Photography by Amanda Witt Photo
It’s not uncommon for aspiring chefs to bounce from job to job. Tyler Davis began at The Crossing, then went to the DeMun Oyster Bar, Franco, Benton Park Café, The Libertine, and Siam, before landing the executive chef job at The Tavern of Fine Arts. It is uncommon, however, for traditional, freewheeling chefs to make the jump into the world of pastry, where recipes must be followed to the gram. Davis did just that at Element, discovering a talent that bore fruit when he transitioned to The Chocolate Pig as its executive pastry chef, creating desserts like a chocolate dome that melted under poured hot berry sauce, exposing peanut butter mousse, cookie crumbles, and nitrogen-frozen berries.
Photography by Wesley Law
Compelled to become a small business owner, he started PiGuy Cheesecakes, which morphed into a tricorn business, under the brand Tai Davis: Sacred Geometry, which includes food photography for fine art books (released in December), paintings, prints, and large-scale cake installations for museum exhibitions; Aether (which includes consulting and a series of pop-up dinners called Elevated), and Alchemy Bakery (source for special-occasion cakes and chocolates).
On the bridal front, Davis’ versatility as both chef and artist translates to a multitude of different services: Large-group catering, wedding cakes and pastries, and bridal shower brunches are a few of the options available.
The chef’s avant-garde wedding cakes are usually inspired by natural elements. He’s made cakes that look like pyrite, a geode, and “an Art Deco wall with roses poking out it.” Davis likes the challenge of a you-name-it flavor and prefers using buttercream icing over fondant. The hottest trend? Hand-painted cakes. “You don’t see those very often, and not many people can execute them,” he says.
People underestimate the time, care, and steps necessary to make and deliver a wedding cake—“it should be an Olympic sport, honestly,” Davis says—so he’s happy when clients think outside the wedding cake box by requesting dessert bars, cheesecake spreads, food walls with doughnuts or cookies…to say nothing of curiosities like create-your-own noodle bowl stations.
And yes, post-reception food is still a big deal, he says, the most popular item being a version of the Saint Louis Spread, a traditional roundup of thin-crust pizza, homemade T-ravs, barbecue pork steak sliders, gooey butter cake bites, and, of course, mini-cups of Ted Drewes.
