Cindy Pawlcyn has pioneered local and seasonal Wine Country cuisine since opening Napa Valley’s legendary Mustards Grill in 1983. She is the owner of two of Napa Valley’s most beloved restaurants – Mustards Grill and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen – and is culinary partner at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. With a degree in hospitality management and training at Le Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris, Cindy moved to San Francisco in 1979 and was tapped as the inaugural chef for Napa Valley’s Meadowood Resort. She has partnered in the creation of over a dozen iconic Bay Area restaurants, including Fog City Diner and Tra Vigne. Cindy has earned rave reviews from critics, countless national awards, and is the author of four cookbooks: the James Beard Award-winning Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Fog City Diner Cookbook, Big Small Plates and Cindy Pawlcyn’s Appetizers and Cindy’s Supper Club. Hiro Sone and Lisa Doumani have been capturing the hearts and appetites of diners for nearly 25 years at Terra, where their seasonal menus blend local ingredients and the flavors of southern France and northern Italy with Hiro’s refined Japanese sensibility. In 2011 the San Francisco Chronicle awarded them 3-1/2 stars and in 2003 they received a James Beard Award for “Best Chef in California.” Soon after, the couple opened Ame in San Francisco’s St. Regis Hotel. Ame, which means “rain” in Japanese, has been showered with accolades, including “Top New Restaurants for 2006” from San Francisco magazine and Esquire’s “Best New Restaurants of 2006.” Terra has been recognized with a Michelin star every year since 2007, and Ame has received its Michelin star every year since 2008. In 2008 Terra received the James Beard Award for “Best Service in the U.S.” Richard Redington is the executive chef of the much acclaimed REDD and Redd Wood restaurants in Yountville. His passion for food was sparked by his travels throughout Europe and fueled by his experiences working in some of the world’s best kitchens. He began his career working for Roland Passot at San Francisco’s La Folie, moving to Postrio before heading east to Park Avenue Café in New York. A French sojourn at Michelin three-star restaurants was a prelude to working with Daniel Boulud at Restaurant Daniel. Returning to California, he joined Chapeau in San Francisco, being named “Rising Star” by the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2000, he was drawn north to Napa Valley as executive chef at the Auberge du Soleil, where he was voted “Best Rising Star Chef” by San Francisco magazine. Brandon Sharp was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The Culinary Institute of America before venturing to Napa Valley to work for two years at The French Laundry. Next came another two-year stint at Restaurant August in New Orleans as John Besh’s chef de cuisine, followed by a summer at Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain and yet another two-year tour as sous chef at Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco. Brandon has been the executive chef at Solbar and Solage Calistoga since January of 2007, with Solbar earning its fifth consecutive Michelin star in 2014. He lives in St. Helena with his wife Elizabeth and their three rowdy youngsters. Tracy Wood Anderson began her cooking career early. She was only five when her parents came home to a lime meringue pie and a babysitter pointing to Tracy saying, “She just did it on her own!” Following a fine arts degree and a degree from the California Culinary Academy, Tracy spent 15 years at her husband John Anderson’s family winery, S. Anderson Vineyard, as winery chef. In 2002 Tracy and her husband sold the winery and chose to follow another passion: European chocolate. Two years were spent researching the art and science through trips to Belgium and France and, for Tracy, intensive training in Montreal. Utilizing the combination of her well-trained palate and artistic eye, she opened Woodhouse Chocolate in St. Helena in April 2004, and in the decade since has been acclaimed by such sources as Martha Stewart Living, O Magazine and The New York Times. Chris Kollar is the proprietor and passionate chocolatier of Kollar Chocolates in Yountville. Trained originally as a savory chef, he is a self-taught chocolatier. His inspiration comes from Europe, after traveling extensively there to study and learn about classic chocolate making techniques, and bringing 20 www.nAPAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine. c om this knowledge back to his own practice. Chris has worked in kitchens across the country and beyond for 19 years, starting in his hometown of Atlanta, then working in South Carolina, Denver, Beaver Creek, the Cayman Islands and Seattle. In 2001 he settled in the Napa Valley and worked at Domaine Chandon, Tra Vigne, Pinot Blanc and Go Fish. Most recently, Chris was executive chef at Peter Michael Winery in Calistoga, where his passion for chocolate flourished, leading to his own expressive use of flavors and colors at his eponymous Kollar Chocolates. Wendy A. Sherwood is the owner and chocolatier of La Forêt, a chocolate and confections atelier based in Napa and established in 2010 to provide chocolate to fine dining restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Wendy works closely with chefs to design chocolates with unparalleled attention to flavor, texture and presentation. La Forêt chocolates are available to individuals through an innovative allocation program that offers seasonally inspired chocolates quarterly to people on her list and at her micro-retail shop. Before opening La Forêt, Wendy trained at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and honed her craft at some of the industry’s top establishments, including Patrick Roger in France and, most recently, The French Laundry. In 2005, Wendy received the prestigious Julia Child Endowment Fund Scholarship, which included study at the École Lenôtre and travel for several months throughout France visiting prominent chocolatiers. Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani Brandon Sharp Chris Kollar Wendy Sherwood Richard Reddington
NVLife_MayJune_2014
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