DENTON — On a two-lane road in a quiet pocket of Denton, a team of chefs is crafting an intimate, hyper-personalized dining experience where each dish is guided by the preferences and specificities of the person it’s made for.
Their diners? The residents of the Sage Oak boutique senior living community.
Unlike most senior living homes, this small one in North Texas is centered around food. The living spaces are designed like residential homes where the kitchen is the literal and metaphorical core, and the meals are anything but an afterthought.
Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef Larry Atwater oversees a staff of culinary professionals at Sage Oak who do all of their cooking in the open kitchens at four assisted living and memory care homes on the property.
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Executive chef Larry Atwater (from left), chef Aram Garcia and chef Lauren Rose plate lunch for residents.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
“It is just like being a private chef and cooking in someone’s home,” said Atwater, who came on as culinary director when the community opened in 2022.
The job entails preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, but it’s also ordering multiple brands of ice cream because Dale prefers vanilla Tillamook and Cheryl only wants Blue Bell. It’s keeping wild-caught salmon on hand for Mary Ann who doesn’t eat beef, and remembering “if it’s green, don’t give it to Earlene” when plating vegetables. It’s making over-easy eggs for Bob at 8 a.m. sharp, and baking warm blueberry muffins for Margaret every morning.
It’s tracking down a family recipe to make for a resident longing for home, and always cooking enough in case loved ones come by for a meal.
Residents can sit at the counter of the open kitchen to watch chefs work and to eat their meals. The counter seating is always in high demand.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
“It is super personalized,” Atwater said.
This personalized culinary strategy is uncommon in the senior living space, but as the demand for senior housing rises, boutique options such as this are likely to grow, especially in Texas, where the senior population is expected to increase by more than 24% in the next decade.
In the Dallas area — the largest senior living market in the state — the median cost for assisted living is $5,238 per month, according to data from CareScout. The Sage Oak website says its assisted living starts at $6,475.
“It’s about making people feel heard,” said Atwater of the experience at Sage Oak. “A lot of what we do is a la minute.”
A lot of what they do also has little to do with cooking.
Chefs at Sage Oak must be as adept at tenderly spooning soup into trembling mouths as they are at whisking together a béarnaise. They must know how to plan a menu for varying dietary restrictions, but also how to soothe a confused and frightened mind.
The chefs are, Atwater tells them, on the front lines. They’re the first to know if someone’s appetite is fading, or if certain foods become too difficult to chew. They are nourishers, entertainers and caregivers in the Sage Oak ecosystem, which includes three other properties — one in Louisiana, one in Dallas and another in Colleyville.
“We can’t just hire any great chef,” said Christina Hodack, the center’s executive director. “We need a special kind of skill set. It’s really hard to find.”
Hodack, whose mother lives in one of the Denton community’s memory care homes, said they look for a certain personality type when hiring a chef. Someone personable, patient and with thick skin. Feedback from residents, she said, is swift and unfiltered.
They found the hires they were looking for in brothers Aram Garcia, Jaden Garcia and Damen Garcia — three of five chefs on staff. The brothers split their time among the three memory care homes and one assisted living home, each of which can house 16 residents.
Brothers Aram, Jaden and Damen Garcia are three of the five chefs on staff at Sage Oak.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
On a recent Wednesday, as the brothers prepped roasted turkey roulade and cornbread stuffing in one of the memory care homes, resident Ken Morris shuffled into the kitchen to see what was for lunch.
“That’s Skillet,” Morris said as he pointed to Aram. “And that,” he said, pointing to Damen, “is I Gotcha.”
“This one is the smartest one in the bunch, so we call him Doc,” Morris said, nodding toward Jaden. “I can’t remember people’s names, so I gave them those.”
Cooking in an open-format kitchen in a memory care home requires good humor, surrender to the unexpected and constant awareness of one’s surroundings. Knives are never left out, the pantry remains locked and heads stay on swivels.
“I’ve had someone come up and tug on my sleeve as I’m working with hot oil,” said Damen Garcia. “You just redirect.”
Damen, who came from the kitchens of restaurant chains, said in the six months he’s worked at Sage Oak, he’s learned much about redirection and dementia care. The chefs are required to do regular online training for it, and there’s endless learning on the job.
Chef Lauren Rose serves lunch to residents in the assisted living home at Sage Oak of Denton.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
Most of the chefs on staff previously worked in large professional kitchens, and there was a learning curve in how to cook from scratch for a crowd in a small space with less than ideal equipment. There is no prep kitchen, no industrial dishwasher, no walk-in cooler. They work with the same appliances and storage one would find in any other residential kitchen.
Such an approach is certainly less efficient for the cooking staff, but Sage Oak owner Loe Hornbuckle said the benefits for residents are many. The open kitchen layout provides familiarity and comfort, which in turn helps those with cognitive decline from becoming too disoriented.
Having chefs cook directly in the homes where residents live and not in a commercial kitchen tucked away elsewhere on the property directly benefits residents’ health, too, Hodack said.
“We do not have a struggle with weight loss for our residents here,” she said.
Executive chef Larry Atwater plates braised and boned short rib for residents at Sage Oak of Denton.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
Because residents have such a strong olfactory experience with their meals being cooked right outside their bedroom doors, they’re more inclined to be interested in the food and maintain their appetites, Hodack said.
The chefs also take great care to make the meals as thoughtful and enticing as possible. Dishes are plated with the finesse found at sit-down restaurants, and they’re finished with herb oils and delicate garnishes. Charcuterie boards are set out between meals, and freshly baked pies line the counters where residents can sit and watch the chefs at work.
Every part of the cooking and dining experience at Sage Oak is communal. It’s meant to feel familiar and nostalgic, both for the residents and the chefs.
“It feels like coming home to my grandparents’ house,” said chef Lauren Rose. “But I’m cooking for them now, instead of them cooking for me.”