Pastry Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph and Chef de Cuisine Page Pressley
Join Executive Chef Kevin Fink to Open Emmer & Rye
Executive Chef Kevin Fink is excited to announce that Tavel Bristol-Joseph and Page Pressley will join the Emmer & Rye team as pastry chef and chef de cuisine. Heightening the caliber and expertise of the opening team, Emmer & Rye’s new additions will help build the restaurant’s contemporary American menu that offers dim sum service in addition to a seasonally influenced menu that changes weekly.
“I am very excited to work with both of these very talented chefs,” says Fink. “They are passionate and talented, but more than anything they believe in the vision of Emmer & Rye, which is to work with our environment and produce great food.”
Putting a twist on traditional desserts, Bristol-Joseph sees inspiration for his food in everyday life. He joins Emmer & Rye as pastry chef and partner. After cultivating a strong working relationship and becoming close friends with Fink at Zona 78 in Tucson, Arizona, Bristol-Joseph followed Fink to Austin to continue their unparalleled culinary dynamic after promising to help open his first restaurant, whenever and wherever it may be.
After attending the New York Restaurant School at only seventeen years old, Bristol-Joseph worked in New York at The River Café, Blue Fin at the W Hotel in Times Square, and Braeburn Restaurant. In 2006, he moved to Tucson where he joined Fox Restaurant Concepts, working at many of the group’s restaurants. He then met Fink when he took the job of corporate pastry chef at Zona 78 Restaurant Group in 2009 before adding the role of general manager to his resume in 2013. Recent accomplishments for Bristol-Joseph include winning Chef Association of Southern Arizona’s Pastry Chef of the Year Award and training the subsequent winners three years in a row.
“I was immediately impressed with Kevin and knew I wanted to be a part of his team,” says Bristol-Joseph. “I took this leap of faith and moved to Austin because I believe in Kevin, not only the chef he is now but the chef he will become.”
With a unique dining experience and menu that uses innovative craftsmanship and pays homage to local farmers, Emmer & Rye caught the eye of Pressley who previously held the position as executive chef at St. Philip before joining the opening team as chef de cuisine.
Chef Page Pressley
Pressley is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park and has previously managed kitchens at Trattoria Nostrani in Sante Fe and The Bellagio’s Le Cirque in Las Vegas. After moving to Texas in 2011, Page helped open Uchi Houston before becoming chef de cuisine at Uchiko in Austin. Page left Uchi Restaurants briefly to accept a role as corporate executive chef in Philadelphia at Starr Restaurants before returning to Austin. With a passion for learning, Page will spend the month of August in Mexico City at Pujol, the best restaurant in the country and one of the leading restaurants in the world, to learn about masa and grain techniques.
“I’m tremendously excited to be a member of this stellar team,” says Pressley. “It’s been a goal of mine to further explore the bounty of this region and having the opportunity to do so with such talented chefs will produce something very special. I look forward to learning from both Kevin and Tavel as well as building a team that grows everyday.”
Emmer & Rye will be located at 51 Rainey Street. For more information and updates on the opening, please visit www.emmerandrye.com or follow on Instagram @emmerandrye.
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ABOUT EMMER & RYE
Helmed by Owner and Executive Chef Kevin Fink, Emmer & Rye will bring cuisine that is rustic and seasonally inspired to Rainey Street. Emmer & Rye is the first contemporary American restaurant in Austin to offer dim sum service as part of their meal, where guests will be able to order items directly off of circulating carts, along with a weekly rotating menu using local farm-to-table ingredients. Slated to open early fall 2015, Emmer & Rye will be located at 51 Rainey Street. For more information, please visit www.emmerandrye.com or follow on Instagram @emmerandrye.