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With craft and creativity, technique and talent, Napa Valley’s chefs transform ingredients born of the same sun and soil as our wine grapes into meals that express a sense of place. Whether cooking down-home spitroasted pig or dressing the most delicate of greens picked moments before for an artfully composed salad, our Auction chefs draw inspiration from Napa Valley’s forests, fields, farms and food artisans in creating flavors that cozy up to our wines. Stephen Barber is the executive chef of Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena. Building on his Southern roots, Barber brings his own ingredient-driven approach to Farmstead’s American farmhouse cooking, incorporating the organic produce, grass-fed beef, eggs and olive oils from Long Meadow Ranch and other local artisanal producers. Before joining Farmstead, Barber was chef of Fish Story in Napa and was executive chef of Mecca in San Francisco, where he received three stars from the San Francisco Chronicle, which also noted him as a 2004 “Rising Star Chef.” In 2007, Stephen opened BarBersQ in Napa, which also received three stars and “Top 100 Restaurants” from the San Francisco Chronicle. A Kentucky native, Barber began his culinary career at City Grocery in Mississippi City, moving next to Miami, where he honed his craft under Chef Norman Van Aken. Michael Chiarello is an award-wining chef and owner of Bottega restaurant in Napa Valley and Coqueta in San Francisco. Named Esquire’s “Chef of the Year” for 2013, Chiarello has made his mark by combining his southern Italian roots with the distinctive hallmarks of Napa Valley living. Upon graduating from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Michael began to shape his career into what he would become: an acclaimed chef, noted author and Emmy®-winning television host. Michael was named “Chef of the Year” by Food & Wine just three years after graduating from the CIA. Since 2000, Michael has been the tastemaker behind the NapaStyle retail line and stores, and just three months after opening in 2013, Coqueta earned a glowing 3-1/2 stars from the San Francisco Chronicle and was named one of the country’s “Best New Restaurants” by Esquire. Curtis Di Fede’s career has ranged widely through the global food and wine community as he has continually sought to expand his culinary skills and knowledge. A graduate of both the London and Paris campuses of the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, he also studied for six months under Chef Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck in Bray, England as a stagiere. Back in the United States, Di Fede has worked with leading chefs in Las Vegas, San Francisco and his native Napa Valley. In 2010 he opened his southern Italian restaurant Oenotri in downtown Napa, which quickly received a 3-star review from the San Francisco Chronicle, which also recognized Di Fede as a “Rising Star Chef.” Oenotri was also called “arguably the best new Italian restaurant in the United States” by Food & Wine in 2013. Thomas Keller has established a collection of restaurants that have set a new paradigm. He is the first and only Americanborn chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, and has received countless accolades, including the James Beard Foundation’s “Outstanding Chef” and “Outstanding Restaurateur” awards. Keller began his culinary career at a young age, working in the Palm Beach restaurant managed by his mother. He relocated to France in 1983, where he worked in several Michelinstarred houses. Moving to California in 1994, he took ownership of The French Laundry in Yountville, quickly garnering nationwide acclaim. His French bistro Bouchon debuted in 1998, followed by Bouchon Bakery. The other restaurants in the group include his family-style restaurant Ad Hoc, also located in Yountville, and Per Se and Bouchon Bakery & Café in New York City, and outposts of Bouchon and Bouchon Bakery in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills. Keller is the author of five cookbooks, of which more than one million copies are in print. of the savory and the sweet team up for Saturday’s al fresco lunch Curtis Di Fede Stephen Barber Michael Chiarello Thomas Keller Cindy Pawlcyn Tracy Wood Anderson Napa Valley 's Masters MAY / J U N E 2 0 1 4 19


NVLife_MayJune_2014
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