David Kinch - Manresa: An Edible Reflection

For Ronald Grimes Kinch and Joyce Louise Fitterling, my parents, who gave me their unconditional love and support from the very beginning and who taught me that when you find something you love to do, then Work can become the highest form of Play.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

W HILE ATTENDING the Masters of Food and Wine festival in Carmel, California, over ten years ago, I heard talk of this incredible chef a couple hours north in Los Gatos. No one really knew of him or the restaurant; it was getting no consideration from the media, who were too focused on the Bay Area and Napa Valley. But from what I was hearing from those who had been, I knew I should eat there.

It was a long drive to Manresa, and I wasnt fully convinced that I would have a great meal. When I arrived, I was surprised to be welcomed by a mature chef and not a young kid. I was immediately blown away by the mealby the precision, the techniques, the creativity, by this new chefs mastery. It was a long tasting menu, but I could have eaten ten more courses. I was in heaven.

Back in Carmel, I couldnt stop talking about my meal and experience in Los Gatos. I was more than preoccupied by it, I was borderline obsessed. I needed to know more. I needed to know David. Over the following years, I took the journey back to Manresa several times. In 2004, I invited David to cook with me at a small lunch at Le Bernardin so he could (finally) meet a few key members of the press. My respect for him grew and our friendship began. Not only did I want to get to know David and his approach to cooking more, I wanted other people to know about him. And so in 2009, he kindly welcomed me and a small film crew into his world while we tried to capture some of the essence of his philosophy for a TV project I was working on. David brought me surfing in Santa Cruz and gardening at Love Apple Farms. He invited me into his restaurant, his garden, his world. I learned of his methods and style and also of his determination to achieve perfection.

What I admire most about David is his sense of humility and curiosity. He has created a very personal style of cooking without losing his connection to the seasons or to the region that beautifully surrounds his restaurant. I admire his ability to evolve, and today he is one of the pioneers of the locavore and farm-to-table movement in America as it reaches even higher levels. The desire to cook only with fresh produce and the best ingredients available is in his DNA, and nothing highlights this more than his work with Love Apple Farms. What is harvested there completely dictates Manresas menu. You cant dedicate your work more to nature than that. David is more connected to nature than anyone I know. Every ounce of his energy and creativity pays homage to the bounty of his surroundings in one of the most exquisite areas of California. Each item and dish component on the menu speaks to who David is and what he is about. He is a chef, a gardener, and a surfer. He is organic, biodynamic, and sustainable. He is honest and conscientious. He is creative and committed. He is an inspirational peer and has become a great friend. The fruit of Davids work is a true gift to the industry, for which we can all be grateful.

Eric Ripert

INTRODUCTION

M ANRESA OPENED in Los Gatos, California, in 2002. I thought of it as the grown-up relocation of Sent Sovi, the restaurant Id run for seven years in nearby Saratoga, where I served California bistro food: local ingredients, simply prepared. Sent Sovi was successful from Day One. But after almost a decade of operating on a shoestring budget and spinning around in an old kitchen the size of a closet, I wanted to find a space where I could finally realize my potential to cook the haute cuisine in which Id trained and aspired to make at the time. So I was thinking about my next move and lining up investors. And then, one night in 1998, I had dinner at the French Laundry.

Stupefied by the incredible food and wine that evening, I accidentally left my wine bag under the table. I went back to find it at nine oclock the next morning. Thomas Keller was there alone, putting up stocks. I didnt know him very well, but he sat down and asked if I wanted a coffee. He asked what I was doing. I told him about Sent Sovi, adding that I was thinking of moving to a bigger place.

Can I give you some advice? he said. I thought, of course you can, Sir Thomas. He continued, If you have the opportunity, buy it. Hed purchased the French Laundry and the surrounding buildingsa deal that countless California chefs had turned down, unable to make the numbers work for such a small restaurant.

But thats a lot of money, I said.

Of course it is. But if you buy it, youll be able to retire. You will be a slave to your restaurant for twenty years, but look at what we do: Its a good thing to be wedded to the site because it prevents you from walking away. Plus, youll attract a different quality of investor. Youll attract people who realize that its really a real-estate deal where a restaurant happens to be taking place.

So I scrapped my business plan and changed tack: I would buy a place and set down roots.

A chance to move to San Francisco, sixty miles north, fell through at the last minute. But then I stumbled upon a vacant building for sale six miles down the road from Sent Sovi in Los Gatos, another charmingly quaint Silicon Valley bedroom community tucked into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.