Scott Tycer is owner and Executive Chef of the new restaurant Textile in the Houston Heights, Tycer also owns Kraftsmen Baking, the premiere artisan bakery in the Houston market with both wholesale and retail cafe components, and Gravitas Restaurant, an American Bistro close to downtown.
Formerly, Tycer was owner and Executive Chef at Aries, which opened in November 2000 to widespread acclaim and became an overnight destination for modern American cuisine and fine dining in Houston. The restaurant earned Tycer extensive media praise, including a place on Food and Wine magazine's much sought-after list of "Best New American Chefs" in 2003.
Before opening Aries, Kraftsmen, and Gravitas Tycer spent more than ten years working his way up the culinary ladder. He began his career while earning money for his college education at the University of Texas, Austin. Thriving on the creative and hands-on work of the restaurant industry, he chose to pursue a culinary career after completing a degree in English literature. Tycer went on to attend the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon, where he studied the methods of Escofier and Antoine Carême. After realizing that his interest was in the fine dining sector, he secured a position under Chef Anthony Deme at Couvron, since named Gourmet magazine’s “Top Table for Oregon.” In 1995, Chef Tycer returned to his hometown of Houston, where he continued to hone his ability to deliver high quality, innovative cuisine, while simultaneously building kitchen and restaurant skills. Within a two year period, he worked under Chef Todd Rogers at the former Ritz-Carlton (now St Regis); as Chef Tournant at Benjy’s; and as Sous Chef at Dacapo’s with friend Charles Clark, the co-creator of Ibiza Restaurant. In 1997, Tycer moved to the San Francisco Bay Area so that his wife Annika could earn her MBA at Stanford University. The timing was great, as acclaimed restauranteur Wolfgang Puck, was about to open a new Spago restaurant in Palo Alto. Scott took a Sous Chef position and the rest is history.
Tycer considers his time at Spago to be the defining work of his early career. Chef Michael French acted as mentor and encouraged him to refine his skills in all the crucial areas of restaurant management and fine cuisine. In addition, frequent interaction with Wolfgang Puck, whom Tycer recalls as “chaos embodied,” taught him that restaurant success is all about bringing energy to the workplace and helping others to feed off of one’s passion.
Now, in the Fall of 2008, Chef Scott Tycer lives his passion again, with the opening of his newest and most ambitious restaurant, Textile.
