Sous Chefs
Travis Watson
Executive Pastry Chef and
Executive Sous Chef
Travis Watson, one of the newest members of the T. Cook's culinary team, was first named Executive Pastry Chef in September 2010, then in December of 2011, transitioned to Executive Sous Chef.
As a former University of Arizona football player, "chef" seems like an unlikely career choice for a guy who also loves shooting and Brazilian jiujitsu. But then he was inspired at 14 by his first football coach who was also an Executive Chef at a restaurant where Watson was employed as a dishwasher. Cooking seemed much cooler and definitely more fun, and once he was promoted to prep cook a few months later, the die was cast.
Chef Watson's friends and co-workers describe him as "hardworking, driven and dedicated" and accurately so. After moving to Arizona from his native Watts, California when he was 12, Watson worked two jobs through high school so that he could attend Scottsdale Culinary Institute. Upon graduation, he did an impressive externship under Chef Jacques Paccard in Paris.
Upon his return to the States, enrolled in the University of Arizona in Tucson. Bit by the travel bug, he spent summers and the years after graduation traveling, working and learning in cities like Seattle, Los Angeles and Denver and countries such as Japan, France, Italy and Mozambique.
In 1999, Watson settled back in Arizona, working for Fox Restaurant Concepts as Corporate Pastry Chef where he was responsible for opening 27 restaurants across the country over the next eight years. He left Fox to take over the helm as Executive Chef of Avalon, an independent restaurant focused on organic produce and sustainable practices in Scottsdale. In just a year's time, Chef Watson and his team at Avalon were named "Best New Restaurant" and "Best New Chef."
Now at Royal Palms, he says he's captivated by the opportunity to create delicious food for T. Cook's, room service, banquets, weddings and special events.
Ashley Alford
AM Sous Chef
AM Sous Chef Ashley Alford credits her life-long connection to her family, and her past, as some of her biggest inspirations in the kitchen.
An easterly transplant to Arizona from Erie, Pennsylvania, Alford's heritage has played an integral part in her culinary point-of-view, often reminiscing with great sentimentality about the early years spent on her family's goat farm with her four siblings.
"I'm very family oriented," Alford recalls. "I owe my workhorse passion and drive in the culinary industry to my family."
From her father's beloved handmade fudge, made with their goats milk sourced directly from the family's farm, to her grandmother's deep passion for gardening—her pickled green beans, affectionately called "dilly beans" were a childhood favorite—Alford was inspired to not only cook, but also find the simple beauty in fresh, wholesome ingredients. "I currently do all of the communicating between T. Cook's and the local farms we source from," Alford explains. "Sometimes I volunteer to get down in the dirt to help them out—I love it."
A graduate of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, Alford has quickly worked her way up the T. Cook's kitchen ranks, from holding a pantry station externship while still in school to PM Sous Chef, to Alford's current responsibility as an inspired leader of the restaurant's morning team, as AM Sous Chef.
Ashley Alford is a sharp, creative and dedicated kitchen professional on a constant search for inspiration both inside and outside the kitchen. There's simply nowhere to go but up for Ashley.
