The rise of #GnomerieKitchen

From a young age I’ve loved cooking, I’ve loved being around the warmth of the kitchen with its countless sounds and aromas. I remember the kitchen in my grandparents home where I grew up and how it always seemed a gathering place for my family, even at non meal times. I remember the big, well seasoned cast iron my grandmother would toast bread in for stuffing, the pot my grandfather would make massive batches of meatballs and sauce in for Christmas Eve dinner, I remember the ever faithful KitchenAid mixer that would accompany my mother on the path to producing countless cookies, sweet rolls and cakes for all the holidays. I feel the warmth of everyone crammed around the table in the center of the kitchen for Sunday dinners. It’s pretty safe to say then, that the kitchen, for me, is a great source of memories. Thomas Keller, renowned chef/owner of the French Laundry, said that great cooking comes down to two things: nourishment and creating good memories, it is this ideal that inspired what has come to be known as Gnomerie Kitchen.

When I welcome people into Gnomerie Kitchen it will be an opportunity for me to tap into those same memories that I have. Maybe a strawberry dessert reminds them of the first time they picked strawberries, the sun just rising over the field, the slight chill in the air, their shoes getting muddy from the soil and the cold drops of water falling from their hand as they reach into a bush to pull out their first vibrant, red strawberry. What if it also reminded them of a trip to Paris years later with a special someone? Strolling down the streets that seem to have a patisserie on every corner. Wouldn’t it be something to connect that first time they held a fresh strawberry with the first time they tasted a Charlotte Fraise while watching the sun sink into the Seine and lastly come full circle with a ripe, gorgeous strawberry served in all its glory? Maybe that is the true spirit of Gnomerie Kitchen then, finding the right balance of the humble and the refined.

In all fairness, I should probably clue everyone in to where the gnome in Gnomerie comes into all this. My girlfriend, Megan, has slowly accumulated quite a few gnome figures handmade by a local crafter named Julie Stuver. Each gnome is completely unique and they encompass every season and numerous genres. Anyway, I was stuck on a name for the project and soon connected gnomes and their roots in nature with the farm to table nature of my dishes and soon came up with Gnomerie…after initially going with Gnoma. Chef Ken Miller told me this might cause a copyright issue with the actual restaurant NOMA.

Since I decided to follow this culinary path I have always felt that being a chef wasn’t what I really wanted. I just wanted something small to call my own, carve out my own little piece of this huge craft and fill it with whatever I wanted to make of it. Going through cooking school we were told that certification with the ACF is the way to go, putting in years and years of learning, making mistakes and pushing ourselves until we earn the title chef and lead our own kitchens. It’s taken me awhile to come to terms with that not being my measure of accomplishment. I’m seeking to recapture those familial moments of my childhood and share them with my guests, albeit with food slightly more elevated than my grandfather’s goulash, as tasty as it may have been. It won’t be just me, GnomerieKitchen will in time become a collective, different creative personalities finding an outlet for their visions in a more intimate setting than that allowed by the typical restaurant kitchen. So that’s it then: strangers perhaps finding new memories with each other, elevated dishes, finding the best each season has to offer and bringing it to the plate. There’s no true theme, there’s going to be stuff from all over the world and all flavor profiles. It’s about exploration and sharing that explorative journey with the guest. Like chef Keller said: nourishment and creating good memories, it’s my hope there will be plenty of both. Welcome to my kitchen.