Marion native Andy Doubrava earns a Michelin Star at Nashville restaurant

NASHVILLE — With roots in the Tri-town, Andy Doubrava, executive chef of Nashville’s The Catbird Seat, has earned a Michelin Star.

Alongside his fellow executive chef and wife Tiffani Ortiz, Doubrava received news that The Catbird Seat has earned its first Michelin Star in November 2025.

Growing up in Massachusetts, Doubrava spent childhood summers living in Marion with his family. His parents, Jeff and Beth Doubrava, now live in Marion permanently while his brother Alex Doubrava lives in Rochester. Until their passing, his grandparents lived in Mattapoisett.

“I grew up in Massachusetts and we moved to New York when I was still in high school," Doubrava said.

While living in New York, Doubrava first explored the food service industry while working at a pizza place.

As he switched between colleges and figured out his path forward, Doubrava said “food was the thing I was good at when everything else wasn’t going well.”

He ended up attending the French Culinary Institute in New York City, where he met Ortiz.

Doubrava then went on to work in kitchens at Reynard in Brooklyn, Spotted Pig in Manhattan and then moved to Los Angeles and became the executive chef of Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica.

While in Los Angeles, he also reconnected with Ortiz while she was volunteering on a lemon farm in Malibu.

“It was just a really hard place to not fall in love with each other,” said Ortiz. “We ended up settling on that farm and living there for quite some time.”

After their time in Los Angeles, Doubrava and Ortiz embarked on a “Slow Burn” tour. For a two-year period, the duo traveled across North America from coast to coast five times, stopping at various cities and restaurants to learn from chefs across the continent and connect with their peers.

“This tour was really an opportunity to kind of open that up and really interact with these people in their own stomping grounds and to learn from them in a very organic way,” Doubrava said. 

“Every city was a different climate, a different elevation, a different culture,” Ortiz said.

Following their cross-country escapades, Doubrava and Ortiz began working at The Catbird Seat in 2024. 

The Catbird Seat operates as an incubator space, meaning executive chefs are hired for around two to three years and are able to run with their own menu concept and vision for the restaurant.

“It’s just been a really amazing opportunity because we pretty much get to have our own restaurant without having to financially back it,” said Ortiz.

The duo said they play to each other’s strengths while collaborating with “every part of the restaurant.”

“We each have our own ideas. We are collaborative with every part of the restaurant, but there’s definitely certain things that Tiff is better at,” Doubrava said. “A lot of interior design and the way that guests feel as far as hospitality goes is completely driven by Tiff.”

The Catbird Seat serves hearty dishes that elevate and experiment with local ingredients. A new take on a classic vichyssoise with jonah crab and trout roe, chicken wings with macadamia and truffle and sturgeon with chamomile and garlic flavors were showcased on the online sample menu.

At the restaurant, Doubrava and Ortiz said the beauty of The Catbird Seat is in the “fluidity” of their vision.

“We’re just really enjoying not defining it too much, and instead just kind of gearing it toward uplifting the community of cooks and farmers,” Doubrava said.

He added they don’t want to be like every other tasting menu at fine dining establishments.

“The music is much louder than most restaurants would be. The staff is incredibly unstuffy. We really just want it to feel like we invited you to our little dinner party,” Doubrava said.

“It’s very high brow, low brow,” Ortiz said. “We serve the food at the restaurant along with our cooks.”

Earning a Michelin Star together has “just been crazy,” Doubrava said.

“We’re not used to being at the forefront of all the correspondence and the press and being on podcasts and stuff like that,” Ortiz said.

The two chefs emphasized the accomplishment gave them “a sense of pride” after their hard work leading the restaurant.

“Hearing that we’re getting a Michelin Star and, in a way, at the best part of our career where we are kind of running the program on our own — at least the food side of things — to be awarded a star for all of that hard work, it makes us feel a sense of pride,” Ortiz said.

“This city has surprised us in really crazy and rewarding ways, and we are busier than ever,” Doubrava said. “It’s really nice to get the recognition to kind of show to us that it really is worth it and that people are paying attention to what we’re doing.”