About

Marcus Hale · Executive Chef & Owner

Marcus Hale

Fourteen years.
One kitchen.

Marcus Hale trained under two James Beard Award–winning chefs before opening Ember in 2019. He spent three years in Copenhagen studying fermentation and preservation, another four in New York running the fish program at a Michelin-starred room. He came back to Nashville — where he grew up — because he missed the ingredients.

Ember is built around a single wood-fired hearth — a Neapolitan-style oven Marcus had shipped from Italy and installed himself over the course of a week. Everything on the tasting menu passes through it or is shaped by the smoke and heat it produces.

He was named a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast in 2023 and 2024. He has never publicly confirmed whether that matters to him.