & Spirits and the legendary Romero Farms to ensure they’re using the best ingredients.
“Working for ourselves was the dream,” Taylor says, “and we can make it affordable.”
Ah, yes, the great pricing question. Well, don’t freak out: There are too many variables at play to properly zero in on a specific price point. It’s a case-by case thing, but Ault and Taylor say they’ve got numerous weekly delivery clients who aren’t what they’d describe as rich, yet still make it work. If you are rich, though, you can surely work out some kind of insane meal. It’ll get even better once Ault and Taylor have finished working on their upcoming food truck—one Ault describes as a “mobile fine dining kitchen.”
“Most just have a flat top grill and a couple of fridges, but ours will have the grill, the burners, a couple of ovens, the deep frier,” he says. “We just want to be able to do high-end food anywhere, that’s kind of the whole pitch.”
“And just because we’re both trained in fine dining doesn’t mean we don’t do an amazing casual meal,” Taylor adds.
