Our Team

Meet some of the talented members of our family who brought our restaurants to life and who work behind the scenes for the entire group! And yes, we made some of them choose only one dish or drink recommendation, which is the equivalent to choosing your favorite child…

Josh Loeb - Co-Owner/Chairman of the Board
I make sure the spirit of Rustic Canyon goes through everything we do and support the amazing team we’ve put together since opening our first spot in 2006. I have a lot of wonderful memories of the restaurants, but my favorite is probably the day Zoe walked into Rustic Canyon for her interview for the first time.

Zoe Nathan - Co-Owner/Chief Creative Officer/Board Member
Not only is Zoe the chief creative officer and co-owner behind all of our spots, but she’s a talented baker and chef. We love this video of Zoe talking about the Gather For Good fundraising platform she started that’s centered around bake sales. It so perfectly captures the generosity and warmth you feel at our restaurants, and our commitment to giving back to our community.

Colby Goff - Co-Owner/Chief Financial Officer/Board Member
I get to hang out with the most creative, passionate group of thoughtful friends bringing hospitality, warmth and amazing tasting experiences to our diners. I also help think about how we apply the science of numbers to the business, so that we stay in business in a sustainable way, and so that we can keep hanging out. One of my favorite memories is opening night at Rustic Canyon in December of 2006. It was chaos, but it was a party. The POS system didn't connect to the printers in the kitchen, so no orders were fired correctly. Ultimately, the team simply passed dishes regardless of your order and everyone had a blast. I would never recommend just one dish, so I consider this a trick question, but if I had to choose, it would be Sweet Rose Creamery’s “Genius Bar.”     

Shiho Yoshikawa - Partner - Sweet Rose Creamery
As the founding chef, Shiho brought her love for peak-season ingredients and whimsical creativity to creating our ice cream flavors. The process is truly handmade and small-batch, as shown here in this video.

Laurel Almerinda - Pastry Chef/Partner - Huckleberry Bakery & Cafe
Laurel has been working at Huckleberry since day one and we’re thrilled to have her become the newest partner within our family. Over the years she’s held a variety of positions within our family as she’s grown with us, overseeing the bakery at Milo + Olive and the dessert programs for Rustic Canyon, and our former restaurants, Tallula’s and Cassia. She also co-authored Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets and Recipes from Our Kitchen, and we have sweet dreams about her Coffee Coffee Cake! 

Kathryn Coker - Wine Director - Rustic Canyon Family
One of the top things that gives Kathryn joy about overseeing the wine programs for the entire restaurant group is all the amazing people she works with every day. She’s still dying to open the Chateau Rayas CDP Reserve 2010 that’s been on Rustic Canyon’s wine list since the day we opened, so someone please order it to make her dream come true!

Kelsey Brito - Pastry Chef/Partner - The Dutchess
Kelsey has been working with our group since 2012, when she joined Huckleberry Bakery & Cafe as a Morning Baker at the age of 19. After 5 years at Huckleberry and working her way up to Lead Baker & Pastry Sous, she left to go work at Tartine in San Francisco (where Zoe learned to bake). She just couldn’t quit us though, and rejoined the family in June 2019 to take over bakery operations at Milo + Olive where she baked up all manner of rustic pastries, cakes and pies and oversaw bread production for the whole restaurant group. The Dutchess marks her first foray as Partner, and you really shouldn’t leave this all-day bakery, cafe & restaurant without snagging one of her savory pastries or decadent cookies.

Saw Naing - Chef/Partner - The Dutchess
The Dutchess is also Saw’s first restaurant in a partnership role, and it’s a beautiful opportunity to explore and celebrate his Burmese heritage. He first joined our family in 2017 as Sous Chef at Tallula’s (our former Mexican restaurant), eventually working his way up to Chef de Cuisine and Executive Chef. It was after cooking a Burmese-Indian dinner with his mom for friends at the restaurant that he developed an insatiable curiosity for learning the cuisine of his birthplace and began experimenting with fun Burmese-Indian-Mexican mashups at Tallula’s. After leaving in 2020 to pursue the dream of opening his own restaurant, he reconnected with Zoe and Josh in Ojai and is now making his dream come true with us!

Brian Jacobs - CEO
Nothing makes me happier than supporting this team. Every day I get to try to make someone’s life a little bit better, add a little bit of joy, or make something run just a little bit smoother. In a career where our main focus is to care for people, it’s all those little pieces that add up to something truly special. My first dining experience with the group was at Birdie G’s in summer 2020—right smack dab in the middle of the pandemic. It was our first time out at a restaurant, but the team made us feel so welcomed and warm. It felt like we had been regulars there for years and we were able to have such a great night. Every time I have the matzo ball soup there, I’m transported back to my grandmother's house. There’s something special about that broth that feels like it’s a secret passed down from generation to generation.

Joel Dixon - President
My journey with Rustic Canyon Family began in early 2009, just weeks before the opening of Huckleberry. I still remember watching Zoe craft a batch of fresh English muffins and assemble what would become a beloved signature dish—Green Eggs & Ham. I hadn’t eaten eggs since I was 10, but something about the care and heart she put into that dish made it impossible to resist. I cleaned my plate and asked for more. That first bite was more than just a delicious meal—it was a moment that captured what makes this restaurant family so special: passion, thoughtfulness, and a deep love for feeding people well. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of growing with this incredible group of restaurants and the people who make them shine. While each concept has its own personality and favorites, the Garlic Knot at Milo + Olive has become my go-to—simple, soulful, and unforgettable, just like that first dish at Huckleberry.

Monica Heffron - Vice President of Finance & Controller
I wear a lot of hats! I love puttering around behind the scenes, trying to help each restaurant run at its best in various random ways. It's too hard to choose a favorite memory, so I'll describe my first! My mom and I visited Huckleberry for the first time years and years ago. We ordered food to eat there and a huge box of pastries to take home. We ended up eating almost all the pastries sitting at the table and barely had anything left to bring home. My ability to resist eating all the pastries from Huckleberry hasn't improved much since.

Chanel Ducharme - Director of Events
I’m the Director of Events & Catering for the Rustic Canyon Restaurant Group, and my job is to ensure that all your events and catering needs are taken care of while providing the best experience. One of my favorite dinners is special to me because it was at Birdie G’s, where I had the opportunity to bring my family together to celebrate my mom’s 65th birthday. Birdie’s is perfect for family reunions and birthday celebrations. I take great pride in making sure every event—whether it’s a graduation, birthday, engagement, or baby shower—is executed flawlessly and that everyone has a wonderful time. The best part of my job is receiving thank-you cards from guests after an event. It’s these little moments that keep me excited for the next celebration!

Lily Richards - Staff Accountant
I handle the books! I prepare important financial documents, like P&L statements and balance sheets, to keep our restaurants cookin'. You could say I've got a lot on my plate (pun intended). I'm dedicated to thorough auditing, reporting and number crunching, so we're able to source high quality ingredients, work with our favorite small batch winemakers and more. The first time I dined at one of our RC Family restaurants, I was training as a host for Rustic Canyon. The food was so good, I had to stay for the next 5 years. (A nod to the long-term growth opportunities we like to provide our employees!) My absolute favorite dish is Milo + Olive's Mixed Mushroom Pizza. I've probably eaten it more times than I can count – and that's saying something.

Ava Rothenberg - Catering Manager
I’ve always been drawn to the intimate supper club origin story of our group, and that legacy lives on in a special way when our guests do the hosting, which is why I feel incredibly lucky to take care of catering for our restaurants. I’m a Santa Monica local who grew up on our food (I lost my first tooth biting into a maple bacon biscuit from Huckleberry!), and I fell in love with this industry because the work lives where the community does. I get to see that play out across all kinds of tables, from offering once-a-day solace in the form of a breakfast burrito for early morning meetings to inscribing a once-in-a-lifetime ice cream cake for an LA Marathon finish.