Destination: St. Helena

travel: blurred lines…

~ At the end of each of the last two years, I’ve looked back in awe at a calendar filled with adventures.  At the same time, I’ve stared nervously into the new year, wondering how it might fill up, if at all. We are at the bottom of December, once again.  And, once again, I […]

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travel: blurred lines…

~ At the end of each of the last two years, I’ve looked back in awe at a calendar filled with adventures.  At the same time, I’ve stared nervously into the new year, wondering how it might fill up, if at all. We are at the bottom of December, once again.  And, once again, I […]

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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, […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 second day of christmas… (guzman)

~ Perhaps my favorite aspect of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood is the “cross pollination” that takes place among the chefs and cooks here at Meadowood Napa Valley. There’s quite a bit of dialogue among chefs nowadays, thanks to the internet and the well-ridden circuit of international chef congresses and […]

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12 days: on the second day of christmas… (guzman)

~ Perhaps my favorite aspect of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood is the “cross pollination” that takes place among the chefs and cooks here at Meadowood Napa Valley. There’s quite a bit of dialogue among chefs nowadays, thanks to the internet and the well-ridden circuit of international chef congresses and […]

Continue

best dishes of 2012…

~ Seven years ago, I surveyed all of the dishes I had eaten in that year and compiled a list of my favorites, more for my own record than for posterity.  Since, it has become an annual tradition. 2012 marked another spectacular year of eating for me.  Once again, I traveled the world, visiting restaurants […]

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best dishes of 2012…

~ Seven years ago, I surveyed all of the dishes I had eaten in that year and compiled a list of my favorites, more for my own record than for posterity.  Since, it has become an annual tradition. 2012 marked another spectacular year of eating for me.  Once again, I traveled the world, visiting restaurants […]

Continue

12 days: ladies dancing (anderer)…

~ On the ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Christopher Kostow gave to me Nick Anderer, the chef at Danny Meyers’s restaurant Maialino in the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City. Anderer and Kostow’s friendship reaches back to the days before either of them was a cook.  Anderer […]

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12 days: ladies dancing (anderer)…

~ On the ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Christopher Kostow gave to me Nick Anderer, the chef at Danny Meyers’s restaurant Maialino in the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City. Anderer and Kostow’s friendship reaches back to the days before either of them was a cook.  Anderer […]

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12 days: maids a-milking (syhabout)…

~ On the eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Christopher Kostow gave to me James Syhabout, chef of the one Michelin-starred restaurant commis in Oakland, California. At a question-and-answer session at the Culinary Institute of America, Syhabout told students about his upbringing as a child of two refugee immigrants.  His […]

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12 days: maids a-milking (syhabout)…

~ On the eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Christopher Kostow gave to me James Syhabout, chef of the one Michelin-starred restaurant commis in Oakland, California. At a question-and-answer session at the Culinary Institute of America, Syhabout told students about his upbringing as a child of two refugee immigrants.  His […]

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12 days: swans a-swimming (onodera)…

~ On the seventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Christopher Kostow gave to me Morihiro Onodera. Earlier this year, when Kostow sent me the finalized list of guest chefs for this dinner series, Onodera’s was the only name on the roster that I did not know.  So, in the […]

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12 days: swans a-swimming (onodera)…

~ On the seventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, Christopher Kostow gave to me Morihiro Onodera. Earlier this year, when Kostow sent me the finalized list of guest chefs for this dinner series, Onodera’s was the only name on the roster that I did not know.  So, in the […]

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