S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 3 69 T his year Cindy Pawlcyn and her team, including long-time business partner Sean Knight, celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Mustards Grill. It’s quite a milestone that has had far-reaching impact on Napa Valley dining as we know it today. With Mustards Grill, Pawlcyn put her own stamp on American comfort food, freely merging her favorite foods and intermixing different cultures. After three decades, patrons universally love her globe-hopping dishes, such as her ever-popular Mongolian Pork Chops. As a petite, soft-spoken young woman from Minnesota, Cindy paved the way for a sophisticated restaurant boom in rural California wine country. She created a singular success story with her establishment of three of Napa Valley’s most beloved restaurants: Mustards Grill, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen and Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wood Grill & Wine Bar. Thoroughly unpretentious and generous to a fault, Cindy has an innate curiosity and love of cooking, gardening and travel that continue to fuel the evolution of her craft. When Pawlcyn opened Mustards Grill in rural Yountville in 1983, Napa Valley was anything but a culinary Mecca. Cindy was greeted by farmers, wine growers and ranchers who, after a day of physical labor, craved a hearty meal. The vibe was rustic, with as many bars and feed stores as restaurants. Pawlcyn turned the culinary tide by bringing her fresh local cuisine to the wine country table, satisfying the cravings of hard-working vintners and a smattering of well-heeled tourists. In addition, as more and more tourists began coming to Napa Valley, tasting big wines that left them hungry for real food prepared to the highest standards. Pawlcyn’s answer was generous portions of California comfort food paired with Napa Valley wines—“Truckstop Deluxe,” she calls it—with dishes that were instant hits and still popular today. A “locavore” long before it was a movement, Pawlcyn was among the first chefs to create her own culinary garden and serve what she could grow or source from her local farmer, cheese maker, or rancher. Mustards Grill’s vegetable garden was first planted in 1983, and the flourishing site produces many items served in the restaurant today. Pawlcyn’s involvement in exploring renewable sources for her provisions has informed the menu of her newest restaurant, Cindy’s Waterfront in Monterey, which opened in April. Partnering with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the restaurant features Cindy’s well-loved signature seasonal dishes, from sustainable and organic producers around the Monterey Bay and Central California. As with all of Cindy’s restaurants, seafood selections strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Aquarium’s renowned Seafood Watch program. A variety of new programs are in place to broaden the program’s important messaging to the Aquarium’s audience, averaging over 2.5 million annually, on the values of eating sustainably. Mustards Grill’s unwavering popularity is due in large part to Cindy’s distinctive brand of sophisticated, yet down-home wine country fare. Her natural respect for the land and sea continues to strike a resonant chord. And while she has created over a dozen restaurants, including Fog City Diner, Bix, and Buckeye Roadhouse, you’ll still find her in Mustards Grill’s kitchen and gardens, mingling with guests in the dining room or at one of her other popular eateries: Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen and Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wood Grill and Wine Bar, both in St. Helena. Mustards Gril 7399 St. H elena H ighway Yountville Reservations: (707) 944-2424 mustardsgrill.com Cindy ’s Waterfro nt 886 Cannery Row Monterey Reservations: (831) 648-4870 montereybayaquarium.org/ vi/vi_tips/dining.aspx Cindy ’s Backstreet Kitchen 1327 R ailroad A venue St. Helena Reservations: (707) 963-1200 cindysbackstreetkitchen.com Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wod Gril and Wine Bar 641 M ain Street St. Helena Reservations: (707) 763-0700 cindypawlcynsgrill.com september/ october 2 0 1 3 6 9
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