Elite Traveler May-June 2018

elite traveler MAY/JUNE 2018 67

The Restaurant at Meadowood St Helena, California, US Head chef: Christopher Kostow

15–19

10 MINUTES WITH… Christopher Kostow

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal London Head chef: Ashley Palmer-Watts Contact molon-dinnerhb@mohg.com, +44 207 201 3833 dinnerbyheston.co.uk 2017/15

With its bucolic Napa Valley setting and passionate use of seasonal produce, the Restaurant at Meadowood’s appeal is as clear as day. But it takes much more than this to be placed among the world’s top restaurants, as the celebrated chef Christopher Kostow can attest. How do you define your style of cooking? We focus mostly on our farm, which is central to what we’re doing in terms of the produce, ethos and sensibility. That’s paramount for us. We’re in a really beautiful place, and we try to keep pushing forward with the development of our dishes. We make sure that it’s more than Instagram food. It’s hopefully very delicious cuisine that just happens to speak very much of this place. If a dish gets onto the menu, it deserves to be there. We try to strike a balance between reacting to what’s happening, which is what you want to do when you’re taking ingredients out of the ground, but also taking enough time to make each dish the way we want it to be. The years that have passed have given us more insight into howwe do this with success. What experience do people have at Meadowood? We want to keep the experience fun. I don’t want a series of 15 or 20 plates coming out because that’s not how I would want to eat. For us, it’s about making the dishes more interactive, without

Pierre Gagnaire Paris Head chef: Pierre Gagnaire Contact p.gagnaire@wanadoo.fr, +33 158 361 250 pierre-gagnaire.com 2017/16

From left: The Restaurant at Meadowood’s grilled corn; last bites

La Pergola Rome Head chef: Heinz Beck Contact romhi.lapergolareservations@ waldorfastoria.com, +39 063 509 2152 romecavalieri.com/la-pergola 2017/17 Pujol Mexico City Head chef: Enrique Olvera Contact reservaciones@ pujol.com.mx, +52 554 541 11 pujol.com.mx

being cheesy. It’s more family style and less cautious. All guests come back to the kitchen too, so there’s always a conversation and a gift is given. This is all very important to us. Where do you find themost inspiration? I always ask myself if my cooking is seen the way it is because of the beautiful setting and price point or because it’s actually that good, and if this food were being served alone by a 20-year-old guy, would it be seen in the same way? So in answer to your question, it’s the young chefs who are cooking their hearts out and doing really interesting stuff that inspire me most. I have a lot more interest in the chefs who are not a part of an institution. They’re on more of a tightrope, and I think that’s really interesting to watch. What plans do you have coming up? We can’t talk about it too much, but the big thing for us at the moment is a new restaurant we have planned. It’s a really good idea and a really interesting place. We’re giving it a lot of attention, so hopefully it will fulfill its promise. By Lauren Jade Hill

2017/19 ▲ Steirereck Vienna

Head chef: Heinz Reitbauer Contact wien@steirereck.at, +43 171 331 68 steirereck.at/en 2017/18 ▼