Vivek Surti is the founder/owner of Tailor, a South Asian American restaurant located in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood. Tailor is the permanent home to Surti’s popular VEA Supper Club, Nashville's first and longest running series of pop-up dinners that he created in 2011. After opening in 2018, Tailor appeared on Bon Appétit’s Hot 10 list of America’s best new restaurants and Thrillist’s 12 Best New Restaurants in America. In 2020, Surti was recognized as a James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast, and he was tapped to represent Nashville as a TasteTwenty Chef in 2023 for James Beard Foundation's Taste America culinary series. 

At Tailor, Surti is pioneering the first-generation American food movement, showcasing dishes that are representative of his experience growing up in the American South with parents who immigrated from India's state of Gujarat. An evening at Tailor is often compared to a dinner party – going to a friend's house who has a really cool kitchen, where great food, wine and conversation never seem to end. Surti's food point of view and hospitality are served up as delightfully as the dishes he prepares, welcoming everyone around the table as if they are in his own home as he shares relatable vignettes between courses to give context to the first-generation American cuisine he showcases.