DOCSLIB.ORG

Kostow & Kahn Final Transcription

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kostow & Kahn Final Transcription Meadowood chef Christopher Kostow and WSJ’s Howie Kahn: The Future of Restaurants INDAGARE GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS | 1.10 Melissa Biggs Bradley Hi, and welcome to Indagare’s Global Conversations, a podcast about how traveling the world shapes our lives and perspectives. I’m Melissa Biggs Bradley of Indagare, a company I founded on the belief that how you travel matters. I’m sitting down with some of the most inspiring and innovative people I’ve met while on the road. They’re activists and conservationists, designers and filmmakers, writers, chefs, and entrepreneurs. They will share stories about their travels and how they lead lives of passion and purpose. They inspire me, as I hope they will you. Welcome to the Conversation! When I think of some of the most obsessed and obsessive travelers I've known, they're often people who eat their way through destinations and indeed a food scene, a place’s culinary history and its traditions around eating offer much more than just a delicious way to discover a destination, but often reveal clues to its essence. Which may be why every super talented and celebrated chef that I've ever met is also seriously passionate about travel and the places, the dishes and the ingredients that keep them inspired. Christopher Kostow is the chef at the restaurant at Meadowood, which is located at one of my favorite hotels in America -- the Meadowood Resort in Napa Valley. Since 2011, only a few years after Chris took over the restaurant, it has been awarded three stars by Michelin every year. An incredible run that continues to this day and one that has made Chef Chris the third youngest chef ever to win three Michelin stars. He's also the founder of the Charter Oak Restaurant in Napa, which is a more casual establishment and of Ensue in Shenzhen, China. In 2014, he published his first book, A New Napa Cuisine, which was awarded the Book of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Chef Chris lives in Napa with his wife and two young daughters. Having had one of the most memorable meals of my life at the restaurant last year when we hosted an Indagare Insider Journey to Napa with WSJ magazine, I can say with conviction that he is a gastronomic genius. Also joining this conversation is Howie Kahn, an author and a contributing editor at the Wall Street Journal's WSJ Magazine. He was also my co-host during our Nappa journey, which is one that we plan to offer again in 2021. Howie is the creator of the daily podcast Takeout Only, which has been covering the hospitality and food industry during COVID 19 and which I highly recommend you give a listen to. As you can imagine, the conversation covers a lot of kitchen wisdom and global eating from Napa to China to Mexico, but it also reveals what both of these food obsessed men always keep in their pantries. And if you're inspired to visit Napa at the end of the episode, stay tuned for some Indagare expert tips on how to plan a visit and what not to miss when you do. So I'm thrilled to have both of you guys here today. I'm excited to get into talking about cooking and traveling and restaurants. But first, I wanted to start with what this whole lockdown situation looks like for both of you. You know, where you are, who you're sheltering with, how your routines have changed, all of that. Howie Kahn Chef, you go first. Christopher Kostow Thank you. I am in lockdown with my wife and two children, which has been lovely for me. They’d have to speak for themselves on how they're enjoying this. So we have been holed up in our home in Calistoga, just a little bit north of where I sit today. And we've been engaging in all those things that are discussed, the 24 hour a day on top of each other contact. Truth be told, to be frank, that part of this whole thing has been wonderful. MBB Yeah, that's because you get to eat your food and the rest of us have to eat our own cooking. But go ahead, Howie. HK It's true. Christopher is also sitting inside the restaurant at Meadowood right now, which is a nice place to be. I am inside the restaurant at my mother in law's house where my family has been living in quarantine for the last seven weeks. We have a four year old son and we thought it would be better for him to have a little bit of a backyard in the suburbs as opposed to living in Brooklyn where we live, which started to look like the dark scenes from a Batman movie. So we're here and it's me and my wife and our little boy and my mother and father in law. One big happy family. Cooking's been good. CK Are you doing all the cooking? HK I'm doing a lot of cooking. It's hard because everybody likes different things. So I'm cooking, like, kind of diner style, where everybody gets a little bit of what they want. My son's easy. He eats like buttered noodles for every meal. And I want stuff with, like, lots of fish sauce in it. And my mother in law doesn't eat salt. So, I mean, where we're like all we're all over the map. But it's, it's good. I mean, we're learning how to do it every day and, you know, we're all in the same boat. MBB So, Chris, you want to tell us a little bit about how you found your way to the kitchen? CK I'm a child of Midwestern suburbs, Highland Park, Illinois, outside of Chicago, where I was born and raised. I started cooking in the summer times at a music festival called Ravinia, which some of you may know is the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a venue at the time, for sort of like B level, not as good as they once were, groups like the Ringo Starr All Star Band, things like that. Anyway, the music festival...there was a big food and beverage component operated by a well-known Chicago restaurant group. And that's where all the kids would work for their summer jobs. So I had my first summer job, I think I was like 14, working a cash register. The guys in the kitchen were drinking the leftover box wine and having a really good time. And I said, that's where I want to be. And that began my cooking career, more or less frying chicken and baking flat top cheeseburgers and the like. And I continued to cook in some form or fashion through high school, through college. I went to Hamilton College with a concentration of philosophy and did a lot of cooking there for professors and friends and things of that sort. And I graduated in ‘99 and wanted to go somewhere warm and moved to Southern California, to San Diego with some friends and got a place on the beach and started cooking for a chef named Trey Foshay, who was in La Jolla, is still in La Jolla, is a good friend and a great chef. He sort of gave me my start. After working with him for some time, I went to Europe, was sort of back and forth over four or five years between Europe, mostly France, and both Southern California and eventually Northern California. I worked in Montpellier, Juan les Pines, Paris, Grasse and a long time in Juan-Les-Pins for a chef named Christian Morriset. I had my first chef position, I was a sous chef for Daniel Humm when he was at Campton Place in San Francisco. And when he moved east to take over Eleven Madison Park, I chose to sort of set out on my own and took a job as a chef at this little restaurant south of San Francisco in Mountain View, which is the home of Google. This is sort of, well, Google existed, but it was before Silicon Valley became as much a destination as it is now. And in this little old Victorian home with fake Tiffany lamps and a creaky floor and a bathroom lock that wouldn’t work and all sorts of very odd touches, I think we did some pretty good food and got some recognition. And I was looking at that time, this is 2008, 2007, I was looking for what I believed to be a bigger stage and better launching pad and maybe some more visibility and some things to compliment that cooking I believed we were doing. I heard about this place, Meadowood, which I frankly hadn't heard of prior, and they were looking for a chef. And it happened pretty quick. And I was up here for my first day of service. It was Valentine's Day of 2008. And I have been here a long time. I have far longer than I've ever been any place. I've lived here longer than I've ever lived any place; we've been able to make this our home. So I think we've had some successes here. I count the ones in the personal life of far greater value than the restaurant stuff.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ANV 2010 Saturday Mens Culinary Team
    Auction Napa Valley 2010 Men’s Team Chefs Bios: Saturday Lunch at Meadowood Octavio Becerra of Palate, Los Angeles Octavio’s culinary career was inspired by a chance meeting with Chef Joachim Splichal during the summer of 1984. After that profound encounter, Splichal mentored his young protégé, first in the kitchen of Max Au Triangle restaurant in Beverly Hills, and then in France and Spain, where Splichal arranged for Becerra to work for two years in some of Europe’s two and three star Michelin restaurants. Shortly after Becerra’s return to the US, Splichal opened Patina Restaurant and Becerra again joined his mentor. Just one year later, he was named executive chef of the renowned restaurant. Together, they then opened the first of the Pinot restaurants, Pinot Bistro in Studio City, with Becerra as the executive chef and partner. Since then, Becerra has been instrumental in the success and growth of The Patina Group, playing a major part in the launches of each new restaurant. As Vice President, Chef and Co Founder of The Patina Group, Becerra supervised the daily operations of 12 of the 30 plus Patina Group restaurants. Becerra’s fingerprint on the culinary identity and brand of The Patina Group played a vital role in the evolution of The Patina Group. Becerra has also accumulated accolades from the critics. The James Beard Foundation nominated him twice for “Rising Star Chef of the Year”, he has been featured in Bon Appétit magazine, and Nations Restaurant News featured him as one of the nations “50 New Taste Makers.” After sixteen years, Becerra departed The Patina Group to pursue his own venture.
    [Show full text]
  • World's Top Restaurants
    world’s TOP RESTAURANTS In association with: INTRODUCTION GÂTEAU DE PIGNONS DE PIN GRILLE, THE FRENCH LAUNDRY rom molecular gastronomy to the classic coq au vin, elite and dining in style. By gathering your views, we discovered F dining is one of the biggest joys of a private jet lifestyle. It is where high net worth individuals have been eating in the past in this spirit that we present Elite Traveler’s guide to the World’s year, and which places have wowed you. Top Restaurants. We continue to welcome your feedback, whether it’s a nod of Across the globe, the standard of restaurants is ever on the up, approval or table-thumping disgust—your comments will help with big name chefs stealing headlines, fighting for awards and shape future editions of the guide. To submit your views on any changing the way we think about food. It’s an exciting time to of the restaurants featured, or to suggest a venue for inclusion, unfurl a napkin, and our expectations as diners have never please email us at [email protected] and make your been higher. voice heard. Our guide features 100 restaurants loved not just by the critics, We’ve certainly enjoyed compiling the guide, and we hope you but by the wealthy elite who spend their lives traveling the world enjoy reading it. MILK FED VEAL, DANIEL © T.SCHAUER LINEA, USA LINEA, A HEASANT AT AT HEASANT P BANOFEE, PER SE N THE COVER: COVER: THE N O In association with: ELITE TRAveler | world’s top restAURANTS www.elitetraveler.com 2 TOP 100 1 RADISH RAVIOLI OF OYSTER , THE FAT DUCK ALINEA © DOMINIC DAVIES Chef / Owner: Grant Achatz Chef de Cuisine: Dave Beran General Manager and Wine Director: Joseph Catterson Phone: +1 312 867 0110 Email: [email protected] Address: 1723 North Halsted, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA Website: www.alinea-restaurant.com Cuisine: Contemporary American The worthy recipient of a host of accolades, Alinea’s reputation speaks for itself.
    [Show full text]
  • Nominees Photography Single Subject
    2012 James Beard Foundation Cooking from a Professional Point of View Book Awards Presented by Green & Black’s Organic Chocolate The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts by Meredith Erickson, David McMillan, and Frédéric Morin For cookbooks published in English in 2011. (Ten Speed Press) Winners will be announced May 4, 2012. Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook by Daniel Humm and Will Guidara American Cooking (Little, Brown and Company) A New Turn in the South: Modernist Cuisine Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen by Nathan Myhrvold with Chris Young and Maxime Bilet by Hugh Acheson (The Cooking Lab) (Clarkson Potter) General Cooking American Flavor by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking (Ecco) by John Besh (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes from an Uncommon Life in the Country Ruhlman’s Twenty by Suvir Saran with Raquel Pelzel and Charlie Burd by Michael Ruhlman (Chronicle Books) (Chronicle Books) Baking and Dessert The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift Baking Style: Art, Craft, Recipes (Clarkson Potter) by Lisa Yockelson (John Wiley & Sons) Focus on Health Cooking with Chocolate: Essential Recipes and Techniques Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy edited by Frédéric Bau by Ellie Krieger (Flammarion) (John Wiley & Sons) Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food Without Gluten & Lactose by Jeni Britton Bauer by Barbara Kafka (Artisan) (Artisan) Beverage
    [Show full text]
  • Application Form
    APPLICATION FORM First time application Stipendiary Nr. (please leave this space empty) Repeated application PERSONAL DATA First name Last Name Sex Female Male Address Postal Code/City Phone/Mobile Nr. Date of birth Nr. of children Civil status E-Mail Place of residence Place of birth Nationality Residence permit Family background First name and last name of the father Date of birth Profession First and last name of the mother Date of birth Profession Address of the legal parent Siblings (first and last name, date of birth, profession or school education) Financial Background (please indicate the currency ie. CHF, USD etc.) Gross income of the stipendiary Assets of the stipendiary Assets are invested in Company House Securities Cash Other: please state Page 1 Professional background and education Schools completed yes no Apprenticeships yes no Higher Education yes no Professional background Page 2 1. APPLICATION FOR AN ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP (only needs to be completed if a scholarship for an academic education is requested. Otherwise please proceed with point 2.) Name of the program for which the scholarship is requested for Degree status Full address of the instituation/university Duration of the acadmic program Start of the academic program Comment of the parents Page 3 Financing Program costs CHF Food and accommodation CHF School material CHF Various (please explain) CHF Various (please explain) CHF Various (please explain) CHF Various (please explain) CHF Total Expenses CHF Revenues Contribution from the parents CHF Salary of the applicant CHF Other grants CHF Loans CHF Other contributions CHF Total Revenues CHF Authorization By signing this application form the signer gives authorisation to the foundation "Fundaziun Uccelin" that all information provided in this document can be verified with the appropriate services (scholarship office, local authority, etc.).
    [Show full text]
  • In the Stars It’S Hard to Believe That the Michelin Guide—Something of a Bucket List for 2013
    2424 SV DINING In the Stars It’s hard to believe that the Michelin Guide—something of a bucket list for 2013 5 lovers of fine dining—began in 1900 as a simple tour book for motorists. Since 1926, the Michelin Guide has given star ratings to restaurants and hotels, bestowing one, two or three stars upon establishments deemed by VEMBER 5, VEMBER VEMBER its reviewers as “very good,” “excellent” or “exceptional.” NO NO It wasn’t until 2005 that the iconic French handbook made the jump ! ! 0 3 across the pond, first publishing a guide to New York City restaurants and then adding the Chicago and San Francisco metropolitan areas to its list of OBER O annually published guides. This year’s Michelin Guide: San Francisco Bay Area T & Wine Country covers 540 restaurants and hotels. OCTOBER 30 OCTOBER OC | Here’s a look at the South Bay and Peninsula establishments that made the cut in the one and two-star categories. (Perhaps next year we’ll see .com some of these rise up and join The French Laundry and The Restaurant at y e Meadowood in the crème de la crème three-star club?) ll conva Two Stars ili s o Palo Alto’s BAUMÉ o!ers an intimate dining experience and emphasizes local ingredients. With just 25 seats and a small back-of-house team headed metrosiliconvalley.com metr by chef Bruno Chemel, Baumé serves an ever-changing tasting menu using | seasonal ingredients. Despite dabbling in molecular gastronomy in the past, Chemel has recently expressed his desire to return to the more traditional methods he used as a chef working in France ose.com j Taking the farm-to-table concept to the next level, chef David Kinch of an MANRESA sanjose.com s Los Gatos’ has maintained a partnership with Love Apple Farms | in the Santa Cruz Mountains since 2006.
    [Show full text]
  • Pebble Beach Food & Wine
    THIRD ANNUAL PEBBLE BEACH FOOD & WINE APRIL 8-11, 2010 Complete schedule of events inside Volume 96 No. 15 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com April 9-15, 2010 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 Take two goats, and add a newborn lamb ... Supes OK Peninsula water project agreement By KELLY NIX AFTER LISTENING to a flood of support for a regional pro- ject that would provide a drought-free water supply to the Monterey Peninsula, county supervisors this week gave the plan their stamp of approval. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted 4-1 to go ahead with a $280 million to $390 million water project that would include a 10 million-gallons-per-day desalination plant in North Marina. The Monterey Bay Regional Water Project would satisfy state- ordered cutbacks from the overdrafted Carmel River — the PHOTOS/GALE WRAUSMAN (ABOVE), CHRIS COUNTS Peninsula’s primary water source — and help restore the habitats A lamb was born at Mission Ranch for the steelhead fish and red-legged frog. But the project would not Wednesday; meanwhile, two goats partici- allow water for infill, remodels or lots of record. pated in a public meeting on a new housing “Twenty years from now,” county resident Bill Caruthers told the project in Carmel Valley. See page 13A supervisors before they voted on the issue, “we will look back at this decision and say we did the right thing.” According to the agreement the supervisors approved, the Marina desal plant would be owned and operated by the Marina water dis- BIG SUR WILDERNESS BILL WITHDRAWN — FOR NOW trict and would treat a combination of seawater and brackish water that would be drawn from wells owned and operated by the county.
    [Show full text]
  • Auction Lots at a Glance Lot 1 — 20 Years of Cheers! Spirits
    auction lots at a glance Lot 1 — 20 Years of Cheers! spirits. Separately, the winning couples are invited to join Daphne & Savor Magnums of memories from the private cellars of vintners Bart Araujo of Accendo Cellars for an intimate dinner for 8 people participating in the 2020 Naples Winter Wine Festival — in all, a anywhere in the continental United States. The winner also receives bountiful collection of 35 Magnums and 2 750ml bottles from our 6 Magnums of Accendo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon (2 each 2014, 20th annual Festival. The lucky winners will also receive a Jeroboam 2015 and 2016). package to the 2021 NWWF (January 28–31, 2021), including 3 nights in Resort View rooms at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, Lot 7 — Win an English Triple Crown for 2 couples and 4 VIP tickets to each Festival event starting with Two couples spend 11 nights (July 9-20, 2020) in the United Kingdom Thursday’s exclusive Grand Crew Party. with VIP admission to Wimbledon and the British Open, among a trio of amazing destinations. The couples receive 4 Wimbledon Club Lot 2 — From Kangaroos to Kokomo Debenture tickets, featuring Centre Court seats for the men’s and One couple spends 14 nights in Australia and Fiji with experiences women’s finals in both singles and doubles competition and access taking them from Sydney, to Kangaroo Island, to the wine country to player and celebrity lounges. The couples will also work on their in the Barossa Valley, and finally to enchanting Fiji, with lots of stops own game with a private, 90-minute lesson on the grass with John in between.
    [Show full text]
  • International Eckart Witzigmann Award ECKART WITZIGMANN
    ECKART International Eckart Witzigmann Award ECKART WITZIGMANN After his apprenticeship in the Straubing- er Hotel in Bad Gastein, Witzigmann moved on to numerous positions in pres- tigious restaurants arount the world, among others as assistant of Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France.! ! His work in Germany began in 1970 at the Munich restaurant “Tantris”. On Nov., 19th 1978, he became the first German- speaking chef (and the third, outside of France) to receive the esteemed three stars of the Michelin Guide for his restau- rant “Aubergine”, which he opened one year earlier. In 1994 he sold “Aubergine”. In the same year, Witzigmann received the rare award Chef of the Century of the 1941, 4th July, Hohenems, Vorarlberg! Gault & Millau Guide. Only three other „Koch des Jahrhunderts“! chefs have been awarded this title: Paul „chef of the century“! Bocuse, Joël Robuchon, Frédy Giradet.! ECKART Since 2004 the International Eckart Witzigmann Prize honours personalities, who have contributed to cooking and dining culture in a particular, outstanding way.! WITZIGMAN ACADEMY The ECKART ACADEMY awards the ECKART.! ! The objective of the ACADEMY, in line with the spirit of its namesake Eckart Witzig- mann, is to promote innovative, trendsetting experiences and knowledge of cooking, food and life culture, aimed for both – professionals and the general public. ! ! This also involves questions regarding evaluation and interpretation. The question of what is 'good' is being redefined from generation to generation. ! ! Yet, criteria of evaluation, such as quality, sustainability, social responsibility, aesthetics and creativity, remain constant The ACADEMY is dedicated to these over time. ! values. ! PARTNERSHIP The premium claim of the BMW Group – The newest project: ! partner since 2012 – and of Haute cuisine ! fit well together.
    [Show full text]