Hospitality Design - October 2015 - 111

special feature
KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

chefs

Meet eight inspring and innovative chefs currently changing the culinary game

2
1+2. Staged images of
what the soon-to-becompleted design for
Ninebark in Napa Valley
will look like.

1

MATTHEW LIGHTNER
Ninebark/AvroKO Hospitality Group West
Becoming a chef

"I basically started working with my brother
and sister in a family-owned restaurant in my
hometown outside of Omaha as a teenager out
of necessity," Matthew Lightner says. At age 19,
he moved to Portland, Oregon with his sister to
pursue his dream. A self-described "horrible
student," he opted to go to the Western Culinary
Institute instead of a traditional college.

His big break

"After years of working really hard," in Portland
and Southern California for various venerable
chefs including Paul McCabe at L'Auberge in
Del Mar, California, Lightner was awarded the
Young Chefs Culinary Scholarship at age 27
and, as part of a select group of 15, went to the
Basque country in Spain to work under Andoni
Aduriz at Mugaritz. "What's not to love [about
the experience in Spain]? They are so food
forward and creative in everything they do, it's a
beautiful landscape, and I got to work at one of
the most progressive kitchens in the world."

Finding success stateside

After his two-year visa expired, Lightner moved
back to Portland in 2009 at the height of the
recession. Finding it "near impossible" to find
a job, he bussed tables at his sister's restaurant
until the executive chef role at Castagna became

available. His focus on foraging for local foods
there landed him on Food & Wine's 2010 Best
New Chefs list, and earned him a James Beard
nomination for Rising Star Chef in 2010 and
2011. In 2012, he took a chance on New York
with Atera, an 18-seat, 18-course prix fixe space
in Tribeca, and came away with two Michelin
stars. "The food was very much my point of
view-unbiased, serendipitous, but it pushed
the limits by rediscovering things in a new way,"
he says.

The challenges of such a small
restaurant

"Being small you have to produce a menu that is
extraordinarily well executed. There was a lot
of pressure to do so, every detail and every dish
had to be life-changing," he explains. "It wasn't
easy. Other restaurants would do 150 covers and
300 plates, and we were doing 36 covers and
almost 1,000 plates."

On recently forming AvroKO
Hospitality Group West

Lightner has partnered with New York-based
AvroKO to launch AvroKO Hospitality Group
West. He will helm all of the group's West Coast
F&B venues, starting with Ninebark, which
will open later this month in downtown Napa

Valley in the former home of AvroKO's Thomas
& Fagiani's. "It was time for a change, for me to
do my own projects or with great collaborators,
and I wanted to get back to the West Coast-my
heart and soul are in West Coast products."

Ninebark's sensibilities

"It's three stories-a bar when you walk in, a
kitchen and dining room on the second floor,
and a third floor rooftop bar. I have worked on
a lot of casual places, but my head has been in
high-end dining for so long that it's nice to take
a step back. The food is very accessible and
approachable, but the operations are still run
as if it is a high-end restaurant. We are looking
at the vegetables we have out here and are
redefining the salad bar. There will be a lot of
layers and depth and flavor-somewhat familiar
but with a lot of nuances."

What diners want today

"An experience and no more closed doors.
Diners want to see the product, see the level of
work that goes into it, and feel invited into the
restaurant. It's not just a seat. [For the design,]
I put my feet in guests' shoes, looking at what
they will and won't see."

On creating dishes

"Whatever I produce just happens. It's not
something you have to overly explain. You get
the good product, and you just do it on the spot.
That's what makes the food exciting."

hospitalitydesign.com October 2015

111
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - October 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - October 2015
