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I hadn’t heard of Jeremy Charles, or his restaurant Raymonds in Newfoundland. But after doing a little reading, I uncovered an approach to cooking simpatico with my own perspective and preferences. In an age when social media make it easy for chefs to appear closer to nature, here you have a chef who seems genuinely so. He doesn’t just hunt and fish to appear rugged and idyllic, or in parcel to a packaged narrative. He hunts and fishes because that is a way of life in Newfoundland (it’s the only province of Canada where it’s legal to serve wild game in restaurants).
Charles cooked on the ninth night of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood with hosting chef Christopher Kostow.
I love Charles’s plainspokenness, which comes through in his cooking. There’s a broad-stroked appeal to it. You get it, for example, in his simplified version of “Jiggs dinner” – a traditional Newfoundland Sunday fare of boiled meat, often accompanied by a split-pea soup (oddly spelled “pease pudding”). He stripped it down to bowl of fresh pasta cappelletti stuffed with pea mash, and a warm broth reminiscent of a meat boil. It was tidy without being fussy, and yet evocative of the humble comfort of a Sunday supper.
So too was a plate of partridge, an unadorned portrait of upland woods: slices of the bird with a tender nugget of its heart, chanterelles, parsnip purée, and berries.
But his cooking was not without elegance. There was a fine, partridge liver mousse (waste not, want not), for example, that he piped into gougères; a canapé. It was smooth and flavorful. And despite his rather unorthodox couplings – mousse heart and squid ink, or poundcake with blueberries and chanterelles – his food seemed entirely sensible.
Kostow waded out into field and stream with Charles with a menu that included foraged cauliflower mushroom with sumac (served as a canapé), and thick-cut slices of wild boar with apple mustard.
From the cold waters of the Pacific, there was Dungeness crab. And from the evergreen forests that surround The Restaurant at Meadowood, pine, which was infused into an ice cream sundæ.
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This is the menu from Day 9 of the Twelve Days of Christmas with guest chef Jeremy Charles (click here for all of the photos from this dinner):
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Canapés
Moose Consommé
Wild herbs.
(Charles)
Cauliflower Mushroom
Sumac.
(The Restaurant at Meadowood)
Partridge Liver Profiteroles
(Charles)
Moose Heart
Currant, squid ink.
(Charles)
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1st Course
Newfoundland Scallop
Smoked roe.
(Charles)
2nd Course
Dungeness Crab
Salsify, almond milk.
(The Restaurant at Meadowood)
3rd Course
Pea Pudding
Cappelletti.
(Charles)
4th Course
Black Cod
Pork, fava.
(Charles)
5th Course
Partridge
Parsnip, heart.
(Charles)
6th Course
Wild Boar
Apple mustard.
(The Restaurant at Meadowood)
7th Course
Blueberry
Chanterelle, pound cake.
(Charles)
8th Course
Pine Sundæ
(The Restaurant at Meadowood)
9th Course
Chocolate Bay
(The Restaurant at Meadowood)
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Domaine Patrick Baudouin “La Fresnaye,” Anjou.
Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet, Heré Souhaut
Hans Wirsching, Silvaner, 2017
Radio-Coteau, Chardonnay, Anderson Valley, 2015
Mascarello, Dolcetto d’Alba, 2017
Corra, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2006
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Below are links to my posts and photos from all Twelve Days of Christmas dinners I have attended. Each chef is listed with the restaurant with which they were cooking at the time they participated in the event (some have moved on to other projects and restaurants).
2012
Scott Anderson (Elements; Princeton, New Jersey)
John & Karen Shields (Formerly of Townhouse; Chilhowie, Virginia)
Phillip Foss (EL Ideas; Chicago, Illinois)
Stuart Brioza & Nicole Krasinski (State Bird Provisions; San Francisco, California)
Jason Franey (Canlis Restaurant; Seattle, Washinton)
Matthias Merges (Yusho; Chicago, Illinois)
Mori Onodera (Formerly of Mori Sushi; Los Angeles, California)
James Syhabout (Commis; Oakland, California)
Nick Anderer (Maialino; New York, New York)
David Toutain (Agapé Substance; Paris, France)
Josh Habiger & Erik Anderson (The Catbird Seat; Nashville Tennessee)
Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood; St. Helena, California)
2013
Andy Ricker (Pok Pok, Portland, Oregon & New York, New York)
Rodolfo Guzman (Boragó; Santiago, Chile)
Carlo Mirarchi (Blanca and Roberta’s; Brooklyn, New York)
Tim Cushman (O Ya; Boston, Massachusetts)
Ashley Christensen (Poole’s Diner; Raleigh, North Carolina)
David Chang (Momofuku; New York, New York)
Matthew Accarrino (SPQR; San Francisco, California)
Mark Ladner & Brooks Headley (Del Posto; New York, New York)
Rasmus Kofoed (Geranium; Copenhagen, Denmark)
Nicolaus Balla & Cortney Burns (Bar Tartine; San Francisco, California)
David Kinch (Manresa; Los Gatos, California)
Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood; St. Helena, California)
2014
Matthew Orlando (Amass; Copenhagen, Denmark)
Frank Castranovo & Frank Falcinelli (Frankies 457, Prime Meats; New York, New York)
Kobe Desramaults (In de Wulf; Dranouter, Belgium)
Alexandre Gauthier (La Grenouillère; La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil, France)
Blaine Wetzel (Willows Inn; Lummi Island, Washington)
Joshua McFadden (Ava Gene’s; Portland, Oregon)
Virgilio Martinez (Central; Lima, Peru)
Grant Achatz (Alinea; Chicago, Illinois)
Corey Lee (Benu; San Francisco, California)
Esben Holmboe Bang (Maaemo; Oslo, Norway)
Ignacio Mattos (Estela; New York, New York)
Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood; St. Helena, California)
2015
Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison Park, NoMad; New York, New York)
Nenad Mlinarevic (Focus; Vitznau, Switzerland)
Christian Puglisi (relæ; Copenhagen, Denmark)
Jorge Vallejo (Quintonil; Mexico City, Mexico)
Joshua Skenes (Saison; San Francisco, California)
Matthew Wilkinson (Pope Joan; Melbourne, Australia)
Kim Floresca and Daniel Ryan ([One]; Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
Isaac McHale (The Clove Club; London, The United Kingdom)
Kyle Connaughton (Single Thread; Healdsburg, California)
Atsushi Tanaka (A.T. Restaurant; Paris, France)
Justin Yu (Oxheart; Houston, Texas)
Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood; St. Helena, California)
2017
Mark Lundgaard Nielsen (Kong Hans Kælder; Copenhagen, Denmark)
Manish Mehrotra (Indian Accents; New Dehli, India; New York, New York; London, U.K.)
Jeremiah Stone & Fabián von Hauske Valtierra (Contra & Wildair; New York, New York)
Jeremy Fox (Rustic Canyon & Tallula’s; Santa Monica, California)
Ben Sukle (birch & Oberlin; Providence, Rhode Island)
Sean Brock (McCrady’s, McCrady’s Tavern, Husk, & Minero; Charleston, South Carolina)
Yoshiaki Takazawa (Takazawa; Tokyo, Japan)
Thomas Keller (The French Laundry; Yountville, California)
Eric Werner (Hartwood; Tulum, Mexico)
Jock Zonfrillo (Orana; Adelaide, Australia)
Alexandre Couillon (La Marine; Noirmoutier, France)
Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood; St. Helena, California)
2018
Jose Enrique (Jose Enrique; San Juan, Puerto Rico)
David Pynt (Burnt Ends; Singapore)
Jessica Largey (Simone; Los Angeles, California)
James Lowe (Lyle’s; London, The United Kingdom)
Kamilla Seidler (formerly of Gustu in La Paz, Bolivia; Copenhagen, Denmark)
Byung-jin Kim (Gaon; Seoul, South Korea)
Wojciech Modest Amaro (Atelier Amaro; Warsaw, Poland)
Justin Cogley (Auberine; Carmel, California) & Trevor Moran (Nashville, Tennessee)
Michael Tusk (Cotogna and Quince; San Francisco, California)
Ana Ros (Hiša Franko; Kobarid, Slovenia)
Sota Atsumi (Maison, opening in 2019; Paris, France)
Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood; St. Helena, California)
2019
Gabriela Camara (Contramar; Mexico City, Mexico/Cala; San Francisco, California)
John and Karen Shields (Smyth, and The Loyalist; Chicago, Illinois)
Daniel Calvert (Belon; Hong Kong)
José Avillez (Belcanto; Lisbon, Portugal)
Junghyun Park (atomix and atoboy; New York, New York)
Jeremy Chan (Ikoyi; London, The United Kingdom)
Nicolai Nørregaard (kadeau; Bornholm and Copenhagen, Denmark)
Brady Williams (Canlis; Seattle, Washington)
Jeremy Charles (Raymonds; St. John’s, Newfoundland; Canada)
Photos: Jeremy Charles, with Ross Larkin, Charlie Appel, and Zach Yoder in the garden; Charles at staff line-up; Charles and Larkin rolling pasta for cappelletti; Larkin plating blueberry poundcake dessert; black cod; partridge; wine pairings; Charles, Larkin and the team at The Restaurant at Meadowood; Charles, Larkin, and Christopher Kostow.
