Chef and Co-Owner, Talat Market; Atlanta, GA

Parnass Savang ‘11 is chef and co-owner of Talat Market. He is a first-generation Thai American and uses his family background and southern ingredients to influence his style of cooking which he calls Georgian Thai. Chef Savang ’11 grew up in the industry, working in his mom and dad’s Thai restaurant, which gave him entry to being a restaurateur. Inspired by the UK version of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, he was inspired to become a chef and continued his studies at The Culinary Institute of America. Post-graduation, he worked in New York for a while before returning to Atlanta to cook in some of the best kitchens in the city, including Kimball House, Staplehouse, and the now shuttered Empire State South. Family is a motivating factor for Chef Savang ’11 and the name Talat Market is inspired by his maternal grandmother’s shop where she and his mother sold fresh pineapples. He and fellow chef Rod Lassiter started the restaurant as a pop-up and in that capacity in 2018, he was nominated as a James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef, and Talat Market made Bon Appetit’s Top 50 Best New Restaurants of that year. A Kickstarter campaign helped the duo take the restaurant from pop-up to bricks-and-mortar. @talatmarketatl