I'm Nathan Rhee, a private chef in Los Angeles and San Diego. I cook Italian-rooted, vegetable-forward food in your kitchen, for one family, long term.
Breakfast through dinner, planned around your family's schedule.
Nathan Rhee
Hiring a chef means letting someone into your kitchen, your routines and your children's day. Here is what you can count on before I cook my first meal for you.
Nathan Rhee
Every photo here is my own cooking.
Biga pre-ferment, organic flour and whole wheat, rosemary, Maldon salt.
Charred zucchini, peaches, mint, toasted almonds, whipped ricotta.
Handmade pasta, pork and mortadella filling, roasted chicken consommé.
King trumpet, oyster, maitake, wood ear, whipped goat cheese, chervil.
Roasted tomato risotto, corn and celery relish, dill, mustard seed.
Semolina spaghetti, zucchini, garlic confit, mint, squash blossoms.
Soubise, mozzarella, gruyère, cremini, on a 70% hydration poolish.
Borlotti bean purée on sourdough, rosemary-garlic olive oil.
Peaches, sweet peppers and basil labneh.
Parsnip tortelli, brown butter, crisp sage, toasted pecans.
Biga pre-ferment, organic wheat flour.
Brown sugar craquelin, vanilla diplomat cream, lime zest.
“Good cuisine starts with paying respect to its ingredients.”
By sourcing locally and sustainably, your food becomes more nutritious, healthier and exceptionally delicious. I specialize in vibrant Mediterranean dishes that honor Italian tradition: food that is elegant, flavorful and healthy, and that you can enjoy every day.
Nathan Rhee
Five crafts I bring into a household kitchen.
A kitchen you'd be glad to open: labeled, ordered, zero-waste, and spotless after every service.
LearnedKitchen management and care of high-end home kitchens.
Menus start at the market: charred squash, peaches and herbs in summer; wild mushrooms and sage in the fall.
LearnedRome Sustainable Food Project, harvesting from the garden for peak-season menus.
Long-fermented doughs built on pre-ferments, made in your kitchen: biga focaccia, 70%-hydration poolish pizza, country loaves, olive oil and farro dinner rolls, and viennoiserie.
LearnedPastry Chef, Get Rights Bakery.
Whole-animal and fish butchery with an eye on yield and portion control, then the right technique for each cut: braising, sous vide, poaching, grilling.
LearnedRome Sustainable Food Project; local fish and meat butchery at Fora.
Fresh handmade and extruded pasta. From tortellini to hand-cut tagliatelle, all pasta sauces are crafted from scratch.
LearnedHandmade and extruded pastas, learned at Rome Sustainable Food Project, Ava Gene's and Fora.
A long-term chef for one family, planned around your schedule and your kitchen.
Breakfast through dinner cooked fresh, plus ready-to-eat and reheat meals organized around your family's week.
Menus shaped to wellness goals, caloric preferences and training diets. Low-glycemic, macro- and micronutrient-aware, whole foods with no preservatives.
From a casual family breakfast to a multi-course dinner party. Experienced with private events of up to 80 guests.
Local farm and estate-garden sourcing, zero-waste practice, and careful upkeep of high-end home kitchens.
I'm a fine-dining-trained chef, and I cook the way Italian families eat: from the garden, from scratch, every day. I trained at the Rome Sustainable Food Project, ran pastry at a bakery in Colorado, and cooked multi-course dinners alongside chef Joshua McFadden at Ava Gene's. Now I'm based in Oceanside, looking for one household to cook for, long term.
Contact details on request.
Share a few details and I'll come to our first call with ideas for your table. Serving Los Angeles, San Diego and the coast between.