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Culinary Briefs

"Elegance, dynamism and purity," are the ideals Chef Christopher Kostow holds paramount when developing new dishes for The Restaurant at Meadowood. In his two-year tenure, that philosophy has helped the 33-year-old chef swiftly garner accolades, including a pair of Michelin stars, a place among Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs 2009 and a rare four stars from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kostow's menu is constantly evolving, spurred by the turn of the seasons, his own "food memories," and a restless creativity that abhors stagnation. The ever-changing menu constantly demands new wine pairings from Sommelier Rom Toulon, a French native who has headed wine programs at elite lodgings and restaurants around the world.

What's more, Kostow admits, "It tends to be somewhat difficult to pair wine with my food. The dishes as a whole are very nuanced. There are a lot of little things that pop." As a result, Kostow and Toulon must work as a team. "When conceiving a dish, there's an intense level of collaboration," Kostow explains.

"I usually taste a developing dish three to five times," Toulon confirms. "On a daily basis, Christopher is going to ask me, 'What do you want to try today?'" Every dish is matched with a wine, with Toulon typically tasting at least 15 possibilities. "As a sommelier," he says, "it's so much fun because you can play with so many different grapes." And so many wines: the 11,000-bottle cellar is stocked with 1,100 labels, with a focus on the proliferation of legendary Napa Valley wines.

"Is it going to be a white? Is it going to be a red?" Toulon asks himself, as Kostow's new dish takes shape. "Am I going to be playing with the acids? The sugar? And then, when we nail the style of wine, we're working with the inventory, going back and forth. We have no problem opening more bottles every day and just"— here he pauses, perhaps appreciating that he has one of the world's best jobs— "having fun with it!"

But a satisfying dining experience requires more than just successful individual pairings. "We spend a lot of time thinking about the evolution of a meal," Kostow says, "and our tasting menu is the culmination of that. We give a great deal of thought to how it moves, in terms of temperature, texture, and flavors. And in terms of acidity, the richness of the dishes—even their size. It's very important to me that it makes sense as a whole."

Chef and sommelier work together on the arc of the meal, moving diners from foods paired with lighter, crisper whites at the top of the eight-course tasting menu, through to bolder whites and medium-bodied reds, culminating with what Kostow describes as "a meat dish that sings, that is nuanced, but is also rich enough and deep enough to accommodate a big red," like the renowned Napa Valley Cabernets.

In some instances, Kostow has reconfigured a tasting menu to accommodate Toulon's pairing choices. "On a recent menu, I had a scallop dish that followed a truffle broth," the chef explains. "I was looking at that truffle broth as a soup, which made sense prior to a shellfish. But for Rom, it said 'red wine,' which would mean treating it like a first meat course."

"Yes, it definitely made more sense with a red wine," Toulon confirms. "So that's when I asked him to switch the dish on the tasting menu. That's when that level of collaboration really works."

Both chef and sommelier are storytellers. Kostow's food speaks to his Eastern European heritage, with elements that are smoked, pickled and briny. It's also inspired by his travels, evoking flavors found at a dim sum joint, a Mexican beach, or the south of France. Moreover, he uses features of Napa Valley's terroir, curing Wagyu beef with pine needles from the Meadowood property and sourcing produce from its garden, which has been custom-planted to his requirements.

"With each wine, there's a story, too," Toulon asserts. "Stories behind the grapes, the vineyard and the grape growers, the winemakers." When guests order the Poached Farm Egg, Morels, Fava Leaves and Congee with its Cassis wine pairing, Toulon tells them, "The same limestone region that nurtured these wine grapes also furnished the limestone for the base of the Statue of Liberty."

Is the "intense collaboration" between these two young culinary stars a success? The response is clearly positive since Meadowood diners overwhelmingly choose to order the Chef's Tasting Menu with accompanying wine pairings—thereby putting themselves in Kostow and Toulon's capable hands.

An Authentic Reflection of Life on a Country Estate

The Restaurant at Meadowood offers a fine dining experience in the country where the best traditions of Napa Valley are wedded with a modern, enlightened approach to cuisine inspired by our award-winning Chef Christopher Kostow.

Meadowood · Napa Valley 900 Meadowood Lane · St. Helena, CA 94574 · Telephone (800) 458-8080

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