Christopher Kostow

Kostow grew up in Highland Park, Illinois. An accomplished hockey player, he originally had aspirations to become a professional. 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,{{cite web|url=https://www.starchefs.com/cook/chefs/bio/Christopher-Kostow|title=Christopher Kostow|publisher=Starchefs.com|accessdate=31 May 2019}} working 14-hour days making burgers and fried chicken.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-kostow-napa-chef-food-0427-20160422-story.html|title=How North Shore boy ditches 'success culture' to cook — and become 3-star chef|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|accessdate=31 May 2019}} After graduating from the Berkshire School, 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.relaischateaux.com/gb/chef/christopher-kostow|title=Story of a Chef|publisher=Relaischateaux.com|accessdate=31 May 2019}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/illinois/chicago/article/people/christopher-kostow-the-restaurant-at-meadowood-michelin-stars|title=The First Day I Got My Michelin Stars: Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood|publisher=Michelin Guide|date=8 November 2017|accessdate=31 May 2019}} In 2013, Chef Kostow was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for "Best Chef: West".{{cite web|url=https://www.finecooking.com/chef/christopher-kostow|title=Christopher Kostow|publisher=Finecooking.com|accessdate=31 May 2019}} Beginning June 2017, Kostow opened The Charter Oak Restaurant in St. Helena, California.{{cite web|url=http://napavalleyregister.com/star/wine/partners-kostow-and-dorn-plan-to-open-the-charter-oak/article_5d95f498-25dd-5c5a-b3c5-42d05459871d.html|title=Partners Kostow and Dorn Plan to Open the Charter Oak|date=12 April 2016 |publisher=Napa Valley Register|accessdate=31 May 2019}}

In 2010 Kostow appeared in Iron Chef America Season 8 in the episode "Battle Oatmeal" on the Food Network.{{cite web|url=http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/oatmeal-encounter/61300.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219101458/http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/oatmeal-encounter/61300.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 December 2010 |title=Video of Iron Chef America: Cora vs. Kostow, "Battle Oatmeal"

|publisher=Foodnetwork.com|accessdate=31 May 2019}} In 2014 Kostow published a Cookbook, A New Napa Cuisine which was awarded the IACP award for "Best Cookbook of the Year".{{cite web|url=https://www.visitcalifornia.com/attraction/people-know-christopher-kostow|title=The executive chef of The Restaurant at Meadowood shares some of his favorite spots around the Bay Area and across the state|publisher=Visitcalifornia.com|accessdate=31 May 2019}} The book also documents his path in life as a chef and offers an insight into his work at Meadowood. In 2018 he was awarded the international Eckart Witzigmann Award (ECKART) for "Art of Cookery".{{cite web|url=https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/usa/article/detail/T0281769EN_US/eckart-2018-for-%E2%80%9Cart-of-cookery%E2%80%9D-goes-to-christopher-kostow?language=en_US|title=ECKART 2018 for "Art of Cookery" goes to Christopher Kostow|publisher=BMW Group|accessdate=31 May 2019}}

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."{{cite web|url=http://www.four-magazine.com/tasting-notes/christopher-kostow-a-beautiful-mind/|title=Christopher Kostow -A beautiful mind|work=Four|date=15 January 2018|accessdate=31 May 2019}} The Wall Street Journal wrote 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-christopher-kostow-is-growing-his-napa-vision-145521101|title=How Christopher Kostow Is Growing His Napa Vision|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=11 February 2016|accessdate=31 May 2019}} 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".{{cite web|url=https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/chef-christopher-kostow-restaurant-meadowood-keeping-it-real|title=Chef Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood On Keeping It Real|publisher=The Daily Meal|date=21 March 2017|accessdate=31 May 2019}}

• 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

• 2018 Eckart Witzigmann Award (ECKART) for "Art of Cookery"{{cite web|url=https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/usa/article/detail/T0281769EN_US/eckart-2018-for-%E2%80%9Cart-of-cookery%E2%80%9D-goes-to-christopher-kostow?language=en_US|title=ECKART 2018 for "Art of Cookery" goes to Christopher Kostow|publisher=BMW Group|accessdate=31 May 2019}}
• 2016 Wine Spectator Grand Award - The Restaurant at Meadowood {{cite web|url=https://www.ciaalumninetwork.com/s/898/17/interior.aspx?sid=898&gid=1&pgid=252&cid=3357&ecid=3357&crid=0&calpgid=442&calcid=1164|title=Christopher Kostow Speaks at CIA Commencement|publisher=Culinary Institute of America|accessdate=31 May 2019}}
• 2013 "Best Chef: West", James Beard Foundation Award
• 2013 Three Michelin Stars, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2013[https://web.archive.org/web/20130201040319/http://www.michelintravel.com/michelin-selection/san-francisco-2013/ 2013 Michelin star recipients (Bay Area)]
• 2013 #2 on Bon Appétit magazine's "The 20 Most Important Restaurants in America"[http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/20-most-important-restaurants-2013 "The 20 Most Important Restaurants in America"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313144051/http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/20-most-important-restaurants-2013 |date=March 13, 2013 }}
• 2012 Three Michelin Stars, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2012[https://web.archive.org/web/20130223080039/http://www.michelintravel.com/michelin-selection/san-francisco-2012/ 2012 Michelin star recipients (Bay Area)], Michelin Guide:San Francisco 2012
• 2012 "Regional Champion", Time{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2130387,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121129165746/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2130387,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 29, 2012|title=Regional Champion|last=Arnold-Ratliff|first=Katie|date=10 December 2012|magazine=Time|access-date=28 February 2017|issn=0040-781X}}
• 2012 "Chef of the Year", Eater SF Awards 2012{{Cite web|url=http://sf.eater.com/2012/11/12/6523669/announcing-the-2012-eater-awards-for-the-bay-area|title=Announcing the 2012 Eater Awards For The Bay Area|last=Alburger|first=Carolyn|date=12 November 2012|website=Eater SF|access-date=28 February 2017}}
• 2011 Three Michelin Stars, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2011Lucchesi, Paolo (October 26, 2010) 2011 Michelin star recipients (Bay Area) [http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2010/10/26/michelin-guide-bay-area-2011-meadowood-elevated-to-three-stars-chez-panisse-loses-its-star/]
• 2010 Four Stars, San Francisco Chronicle{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Meadowood-chef-Christopher-Kostow-gets-4-stars-2299946.php|title=Meadowood chef Christopher Kostow gets 4 stars|work=SFGate|access-date=28 February 2017}}
• 2010 Two Michelin Stars, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2010{{Cite web|url=http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/2010-san-francisco-bay-area-michelin-guide-an.html|title=2010 San Francisco Bay Area Michelin Guide Announced|last=Eats|first=Serious|access-date=28 February 2017|archive-date=1 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301180155/http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/2010-san-francisco-bay-area-michelin-guide-an.html|url-status=dead}}
• 2009 "Best New Chefs", Food & Wine{{Cite news|url=http://www.foodandwine.com/best_new_chefs/year/2009|title=F&W Best New Chefs|work=Food & Wine|access-date=28 February 2017}}
• 2009 Two Michelin Stars, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2009{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/2009-Michelin-guide-Stars-rise-and-fall-3190153.php|title=2009 Michelin guide: Stars rise and fall|work=SFGate|access-date=28 February 2017}}
• 2008 Two Michelin Stars, Chez TJ, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2008{{Cite news|url=http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/453058|title=2008 Michelin Guide San Francisco|last=Chowhound|date=22 October 2007|work=Chowhound|access-date=28 February 2017|language=en}}
• 2007 One Michelin Star, Chez TJ, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2007{{Cite web|url=http://sfgourmet.blogspot.com/2006/10/michelin-guide-results-announced.html|title=San Francisco Gourmet: Michelin Guide Results Announced|access-date=28 February 2017}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.therestaurantatmeadowood.com/}}

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Category:1976 births

Category:Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants

Category:Living people

Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners

Category:International Association of Culinary Professionals award winners