Tyler Wells , the celebrated chef and restauranteur, lives in a tent. Part-time, anyway.

The last seven months have been a whirlwind of profound loss and newfound beginnings. After selling a successful coffee company and co-founding the popular Los Angeles restaurant All Time, the 47-year-old, auburn-haired chef turned his focus to a new venture. But it nearly all came crashing down after the Eaton Fire torched over 14,000 acres , destroying his newly purchased home.

Fresh off a divorce. Reeling from the wildfire. A restaurant in limbo. A move south to Orange County. This year has been his most transformative yet. And it all led to the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano where he’s now the new chef-in-residence.

Wells’ turning point came in a flash of orange and red, a day scor

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