Tag: Michelin

It’s a One Time Only Dining Experience: Chef Christian Hunter of the Michelin-starred Atelier joins Chef Sean Richardson at Rune Restaurant on December 22

Fort Wayne, James Beard Awards, Michelin, Restaurants, Rune Restaurant

What: A Collaborative Tasting Dinner featuring Chefs Sean Richardson of Rune Restaurant in Fort Wayne and Christian Hunter of Atelier in Chicago

Where: Rune Restaurant 2725 Broadway – Fort Wayne, Indiana  

When: Sunday, December 22, 2024, with two seatings at 5 pm and 7:30 pm

How: Reservations are required by clicking here, or by calling (260) 278-0674

Tickets are $115 per person

What started years ago as a fun exchange about cheese at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, turned into a lasting friendship between Chefs Sean Richardson and Christian Hunter. Since those days, both were recognized in their own right by the James Beard Foundation. Later this month, they will reunite. Only this time, it’s on in the kitchen! 

Fort Wayne locals have quickly become Rune devotees since its opening in March of this year. Chef Richardson uses locally raised ingredients for his seasonal menus that introduce guests to an array of international flavors in approachable ways. Chef Christian Hunter has a similar approach at his Michelin-starred restaurant, Atelier, in Chicago. Hunter is now a partner in the restaurant featuring a nightly 12-14 course menu highlighting dishes ranging from home cooking to something more fancy which always “tries to be true to our roots,” said the Lexington, Kentucky native.

The two lauded chefs are joining forces for a one-night-only collaborative tasting dinner at Rune Restaurant on December 22, 2024. 

Richardson says guests can expect five courses featuring the best of the region’s producers. He’s excited to share the kitchen with his friend and said, “Any opportunity to share a space with another chef, especially one as successful and down to earth as Christian, is always exciting. The fact that it is our space in my city is extremely exciting.”  

“It’s going to be a dinner that honors the local producers. So, I’m here to cook Fort Wayne food, and to learn about Fort Wayne. So, to me, it’s a very cool kind of exchange that we’re about to do. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” said Hunter. 

About Christian Hunter

Chef Christian Hunter is inspired by his upbringing, global flavors, sustainable food production, and nutritional anthropology.

He first encountered diverse cuisines in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. As soon as he was earning his own money, he’d spend it checking out the newest restaurants in town from Mexican and Thai to Indian. “It was like I was searching for something,” Hunter recalls. That early childhood exposure all comes to fruition on his plates.

His signature style focuses on infusing New American fare with unexpected global flavors. He adds zing to locally sourced products with chermoula, freekeh, berbere, house-made garam masala, salsa macha, locally made miso, and many more.

Hunter has a culinary degree from Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York and has cooked at Relais & Châteaux’s Lake Placid Lodge and The Weekapaug Inn in Rhode Island. He spent four years in Charleston cultivating relationships with local farmers and also his own culinary identity, emphasizing global flavors. He joined Community Table in Litchfield, Connecticut during the challenging year of 2020. Chef used the time to familiarize himself with area farms and shape the culinary direction of the restaurant. 

The Chef also brings his Southern heritage to Atelier. Coming from a humble background, he strives to get the most out of everything he brings into the kitchen. Hunter also wants to illuminate the ability of African American chefs to cook amazing food of any cuisine or genre.

Chef Hunter’s notable recognitions thus far:

  • 2024 Chicago Magazine 50 Best New Restaurant
  • 2024 Jean Banchet Rising Star Chef Nominee
  • 2024 James Beard Best New Restaurant Semi-Finalist (Atelier)
  • 2023 Michelin Chicago Young Chef Award Winner
  • 2023 Michelin 1* (Atelier)
  • 2023 James Beard Best Chef Finalist Northeast (Community Table/ CT)

About Sean Richardson

An Indiana native, Chef Sean Richardson remembers cooking alongside his grandparents as a child. Making everything from handmade sausages to varenyky and kapusta, he says that they “taught me what cooking could be.” So, when he moved to Fort Wayne to pursue a degree in creative writing from Purdue University, he also explored what cooking really could be by embarking upon his culinary career starting at The Oyster Bar in 2008, before honing his craft in 2013 at the award-winning Joseph Decuis in Roanoke in Indiana.

In 2017, he joined forces with Chef Aaron Butts to open The Golden in Fort Wayne where he was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as Best Great Chef of Great Lakes. His collaborative efforts have also put him on the map of notable chefs working on projects with Chef Jonathan Brooks of Milktooth, Chef and educator Kate Hill of Camont in Gascony, France, and Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barn.

Most recently he helmed the culinary program at another Fort Wayne original – Conjure. It was here that he began dreaming about his latest project – Rune Restaurant and Bar which opened its doors in March 2024 in the 07 (46807) neighborhood of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Richardson says that he has worked over the past decade to perfect his voice, and feels he’s finally ready to express a voice that is “loud with big flavors, a bit chaotic, technical when it needs to be, but never fussy, and always delicious.” He and his wife, Natasha, live in the neighborhood and value family time with their two sons – Rune and Casper. He also explores his creative expression by writing songs with his band –Best Sleep which performs regularly at various listening rooms in Fort Wayne.

Bocuse d’Or in Lyon: Honoring the Legendary Paul Bocuse

Asian cooking, Bocuse d'Or, Michelin, Paul Bocuse

On July 21, the Selection Committee presided by Jérôme Bocuse met to decide which countries in the Asia-Pacific region would qualify for the Grand Final of the Bocuse d’Or, a two-day biennial world chef championship. Named in honor of Paul Bocuse, the renowned chef and restauranteur who was the recipient of the coveted France’s prestigious “Meilleur Ouvrier de France,” the Bocuse d’Or is considered one of the most prestigious gastronomic competition in the world.

Held in Lyon, the home town of Bocuse, the next competition is scheduled for January 22 and 23, 2023 and is held during Sirha Lyon, the World Hospitality & Food Service trade show. Lyon, the capital city in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France is nestled at the confluence of the Rhône and Saô rivers.

According to Inés Carrayrou of Monet+Associates Agency for the Bocuse d’Or Americas 2022, each team vying for a chance to participate in the Grand Final was required to submit a recipe based upon a main ingredient and make a presentation. 24 chefs will ultimately be selected and during the intense two-day competition will have just five hours and 35 minutes–and not a second longer–to prepare their dish which is then presented ‘à la française’ on a tray or platter. Each entry is exquisite and the winner recieves what the Bocuse d’Or website describes as “the most beautiful trophy in the world of gastronomy.”

5 TALENTED TEAMS JOIN THE WINNERS OF THE PREVIOUS 2022 SELECTIONS

The five winning countries are:

Australia – Alexander McInstosh
China – Nick Lin
Japan – Tomoyuki Ishii
New Zealand – William Mordido
South Korea – Hwang Byeong Hyen

The teams, the recipes as well as the theme plates they’ll be preparing will be announced this fall.

Listed below are the teams that qualified for the different continental selections.

Bocuse d’Or Europe 2022

1st: Denmark – Brian Mark Hanse
2nd: Hungary – Bence Dalnoki
3rd: Norway – Filip August Bendi
4th: Sweden – Jimmi Eriksson
5th: Iceland – Sigurjón Bragi Geirsson
6th: Finland – Johan Kurkela
7th: France – Naïs Pirollet
8th: United Kingdom – Ian Musgrave
9th: Switzerland – Christoph Hunziker
10th: Belgium – Sam Van Houcke

Bocuse d’Or Americas 2022

1st: USA – Jeffery Hayashi
2nd: Canada – Samuel Sirois
3rd: Chile – Ari Zúñiga
4th: Colombia – Carlos Pajaro
5th: Mexico – Marcelo Hisaki

“Paul Bocuse was the incarnation of French cuisine,”  said then-French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 when Bocuse passed away in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, in Lyon, where he was born and operated his main restaurant. Bocuse, credited with changing French cuisine with the introduction of nouvelle cuisine, a lighter, fresher approach to the classic cookery of France.

At the time of his death, Bocuse’s restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, had retained three Michelin stars since 1965, which according to The Washington Post, was “one of the longest runs in Michelin history.

Below is one of his famed recipes.

Paul Bocuse’s Apple Tarte Tatin

Shortcrust Pastry

Caramel

Tart

Melt the butter in a double-boiler, stirring it with a whisk. Let cool for a few seconds. Add the salt and mix. Add the confectioners’ sugar. Mix. Add the flour in a steady stream, while continuing to mix. Once the dough begins to come together, take out the whisk and continue to mix with a spatula. Work in the baking powder.

Break the egg into a ramekin, beat it with a fork, then pour it into the dough. Mix it until the dough comes together into a ball. Flatten it slightly, put it on a plate, and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

If you prepare the dough the day before, remember to take it out of the refrigerator a bit before you want to use it, so that it is not too hard.

You can also make the caramel several hours in advance. There is no need to reheat it before arranging the apples.

Step 2: Caramel

Heat the sugar over high heat in a saucepan. When the sugar has turned a nice, golden color and is beginning to foam, mix it with a wooden spoon. Add the butter. Mix until the butter is melted.

To make a successful caramel, wipe the pan out carefully before starting the process. Move it around during the cooking of the sugar, but do not use any utensils.

The caramel should have a good color without becoming at all brown. Allow 3 to 4 minutes or so.

Pour the caramel into a 8-inch (20-cm) metal baking dish. Split the vanilla pod in two without separating the two halves. Put it into the pan, right in the middle, to form a “V”.

Step 3: Tart

Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Peel and core the apples. Cut them in half vertically. Arrange the apples, standing them upright in the pan. Fill in the center, and fill up any gaps.

It is important for the success of the tart that the apples are all the same thickness. Peel them immediately before cooking to make sure they do not oxidize when in contact with the air.

Place the pan in the bottom of the oven and cook for 1 hour. Check that the apples are cooked. Allow to rest for 10 minutes, then chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Place the dough on parchment paper, and flour it lightly. Roll it out into a circle about 1/8-inch (3-mm) thick. Lay the lid of the dish upside down on the pastry, and cut the pastry out to the same interior dimensions as the lid. Cut away the excess.

Prick the surface of the dough all over, using a fork. Trim the greaseproof paper to within 1/2 inch (12 mm) of the edge of the dough. Slide the dough, on the paper, onto a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Lay the cooked pastry on a cooling rack. Allow it to cool and harden.

It is always helpful to use parchment paper: there is no need to butter the pan, and the transfer of the pastry base is easy.

After 10 minutes of cooking, the pastry will still be soft. It hardens completely when cool. Handle it with care!

A few minutes before serving, gently warm a serving plate. Place the pastry disk over the apples. Unstick the apples by holding the pastry with one hand and turning the pan from all angles.

When the apples are unstuck from the bottom, turn out the tart. Lay the plate upside down over the pan, invert, and lift the pan away. The tart is ready to be devoured!

This recipe was originally published in “My Best Paul Bocuse” (Éditions Alain Ducasse). 

Tim Vidrio is New Executive Chef at Chicago’s Michelin-starred North Pond restaurant

Farm-to-Table Restaurant

After 20 Years, Bruce Sherman Turning Over Kitchen to Chef de Cuisine Tim Vidrio.

Since taking over what was a casual park café in 1999, Sherman has been the only executive chef North Pond.

“It’s with mixed emotions for sure…back then, I couldn’t have dreamt of all we’d achieve here, and I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished. The time feels right, there is a strong team in place and I look forward to seeing what the next twenty years bring – for the restaurant, and for me,” says Sherman.

Under his leadership, North Pond has received numerous awards and honors such as a Michelin star rating for seven consecutive years as well as multiple James Beard nominations and winning Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2012.

While he’ll no longer be running the kitchen, he will, along with longtime business partner Richard Mott, remain a partner. “I want to thank Bruce for all he’s done here. He’s been a great chef, partner and friend and I understand his desire to start a new chapter. We will all miss him, and equally, we’re excited to see Tim grow into this role,” states Mott.

Vidrio joined the North Pond team in early 2011 and for the past three years has been chef de cuisine.  Prior to joining North Pond, Vidrio worked his way through Chicagoland kitchens, including Le Francais, Moto, and NoMi at the Park Hyatt Hotel. He shares Sherman’s philosophy of respectfully and sustainably working with the best of the  season while maintaining close relationships with farmers, producers and growers. John Arents, who worked at North Pond some fifteen years ago, returns in December as Managing Partner/General Manager, and longtime GM Natalie Boschert will return from maternity leave in spring in an operations role.

North Pond serves dinner Wednesday — Sunday beginning at 5:30 p.m.; Sunday brunch service begins at 10:30 a.m. Smoking is not permitted in North Pond. Valet parking is available on weekends at the corner of Lakeview and Deming Streets and reservations are recommended. For reservations or further information, please call 773.477.5845 or visit North Pond.

Chef Sherman’s Winter Spinach-Apple Soup

  • 1 shallot, peeled, sliced thinly
  • 1/2 small onion, peeled, sliced thinly
  • 1 firm, sweet apple, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
  • 1 clove roasted garlic
  • 1 tbl. olive oil
  • 10 oz winter spinach
  • 1/3 heavy cream (optional)
  • 1 c chicken stock or water
  • nutmeg
  • cinnamon
  • cayenne pepper
  • salt and white pepper
  • 3 oz butter, chilled and cubed
Method

Heat a medium size Teflon (non-stick) pan over the fire and place the olive oil in it.
Add the sliced shallots, onion, apple and roasted garlic and stir for 2-3 minutes until softened but not colored.
Next, add in the washed baby spinach- stemmed, if necessary. Add in some salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg and then stir for 1-2 minutes until softened.
Add in cream and reduce by half until thickened.
Add the chicken or vegetable stock and heat until the liquid boils.
Transfer the mixture to a blender, add in the butter and puree until very smooth.
Transfer to a pot to heat through, adjust consistency and seasoning before serving.