I create intimate fine-dining experiences featuring refined dishes crafted with the highest quality ingredients.

Travis Chrisman

I bring refined, familiar flavors to your home with a personalized fine-dining experience.

I’m a dynamic chef with 20 years of experience, including a decade managing restaurants in San Diego before focusing on private dining. I’ve cooked for clients in San Diego, Nashville, and now Scottsdale, and I love the balance of strong culinary fundamentals with fresh, thoughtful creativity.

I trained in San Francisco and spent years working in high-end hotels, including the Four Seasons. My specialty is handcrafted fresh pasta, with a deep passion for Italian and fusion cuisine. Every menu is thoughtfully tailored to your vision, creating a dining experience that is uniquely yours.

I’d love to plan your dinner

I build depth by using the same ingredient in multiple applications to intensify a dish’s complexity.

I focus on connection, craft, and thoughtful flavor.

I cook to connect

Cooking is my way of connecting with people on a personal level, and private dining lets me create intimate, customized experiences that feel truly one-of-a-kind.

I’m grounded in fine-dining training

I’m very grateful to have spent the first six years of my career at the AAA 5 Diamond Four Seasons Resort in Carlsbad, California, where I built the fundamentals and discipline that still shape everything I do.

I build complexity with intention

I love using the same ingredient across multiple elements—roasted, pureed, crisped, or infused—so each course feels layered, cohesive, and deeply flavorful.

Travis’s Menus

I offer curated multi-course dinners and flexible catering formats, always tailored to your preferences and the kind of experience you want—refined, comforting, health-driven, or playful and surprising.

I’ll tailor a menu for you

Stories and testimonials

Chef Travis and his team were great! They made our Thanksgiving and the food was incredible. Chef Travis is extremely personable and makes everyone feel included in the experience.

David Thomas

Chef Travis and Chef Niko were both phenomenal. It was a no brainer to have a Sunday funday style meal at my brothers bachelor party. The guys were thoroughly impressive. Chef Travis and Chef Niko were engaging without being overwhelming. They were super easy going, they came prepared and ready to go! It was a perfect addition to the weekend. I couldn't recommend them enough.

Brian Lauria

Chef Travis made the entire week. Communication from the point of engagement through walking out the door on the last day was best in class. The food was top notch, Travis was engaging socially, he paced everything perfectly, cleaned the kitchen every night leaving it spotless, and was always ready to answer all of our questions - food, local things to explore, recommendations, you name it! We also had children on the trip and Chef Travis was an expert with them - menu, engagement, the whole thing... they continue to ask about him daily! Thanks Chef - we will be booking again!

Matthew Schweinzger

Chef Travis and his assistant Rob were excellent. Our group walked in the door from a round of golf, and everything was as planned. The food was being prepared, the table was being set, etc. But they really started the night off well with their engagement. Very friendly, easy to talk to, got to speak with each of my guests, and we got to know one another in a brief discussion. Chef Travis dialed in the timing of the dinner as we relaxed for a bit before dinner and his timing was spot on. We sat down and it didn't disappoint. The food was excellent, and the plates were removed and replaced in a perfect sequence. I'll end with that my guests and I usually eat out quite a bit for work and everyone had nothing but great things to say. This was the first time doing this and it was a home run. Food was excellent, we ate right at the house, they cleaned up like they were never there, and we plan on doing more of this in the future. Thanks again to Travis and Rob....great night!!

Steve Cusa

Prepared a great meal for 8 hungry men after several rounds of golf. Not 1 complaint from any of the guests.

Robert Burstall

Travis was absolutely incredible!! The food was by far some of the best meals we have ever had and he was just as amazing. Unbelievable with the kids, professional, kind, attentive. Having him was the icing on the cake for this trip! Can’t wait to come back and have him again!

Allison Klein

Chef Travis amazing from start to finish.

Michael Goldman

Chef Travis was amazing! The entire group was so impressed by the meal, it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Arizona. I really appreciated how responsive he was and the creativity and attention to detail on the menu itself. In terms of the actual dinner, the food was incredible, as was the presentation and story behind each plate. Chef Travis was a super fun addition to our night, and if I were to ever come back to Arizona, re-booking him would be a no brainer, I can't recommend enough!

shelby seip

Fabulous experience with Chef Travis! Communication was easy and he reflected our taste preferences in a stellar menu. He also accommodated various food allergies which we greatly appreciated. A pleasure to work with!

Natasha Kingshott

I cannot say enough about Chef Travis and our experience! He was AMAZING. The food was absolutely delicious. He was fun and cool and engaging. Just pure perfection!

Jasmine Oesch

Chef Travis and his wife Katie delivered an exceptional evening for us. The entire experience was very interactive from learning how to make homemade pasta to torching the crème brûlée. Chef Travis was very engaging and an absolute joy to have in our home. The process leading up to the dinner was exceptional. We truly appreciated the preparation, planning, and involvement in the dinner menu and we would absolutely recommend Chef Travis to anyone that wanted a fantastic dining experience.

Nate Foster

Chef Travis cooked for 10 of us for a birthday party. It was by far the highlight of our trip. Chef Travis was engaging with our entire party no matter what was asked and made the evening into a truly special event. We will still be talking about his beet risotto and creme brûlée for many trips to come. I can't recommend him enough!

Nicholas Jaroszewicz

Pre-event communication with Chef Travis was excellent, and he and his staff were professional and attentive the entire evening. The food, presentation and clean-up were excellent.. and our guests loved the experience. We will definitely work with him again!

Rob

Booking with Chef Travis was a 5 star experience that completely made our bachelorette weekend. He was professional, helpful with menu and wine pairing selections, brought EVERYTHING including plates, and made the entire experience stress free and fun. Travis arrived early, allowed us to be as engaged as we wanted with the cooking process (of course we got our bride in the action making pasta!), served us five amazing courses alongside our printed menu (he even used the logo we designed for the weekend in his design!), and left the place SPOTLESS. I am so happy I picked Travis. Thank you for the best night and delicious food!!

Kelli Morrissey

Chef Travis prepared two dinners for our family holiday in Scottsdale, Arizona. The two meals were carefully planned with individually balanced themes: an Italian night with an incredible fall vegetable bisque, homemade pasta Bolognese, lemon panna cotta; and a French bistro night including Wagyu ribeye, duck-fat fries, winter vegetables with fresh black truffle, and a flourless chocolate cake with lavender anglaise. I hope you didn't start reading this review while hungry. The entire process was professional and thanks to the excellent communication, we felt like he understood our needs which make the planning process that much more comfortable; we had confidence that Chef and his team would take care of us. To the point: Chef Travis didn't exceed our expectations -he completely knocked it out of the park. All the ingredients were carefully sourced. The plating, timing, and service was on point. Our family continues to talk about the experience with one member, an experienced patron of the fine dining culture, sharing that, 'this was one of [his] best dinner experiences ever'. If you have an option to book an experience with Chef Travis, do it. It would be foolish to miss the opportunity.

Scott Evans

Chef Travis was absolutely amazing!! As a event designer finding vendors we can trust who also understand presentation day of is extremely rare. Chef Travis and his team knocked everything out of the park. The food, the staff - EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING! 10/10!

Ciara Self

Chef Travis was amazing! From the moment we saw they menu propels we knew we wanted him to prepare the food for our event. Every interaction with him was professional and he was always very responsive to questions and helped guide through options in menu selection. His presence during the dinner introducing each course was superb, and every single dish was impeccable. To end the night, he cleaned up and actually left the kitchen cleaner than it was when he arrived. I would highly recommend chef Travis to anyone wishing for a wonderful evening of amazing food!

jeff hayes

Chef Travis was incredible from start to finish. From the beginning, he offered a great menu. We had a lot of specific tastes and desires with the bachelorette party we did this with. Chef Travis was responsive, and accommodating! A few days before the date- he called me to iron out any small details which I loved. He arrived on time with all of the necessary equipment! Pots/pans/utensils etc. He set our table up with clean linens, plates, utensils, napkins, etc. We had a four-course meal.. from Burrata and heirloom tomatoes, homemade Caesar dressing crisp crunchy lettuce / black pepper fettuccine (homemade pasta right in front of us) in an Alfredo sauce alongside Chicken Marsala (served family-style). It was to die for! For dessert, we had chocolate creme brûlée with homemade hazelnut topping. AMAZING. We had a large party of 10, and everything came out perfect! I’m salivating writing this review! He explained each part of the meal as it was served fresh and hot. Chef Travis cleaned up our entire meal and left the kitchen spotless!! Unbelievable time for this group! Chef Travis was so personable through the night! He was a good sport with the shirt we made him wear to match our theme, and he participated in a few pictures as well! If I could give more than 5 stars I would!!

Megan

Chef Travis was amazing. The food was excellent. We will definitely be using Chef Travis again.

Mia

Chef Travis was phenomenal! His stories about his career as a chef and how he gained knowledge is the craft of cooking were amazing to hear. He was accommodating with everything we needed and even attempted a few new dishes for the first time to better suite our group! 10/10

Adam Jones