Christopher Kostow

Christopher Kostow (born 1976) is Executive Chef at The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley, California. Under Chef Kostow, The Restaurant was awarded three stars from the Michelin Guide in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. In 2013, Chef Kostow was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: West.”

Christopher Kostow
Born
Christopher Kostow

1976
Highland Park, Illinois
EducationApprenticeship
Spouse(s)Martina Kostow
Culinary career
Cooking styleCalifornia, French, and New American

Life & career

Kostow grew up in Highland Park, Illinois. An accomplished hockey player, he originally had aspirations to become a professional.[1] In his teen years he spent three or four summers working in the kitchens of the Ravinia Music Festival on the outskirts of his native Chicago,[2] working 14-hour days making burgers and fried chicken.[1] He earned a degree in philosophy from Hamilton College in New York. In 1999 he relocated to San Diego, where he worked under Trey Foshee at Georges at the Cove. He subsequently moved to France to study French cuisine. He worked at a bistro in Paris, the Michelin-starred Le Jardin des Sens in Montpelier, and in a former 14th-century abbey in Salon-de-Provence.[3]

After gaining experience in France, Kostow returned to California, where in San Francisco he worked under Daniel Patterson at Elizabeth Daniel and Daniel Humm at Campton Place Restaurant before accepting his first executive position at Chez TJ in Mountain View. Chef Kostow has been at The Restaurant at Meadowood since 2008. The Restaurant at Meadowood was awarded two Michelin stars in 2009 and then three, making him one of the youngest chefs to receive the honor.[4] In 2013, Chef Kostow was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: West.”[5] Beginning June 2017, Kostow opened The Charter Oak Restaurant in St. Helena, California.[6]

In 2010 Kostow appeared in Iron Chef America Season 8 in the episode "Battle Oatmeal" on the Food Network.[7] In 2014 Kostow published a Cookbook, A New Napa Cuisine which was awarded the IACP award for “Best Cookbook of the Year.” .[2][5][8] The book also documents his path in life as a chef and offers an insight into his work at Meadowood.[9] In 2018 he was awarded the international Eckart Witzigmann Award (ECKART) for "Art of Cookery".[10]

Style

Kostow has said that northern Californian cooking is about "using the best products you can locally and showcasing them as best you can. It really is that simple. California is more about this simple elemental way of cooking that is now spreading more widely."[11] The Wall Street Journal writes that Kostow "expresses a holistic approach to terroir and dining in a spirit similar to forebears like the French titan Michel Bras and contemporaries like René Redzepi—a point of view that encompasses the ideas of his gardeners, ceramicists, vintners and cooks, as well as the wider Napa Valley community.[12] At Meadowood, which uses local produce, Kostow's menu includes dishes such as "oyster with kohlrabi, beef smoked in dry onion tops, cherry trout with a buckwheat skin, eel smoked over cabernet staves, lamb-stuffed Egyptian-style baladi, or a decadent egg yolk cooked in chicken fat with homemade Marmite" and "chocolate-walnut-apple pastry cup or a beeswax-candle-warmed truffled crimeaux de citeaux with honeycomb".[9]

Restaurants
  • Ensue, Shenzhen, China
  • The Charter Oak Restaurant, St. Helena, CA
  • The Restaurant at Meadowood, Napa Valley, CA
  • Chez TJ, Mountain View, CA
  • Campton Place Restaurant, San Francisco, CA
  • Elizabeth Daniel, San Francisco, CA
  • La Terrasse, Côte d’Azur, France
  • Chez Georges, Paris, France
  • Le Jardin des Sens, Montpellier, France
  • Georges at the Cove, La Jolla, CA

Awards
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References
  1. "How North Shore boy ditches 'success culture' to cook — and become 3-star chef". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  2. "Christopher Kostow". Starchefs.com. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  3. "Story of a Chef". Relaischateaux.com. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  4. "The First Day I Got My Michelin Stars: Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood". Michelin Guide. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  5. "Christopher Kostow". Finecooking.com. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  6. "Partners Kostow and Dorn Plan to Open the Charter Oak". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  7. "Video of Iron Chef America: Cora vs. Kostow, "Battle Oatmeal"". Foodnetwork.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  8. "The executive chef of The Restaurant at Meadowood shares some of his favorite spots around the Bay Area and across the state". Visitcalifornia.com. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  9. "Chef Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood On Keeping It Real". The Daily Meal. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  10. "ECKART 2018 for "Art of Cookery" goes to Christopher Kostow". BMW Group. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  11. "Christopher Kostow -A beautiful mind". Four Magazine. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  12. "How Christopher Kostow Is Growing His Napa Vision". Wall Street Journal. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  13. "ECKART 2018 for "Art of Cookery" goes to Christopher Kostow". BMW Group. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  14. "Christopher Kostow Speaks at CIA Commencement". Culinary Institute of America. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  15. 2013 Michelin star recipients (Bay Area)
  16. "The 20 Most Important Restaurants in America" Archived March 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  17. 2012 Michelin star recipients (Bay Area), Michelin Guide:San Francisco 2012
  18. Arnold-Ratliff, Katie (10 December 2012). "Regional Champion". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  19. Alburger, Carolyn (12 November 2012). "Announcing the 2012 Eater Awards For The Bay Area". Eater SF. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  20. Lucchesi, Paolo (October 26, 2010) 2011 Michelin star recipients (Bay Area)
  21. "Meadowood chef Christopher Kostow gets 4 stars". SFGate. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  22. Eats, Serious. "2010 San Francisco Bay Area Michelin Guide Announced". Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  23. "F&W Best New Chefs". Food & Wine. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  24. "2009 Michelin guide: Stars rise and fall". SFGate. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  25. Chowhound (22 October 2007). "2008 Michelin Guide San Francisco". Chowhound. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  26. "San Francisco Gourmet: Michelin Guide Results Announced". Retrieved 28 February 2017.
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