Former The Southern Chef Cary Taylor Moves to Big Star

When Cary Taylor ended a five-year run as The Southern's executive chef last month, he continued a search to broaden his stable of cooking skills. "I did my thing (at The Southern)," he says. "What's next?"

What's next turns out to be working for Paul Kahan, as Taylor is now chef de cuisine at his perpetually-busy Mexican and whiskey hotspot, Big Star. Taylor takes over the kitchen from Justin Large, who has been promoted to Kahan's right-hand man: Director of culinary operations for One Off Hospitality Group.

Taylor, who worked on the Blackbird line 10 years ago, is focusing on running a kitchen that churned out around 6000 fish tacos during his first week. "There's no room for error (at Big Star)," he says. "Simplicity can be much more difficult than complexity."

Taylor is also hoping to introduce some twists to the menu, as he's changing the fish taco next week and is hoping to add more street food items like chalupas, tamales, and sopes. "There's still so much that the clientele knows about but we haven't served yet," he says.

But for now, Taylor is immersed in "learning a totally new cuisine" and being "spot-on 15,000 times a week." At least his new job is only two blocks away from his previous job.
· All Cary Taylor Coverage [-ECHI-]
· All Big Star Coverage [-ECHI-]
· Big Star [Official Site]