Chef Taylor Desjarlais left OKC right before the COVID lockdown after successful stints at several spots in the metro including Café Cuvée in the Ambassador Hotel and Chae, which remains one of the most painfully missed spots in town. A heads up that this episode contains a frank discussion of addiction and suicide in the hospitality industry. Desajarlais agreed to talk about these subjects, at least where his path intersected these two seemingly epidemic issues in the industry, and it's worth noting up front that he left OKC to enter a treatment program. After completing the program, he moved to a sober living center in Houston, where he continued to cook, but he also pursued other interests unrelated to his career, a move that helped him achieve the healing and wholeness he was seeking when he left OKC.
