Between Jobs, a Chef Couple Cooks at Home With Family

Until a few weeks ago, chefs Isabel Ranney and Jason Linam were working side-by-side in a Denver restaurant kitchen. Ranney took over as the head chef of Bremen’s Wine & Tap in August, and she soon after brought on her husband, Linam, to be the sous chef.

The couple says they worked well together in the kitchen. She is bubbly and free-flowing; he masters process and execution. When the restaurant closed at the end of January for the owners to rethink the space and business, Ranney and Linam were just getting into the swing of things culinarily speaking. She channeled a background in herbalism to create healthful but soulful dishes from breakfast to dinner, while he perfected breads and pastas, most recently introducing a house sourdough to the menu.

Ranney recently accepted a new role as chef de cuisine at Tables restaurant in Park Hill. It was a kitchen she started working in early in her career, also run by a couple. Ranney says she likes the symmetry of coming back to a place where she started at the bottom. Linam, who also worked at Frasca Food & Wine and White Pie, is currently looking for another position.

Eater photographer Jonathan Phillips visited the couple at home with Ranney’s 8-year-old daughter Lee during a weeknight meal together. They cook at home now two or three times a week, and Lee is a “sponge,” Ranney says, learning to hand-crank her own pasta.