Chef Ben Vaughn Discusses Artistry and Cafe Culture

Chef Ben Vaughn has built his reputation on fine southern food prepared with the artistry of French technique. A lover of cooking since childhood, Chef Ben Vaughn seized his early food passions and made them the focal point of his professional life. With formal training and ample personal experience, Chef Ben Vaughn has worked his way up to the highest echelons of the Memphis restaurant scene.

With the grand opening of his sumptuous dinner-only restaurant, Grace, barely out of the way, Chef Ben Vaughn has already expanded his dining vision. Chef Ben Vaughn’s new restaurant is an informal, cafe-style breakfast and lunch house called Au Fond Farmtable. The driving theme of Au Fond Farmtable, notes Chef Ben Vaughn, is to create a menu of delicious affordable dishes prepared from a fresh and unique selection of locally produced foods. Chef Ben Vaughn’s Au Fond Farmtable also includes a quaint retail counter inside the eatery. Chef Ben Vaughn explains that patrons can purchase the finest meats, cheeses and imported delicacies available in the greater Memphis area.

Reared under the musical and artistic influence of his mother, Chef Ben Vaughn always related to a life in the arts. When he began cooking at the tender age of 8, Chef Ben Vaughn realized that his artistic medium was the kitchen. By the time Chef Ben Vaughn was 16, he was a baker in a south Florida kitchen at a well-regarded restaurant called Mario’s. Chef Ben Vaughn learned faster than any one could teach him.

Eventually, Chef Ben Vaughn grew up and moved on to Memphis, Tennessee. Much to the delight of the people of Memphis, Chef Ben Vaughn has decided to stay. With a successful stint at the River Oaks Restaurant and an award as one of the top 5 “Best Chefs in Memphis,” Chef Ben Vaughn has found a home in west Tennessee.

Au Fond Farmtable
Cooper-Young next to Grace Restaurant
938 South Cooper Street
Memphis, TN, 38104
901.274.8513