More than 45 of Napa Valley’s famed restaurants and food purveyors will be sampling their fare during Friday’s Napa Valley Barrel Auction event at Raymond Vineyards. The following day the culinary offerings at Meadowood Napa Valley will be far-ranging in style, with a lively lunch created by a rare collaboration of Nine Bravo Top Chefs and a refined country-style dinner by Chef Joseph Lenn of the acclaimed Blackberry Farm in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. the Chefs Richard Blais, Chef, Rest aurateur, Author Perhaps most recognizable as the winner of Bravo’s “Top Chef All-Stars,” Richard Blais has played an influential role in hospitality for the last fifteen years. He began his career, as so many young aspiring chefs do, as the “poissonier” at McDonald’s. It was here where he first dabbled in deconstruction cuisine, serving “filet-o-fish” sandwiches sans top bun. His developing passion for food and the service industry led Blais to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. As an ambitious student, he spent time between semesters studying at the French Laundry in Yountville under renowned chef Thomas Keller and alongside then rising-stars Grant Achatz and Eric Ziebold. Chef Krist en Kish Born in South Korea and adopted into a family in Kentwood, Michigan, Kristen Kish showed an affinity for cooking at an early age as a young fan of the Discovery Channel’s cooking show “Great Chefs of the World.” Kristen competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef Season 10: Seattle,” where she won the coveted title of Top Chef, becoming the second female chef ever The Raymond Vineyards 2011 vintner dinner was held in the winery’s Crystal Cellar Room and featured tables decorated with Baccarat crystal. (Photo by Jason Tinacci) Meadowood Chef Christopher Kostow and team prepare a 2011 dinner. (Photo by Jason Tinacci) 18 www.nAPAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine. c om
NVLife_MayJune_2013
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