Chef Tyja Taube, originally from Mendocino, grew up around fresh local foods. He currently co-operates a small farm in Santa Rosa called the Giving Gardens Project. Taube grows a variety of produce – which will be featured at Applewood as much as possible. During his free time, Taube enjoys fishing, free-diving, traveling, and foraging for mushrooms. 

Chef Michelle “Shelley” Cerneant will work beside Taube to create the distinctive dishes that guests at the Restaurant at Applewood have come to expect. Cermeant became interested in the culinary arts while working on a BA in Anthropology; she studied the use of plants and the history of food.  After college she worked for a wholesale herb nursery furthering her interest in herbs and spices. Cermeant later enrolled in the culinary program at Santa Rosa Junior College and began working at Applewood under Chef Bruce in 2008.

The Restaurant at Applewood maintains it own prolific herb garden as well as a larger organic vegetable garden. The six acre property also features abundant fruit trees. Applewood owners, Carlos Pippa and Sylvia Ranyak are passionately interested in sustainability and green practices - including recycling, composting and the utilization of solar panels. Their newly installed solar unit has made Applewood energy self-sufficient and has provided an income as well – selling $2500 worth of excess energy to PG&E, thus far.