Destined to be one of Nashville's top restaurants, in November of 1997, nationally known Chef/Owner Debra Paquette opened ZOLA in the former location of the Cakewalk Restaurant. She had been the Executive Chef at the Cakewalk from 1987 to 1994, when she left to open the highly successful Bound'ry Restaurant. Debra's return to this popular Vanderbilt area location heralded considerable change to both the menu and the restaurant's interior. She won "Nashville's Best Chef" honors three years in a row, while ZOLA was named "Nashville's Best Restaurant" and "Most Romantic".

Chef Deb and ZOLA were recently featured in Gourmet Magazine's Annual Restaurant Issue as one of the top sixty restaurants in the United States. A 1978 Culinary Institute of America graduate, Debra holds a BS in Hospitality Management from Florida International University. She was the first woman in the state of Tennessee to qualify as a Certified Executive Chef. A two-time winner of Chef of the Year from Nashville Life Magazine, she was awarded Restaurateur of the Year in 1996 and 1997, by the Middle Tennessee Chef's Association. She has also been featured in Bon Appetit and Southern Living magazines and on Discovery Channel's series "Great Chef's of the South". Including this year's Readers' Poll results, she has been named "Nashville's Best Chef" fourteen times.