Short bio

Tarragon Alexander is a New Orleans private chef with a genuinely original style — one built on tradition, technique and terroir, and a curiosity that spans everything from Ancient Roman cooking to global flavors. Fifteen years in, they love surprising people and stretching the idea of what a meal can be, turning high-quality, locally sourced ingredients into dishes that taste as memorable as they look.

Bio

Tarragon Alexander’s path into cooking began with a loaf of bread. At twenty, they made one from scratch, and the simple alchemy of turning powders, granules and water into something nourishing struck them as pure magic. They slowly traded college for cooking at home, took a job washing dishes, and worked their way up from there — a start as humble as it was formative.

More than fifteen years later, they’ve cooked just about every cuisine a chef could, picking up something from each along the way. Rather than settle into one lane, Tarragon built a style all their own — driven, as they put it, by tradition, technique and terroir. It’s an approach rooted in the classics but restless with curiosity, always reaching for the next idea.

For Tarragon, food is a universal language — one meant to surprise and inspire. They build their dishes around balance and high-quality ingredients, and love the way a well-made plate can evoke a sense of nostalgia even as it does something new. Sustainability matters to them too: they lean on locally sourced produce and let the season and the place shape what lands on the plate.

That blend of old and new comes alive in their favorite dish: millet fritters with thyme honey and pomegranate crème fraîche, inspired by Ancient Roman technique. It’s a perfect snapshot of how they cook — reviving something centuries old, then giving it a thoroughly modern, flavor-forward twist. Expect the familiar made surprising, and the unexpected made to feel like home.

What drives them now is connection. After years in professional kitchens — and a run of pop-ups that showed them the real joy is in watching people react — Tarragon stepped into private dining to get closer to the people they’re feeding. Working as a private chef in New Orleans, well-organized and happy to talk guests through every course, they tailor each menu to individual tastes, turning intimate gatherings and larger events alike into something people genuinely remember.