2013

12 days

12 days: on the twelfth day of christmas… (kostow)

~ The twelfth day of Christmas dawned with a second wind of excitement at The Restaurant at Meadowood.   When I arrived at the kitchen in the morning, as I did every day of this dinner series, the cooks seemed to move with the efficiency and confidence of having their home field back.  In the days leading up to this last […]

Continue

12 days: on the twelfth day of christmas… (kostow)

~ The twelfth day of Christmas dawned with a second wind of excitement at The Restaurant at Meadowood.   When I arrived at the kitchen in the morning, as I did every day of this dinner series, the cooks seemed to move with the efficiency and confidence of having their home field back.  In the days leading up to this last […]

Continue

12 days: on the eleventh day of christmas… (kinch)

~ “Lovely,” David Kinch sighed repeatedly as he walked through the hoop house at the The Restaurant at Meadowood’s garden, running his hands over trays of feathery herbs.  The head gardener here, Christine Kim, used to work at Love Apple Farm, a biodynamic garden with which Kinch partnered to grow produce for his restaurant, Manresa in Los Gatos, […]

Continue

12 days: on the eleventh day of christmas… (kinch)

~ “Lovely,” David Kinch sighed repeatedly as he walked through the hoop house at the The Restaurant at Meadowood’s garden, running his hands over trays of feathery herbs.  The head gardener here, Christine Kim, used to work at Love Apple Farm, a biodynamic garden with which Kinch partnered to grow produce for his restaurant, Manresa in Los Gatos, […]

Continue

12 days: on the tenth day of christmas… (balla & burns)

~ The first time I ate at Bar Tartine in San Francisco, I noticed a particularly dark spicing and foreign sense of boldness to chef Nicolaus Balla’s hearty style of cooking.  I recall unique combinations of flavors, that, although were not common, were not entirely unfamiliar – beef tongue under a canopy of tart purslane, […]

Continue

12 days: on the tenth day of christmas… (balla & burns)

~ The first time I ate at Bar Tartine in San Francisco, I noticed a particularly dark spicing and foreign sense of boldness to chef Nicolaus Balla’s hearty style of cooking.  I recall unique combinations of flavors, that, although were not common, were not entirely unfamiliar – beef tongue under a canopy of tart purslane, […]

Continue

12 days: on the ninth day of christmas… (kofoed)

~ The woods above Napa Valley were quiet when we arrived mid-morning.  Cameron Rahtz, the resident forager at The Restaurant at Meadowood, took us up and off a trail, teetering across fallen trucks and trickling creeks, into a thick carpet of leaves.  It’s been a dry year here.  Last year, the Napa Valley saw close […]

Continue

12 days: on the ninth day of christmas… (kofoed)

~ The woods above Napa Valley were quiet when we arrived mid-morning.  Cameron Rahtz, the resident forager at The Restaurant at Meadowood, took us up and off a trail, teetering across fallen trucks and trickling creeks, into a thick carpet of leaves.  It’s been a dry year here.  Last year, the Napa Valley saw close […]

Continue

12 days: on the eighth day of christmas… (ladner & headley)

~ Mark Ladner and Brooks Headley, chef and pastry chef of the Michelin-starred Del Posto in New York City, are two of my favorite culinarians in America right now.  Together, they are authoring some of the most elegant and exciting interpretations of Italian regional cuisine I’ve encountered this side of the Atlantic.  Their approach to […]

Continue

12 days: on the eighth day of christmas… (ladner & headley)

~ Mark Ladner and Brooks Headley, chef and pastry chef of the Michelin-starred Del Posto in New York City, are two of my favorite culinarians in America right now.  Together, they are authoring some of the most elegant and exciting interpretations of Italian regional cuisine I’ve encountered this side of the Atlantic.  Their approach to […]

Continue

12 days: on the seventh day of christmas… (accarrino)

~ Matt Accarrino, chef at the Michelin-starred SPQR in San Francisco, has a close, working relationship with Peter Jacobsen, who has an orchard and garden in Yountville.  Jacobsen used to supply a lot of fruit to The French Laundry, and now supplies fruits and vegetables to SPQR.  Accarrino drives up to help work the garden […]

Continue

12 days: on the seventh day of christmas… (accarrino)

~ Matt Accarrino, chef at the Michelin-starred SPQR in San Francisco, has a close, working relationship with Peter Jacobsen, who has an orchard and garden in Yountville.  Jacobsen used to supply a lot of fruit to The French Laundry, and now supplies fruits and vegetables to SPQR.  Accarrino drives up to help work the garden […]

Continue

12 days: on the sixth day of christmas… (chang)

~ When David Chang can’t find the flavors he wants – like certain soy sauces from Japan – he makes them. Yesterday, he opened bottles and jars of what he calls “bonji” – fermented sauces – and “hozon” – fermented pastes- for us to taste.  These fermented products, made from legumes and nuts, were developed […]

Continue

12 days: on the sixth day of christmas… (chang)

~ When David Chang can’t find the flavors he wants – like certain soy sauces from Japan – he makes them. Yesterday, he opened bottles and jars of what he calls “bonji” – fermented sauces – and “hozon” – fermented pastes- for us to taste.  These fermented products, made from legumes and nuts, were developed […]

Continue

12 days: on the fifth day of christmas… (christensen)

~ Last year, at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in Oxford, Mississippi, I was sitting at lunch with Christopher Kostow when chef Ashley Christensen knocked our socks off with an unforgettable parade wonderful vegetable dishes: jars of field peas, poblano peppers stuffed with kuri squash, and a gorgeous smoked tomato pie with a healthy dollop of […]

Continue

12 days: on the fifth day of christmas… (christensen)

~ Last year, at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in Oxford, Mississippi, I was sitting at lunch with Christopher Kostow when chef Ashley Christensen knocked our socks off with an unforgettable parade wonderful vegetable dishes: jars of field peas, poblano peppers stuffed with kuri squash, and a gorgeous smoked tomato pie with a healthy dollop of […]

Continue

12 days: on the fourth day of christmas… (cushman)

~ Chef Tim Cushman brought with him to the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood a menagerie of chopstick holders (ranging from dogs and cats to red hot chili peppers and pigs flying planes) and a whole lot of flavor. Cushman is the only chef of this year’s Twelve Days of Christmas […]

Continue

12 days: on the fourth day of christmas… (cushman)

~ Chef Tim Cushman brought with him to the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood a menagerie of chopstick holders (ranging from dogs and cats to red hot chili peppers and pigs flying planes) and a whole lot of flavor. Cushman is the only chef of this year’s Twelve Days of Christmas […]

Continue

12 days: on the third day of christmas… (mirarchi)

~ Much like his restaurants, Roberta’s and Blanca, which made Brooklyn’s otherwise quiet neighborhood of Bushwick a culinary destination, Carlo Mirarchi’s cooking teeters between the simple and the sophisticated, totters from the rough to the refined. The third chef to cook at this year’s Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Mirarchi brought […]

Continue

12 days: on the third day of christmas… (mirarchi)

~ Much like his restaurants, Roberta’s and Blanca, which made Brooklyn’s otherwise quiet neighborhood of Bushwick a culinary destination, Carlo Mirarchi’s cooking teeters between the simple and the sophisticated, totters from the rough to the refined. The third chef to cook at this year’s Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Mirarchi brought […]

Continue

12 Days of Christmas Archive