Eat’s Natalie Young Continues to Inspire, and Not Just With Her Food

“I look around at everything I have now and it seems absolutely unbelievable.” When Natalie Young says those words near the end of the American Express commercial first broadcast during February’s Academy Awards, you can feel the sincerity.

That commercial allowed the rest of the world to get to know Young, the veteran kitchen pro and soulful force we know as Chef Nat, proprietor behind Downtown’s insanely popular Eat breakfast and lunch restaurant. Now that she’s shared her inspiring story of overcoming substance addiction—and considering her second Downtown restaurant, Chow, is coming soon to Fremont East—we dropped in for an early morning coffee chat with Nat, just to catch up on things, and get a little inspiration, too.