Many in the Seattle restaurant world were stunned last fall upon hearing that chef Jerry Traunfeld was leaving The Herbfarm, a nationally acclaimed restaurant, after a 17-year reign to launch his own establishment.
Under Traunfeld’s culinary guidance, The Herbfarm had grown from a tiny restaurant on a working herb nursery just outside Seattle to a full-blown, farmlike restaurant in a nearby Seattle suburb that was voted one of the top 10 restaurants in the United States last year by Zagat.
At The Herbfarm, Traunfeld cooked ninecourse meals using the seafood, vegetables and herbs from nearby as well as meats, cheeses and other ingredients sourced as locally as possible. He is known for his innovative multicourse meals and became a master in the use of herbs.
Ever since Traunfeld left The Herbfarm, fans have been eagerly awaiting the opening of Poppy, his new Seattle restaurant.
In an industry where turnover is legendary, you stayed at The Herbfarm for 17 years. Why did you decide to leave after such a long reign?
It was a hard decision, because it was a great job. There are not many places where you have a great kitchen with all these amazing resources. We have an amazing farm where I supervised a gardener, and the garden was right there at the restaurant. I had a great staff, and [owners] Ron [Zimmerman] and Carrie [Van Dyck] gave me carte blanche creatively. But after 17 years, I thought, if I’m ever going to do my own thing, which I had thought about over the years, it just felt like it was the right time. I got this great idea for a restaurant, and I thought, “Just go for it.”
BIOGRAPHY Title: chef-owner, Poppy, Seattle Education: Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle; California Culinary Academy, San Francisco Hometown: born in Queens, N.Y., but grew up in Silver Spring, Md. Career highlights: winning the James Beard Award for Best American Chef of the Northwest in 2000; writing his first book, “The Herbfarm Cookbook,” which won an IACP award in 2000, and his second book, “The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor,” which was named one of the best cookbooks of the year by Food & Wine; appearing on “Martha Stewart Living,” Better Homes and Gardens Television, and The Food Network, and being a regular guest on public radio’s “The Splendid Table”
What’s the new restaurant idea?
First, it’s not an Indian restaurant. That’s a misperception that’s gotten out there. I did get the idea from my culinary trip to India, but I was there to write a book on spices. What I really came back with was a great way to eat. In India, the food is often served on a thali, which is a great big tray with many little dishes that are all served at once to all the guests. You aren’t passing around the plates, but you get a lot of little tastes all at once.
Here, everyone loves the small plates and little bits of things. That’s the trend, but if you’re at a table for four, you might end up with one bite of everything and the dishes don’t always go together. In my idea, you might get a soup and a couple of salads, a braised meat dish, maybe a seafood dish, a few vegetable dishes, and some flat bread, but you get it all at once, and it is all yours. You don’t have to share. Thali has not been translated to American cuisine. I’m basically taking that idea and translating it to the kind of food that I like to cook.
What is that kind of food?
The food will still be seasonal, regional food with lots of herbs and spices, but I’ll be getting away from luxury food. I’m trying to do something more affordable, so I won’t be offering things like foie gras [or] caviar, and I’ll be limited on the amount of wild mushrooms I can use.
Where does the name Poppy come from, and when are you planning to open?
That’s my mother’s nickname, and I thought it would be nice to name it after my mother. The name is easy to remember, and sounds light and bright. I love the flower, and it seemed like a great name. Right now, we’re planning to open in late summer.
CHEF’S TIPS Even if you just have a few planters in a parking lot, grow some of your own herbs. Try to prep and chop herbs as close to cooking with them as possible. Once they are picked, chopped and sitting out on a line, they quickly lose their flavor and freshness. Resist the temptation to chop your herbs too finely. Minced herbs are overworked and bruised. A quick chop with a very sharp knife will contribute brighter flavor and more presence to the dish.
Iknow you like to garden and enjoyed having your own 2-acre garden at The Herbfarm. So what’s on tap for Poppy?
What’s cool about this space is that there’s a parking lot in the back where I can build a garden, not as extensive as The Herbfarm, but still quite enough room to grow pretty much all the herbs I will need for the restaurant. It’s over 400 square feet, so I’ll be able to grow a substantial amount of herbs. They will be in raised beds where you can cram a lot of stuff in. I’ll grow pretty much the same herbs as we did at The Herbfarm, most importantly the ones that are hard to get like lemon verbena, lovage, chervil, anise hyssop and bay leaves.
From your time at The Herbfarm, what are you most proud of?
I had a big part in the direction of how chefs in Seattle cook now. We were one of the first to really be curious about working only with local seasonal ingredients, and besides that, while at Herbfarm, I became “The Guy” as far as culinary herbs go. I’m most proud of the two books I wrote, which is kind of a way to share all that information I learned, not just with the restaurant world but cooks all over the country.