Meeting News - March 9, 2009 - (Page 6)

Chef Talk He Cooked with Icons, Now He’s About the Ingredients ground and see the animals and how they’re treatChef Tarver King was destined for the culinary ed and fed. At another restaurant where I worked, world, even before he was born. His grandmother we used to call the produce purveyor and yell, went to college with cooking’s ultimate rock star, “Pick it, cut it, and put it right on the plane!”Here, Julia Child, and he heard stories we can pick parsnips out of the about the food icon throughout ground, and almost a week his formative years. later, the quality is still great. I Later, his cooking career get excited about that. came full circle when he particEvery day, we go into the garipated in the celebration of den and say something like, Child’s 90th birthday—the Inn “Oh, we have parsnips; ok, we at Little Washington, in Washhave to do something with that,” ington, VA, where he was and then we pair them with working, handled the dessert proteins, etc. We have formulas, course for the evening. but nothing’s set in stone; it all Now executive chef at depends on the ingredients. Goodstone Inn & Estate, a So, when we ﬁrst meet with Tarver King small but group-friendly propgroups, we keep the menu planerty in Middleburg, VA, King ning wide open. If, for example, Executive Chef has cooked with some of the a customer’s event is a few Goodstone Inn & Estate industry’s living legends, months away, we’ll ask, “What including Roy Yamaguchi (at do you like, what do you want to his eponymous restaurant in see or not see,” but we wait until Philadelphia) and Thomas Keller (at the French the day before, roughly, to come up with the menu. Laundry, in California’s Napa Valley). He’s also done stints at top restaurants in England. How do planners, who like to organize But now his sights are firmly on something things ahead of time, respond to that? one doesn’t need to be a chef to appreciate: fresh ingredients. On the 265-acre farm where GoodA lot of people appreciate that the menu is stone sits, the possibilities for King’s concoctions planned with the best ingredients. We want are nearly endless, and he’s excited about the to make sure that everything we use is at the peak options available to him. of its potential. In fact, his enthusiasm for what’s known as the We did have one group that wanted a menu farm-to-table approach (where chefs use local farther out, so we did that for the customer. ingredients) is spreading quickly, not just through customers but through readers and viewers of his Feast from a King: Roasted pepper, served multiple ways, with a ﬁsh pate, sausage, nuts, and garlic. blog, for which he also takes photographs. MeetingNews found King in a moment of calm to hear what he will cook up next at Goodstone. By Rayna Katz Q A Q A Q A Why did you start a blog? We wanted to show customers what we’re working on, keep guests involved with the kitchen, and, at the same time, create a tool to advertise up-and-coming dinners, local farms, etc. In other words, we wanted to put the guest in the driver’s seat of what we’re doing. How has it helped you connect with meeting planners? It shows planners the quality of our food, and what we have going on at Goodstone. Plus, it’s brought us business; a couple who’d seen the blog came in to eat and then said, “My company is looking for a spot for a retreat, I’d love to bring a group here.” What food and beverage programs do you offer groups? Q A We could involve a group in a farm-based experience, followed by time in the kitchen to do some preparation for their own meal— using the ingredients they found. Other options include a private wine tasting focused on any number of topics, like tasting some of Virginia’s ﬁnest wines, how to blind taste like the pros, or learning the differences around the world for a particular varietal (e.g., chardonnay). Another program on the beverage side would be for the group to come up with its own signature cocktail. Q A You place a strong emphasis on using fresh, local ingredients, mostly grown on property. How does that impact the guest experience? Q A What’s your favorite food? This is the purest I can ever possibly be. After years and tons of research and sleepless nights in search of the best ingredients, those efforts can only go so far. But here, I can pick stuff out of the 6 MeetingNews March 9, 2009 It’s kind of a mood thing. My girlfriend— who’s a pastry chef here—and I eat a lot of ethnic food, like Indian cuisine. But there’s a place here, called Hunter’s Head, that serves English food, like shepherd’s pie, and it has a cool atmosphere with ﬁreplaces; we like that a lot. But traditional food is good, too; I really appreciate that. H Contact Rayna Katz at rayna.katz@nielsen.com www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - March 9, 2009

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