A native of Wellesley, Mass, chef Dora Tavel developed an interest in food watching Julia Child on PBS.

By the time she turned twenty, she knew she wanted to work in restaurants. She soon took a job cooking and serving in Boston. Since then, she’s traveled from one side of the country to the other, working at farm-to-table restaurants in Los Angeles like Trastavere and French-Asian fusion in New York and Boston including spots like Restaurant L, AZ and Beppe.

She opened the Farmhouse in Needham in March 2013, realizing a long held dream of owning their own place. In May 2018 she doubled down and opened a second restaurant, buttercup, in Natick.

An avid gardener, Tavel sources ingredients from her own Sunwashed Farm for the menus at both restaurants. When she’s not in the kitchen, she’s most likely to be found running (triathlons and marathons), farming or spending time with her family, and their three Labrador retrievers.