3 Star Michelin Chef David Kinch: US kitchen to France, A CHEF’S VOYAGE

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

France is the undisputed home to, and originator of the term, haute cuisine and yet? 3 Star Michelin Chef David Kinch is brazen enough to take a pop-up kitchen to the heart of French cooking to collaborate with other legendary Michelin starred madmen in A CHEF’S VOYAGE from First Run Features. ”I believe that gastronomy, like any art, captures the real data on what it’s like to exist,” says Director Rémi Anfosso.

“In A Chef’s Voyage, it happens like a family affair: a quiet artist lives by a duty to exist and preserve his legacy within his “reassembled” family that is, his kitchen team. This is a tale of the land, the city and the sea, in which infinite labor meets loving creativity, thereby giving us faithful accounts on being alive.”

The North American run of this remarkable food trip from the creator of Manresa, a restaurant with ‘trois étoiles’ in Los Gatos, California, comes to virtual cinema on Sep. 18.

For $10, you can experience a French foodie voyeuristic vacation on Vimeo without the quarantine. 😉

Watch…

A CHEF’S VOYAGE OFFICIAL 411

The film follows Emmy (Mind of a Chef) and James Beard award-winning Chef David Kinch and his team from their 3 Star Michelin restaurant, Manresa, in California for a one of a kind “four hands” collaboration with three legendary chefs at their iconic restaurants in Paris, Provence, and Marseille.

A Chef’s Voyage begins in Los Gatos, California, as Kinch and the Manresa team close the famous restaurant for a month so that they can travel to France to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. Planning the trip has been going on for months. In order to represent the refined Californian cuisine of Kinch in France, the team must bring some of the characteristic ingredients of Manresa, such as seasonings, sauces that take days to make and Pacific seafood such as abalone.

But the logistics are tricky and they worry about whether they can get all the food through airport security and customs. Each kitchen staff member is responsible for packing up certain items in their suitcases, so Kinch tells them to leave out personal items so they have more space. “Underwear and abalone,” he quips. The stakes are high and, as Kinch says, “Everything could go wrong.”

As soon as they arrive in France, the crew prepares to cook alongside chefs and teams from three of the country’s best starred restaurants: Le Taillevent, L’Oustau de Baumanière and Le Petit Nice. Even for Kinch’s well-oiled team, it’s difficult to navigate their host kitchens and represent Californian gourmet cuisine on Michelin’s home turf while jetlagged, on a tight schedule, and with a language barrier.

We accompany the team in unknown kitchens, joking with their French counterparts wearing toques, consult Yelp to find out which restaurants in Paris are open until well after midnight – and celebrate the 15 years of Manresa excellence by doing what Chef Kinch and his team do best: creating meals and experiences worthy of those three stars.

Reminiscent of a classic “Rock Doc”, A Chef’s Voyage goes behind the scenes of their ‘voyage’ as they stage five dinner and four lunch events over the course of just 10 days in the world’s most cinematic venues, observing culinary superstars and their young and diverse supporting cast, and ultimately create something much more than food.

Featuring Chef David Kinch and legendary French Michelin starred chefs:

Alain Solivérès (2 star)

Jean-André Charial (3 star)

Glenn Viel (3 star)

Gerald Passedat (3 star)

Biography: David Kinch, Chef/Owner of Manresa, Northern California

David Kinch, Chef/Owner of Manresa, has forged a distinctive culinary path putting him at the forefront of a contemporary California cuisine. Manresa has received extensive accolades including Three Stars from the Michelin Guide, a Five Star Forbes Travel Award, and membership in prestigious organizations such as Relais & Chateaux and Les Grande Tables du Monde. In addition to Manresa, Kinch’s other projects include Manresa Bread, The Bywater, and his newest restaurant, Mentone.

He has received additional culinary recognition, including being named Best Chef Pacific by the James Beard Foundation in 2010, and his international peers voted him into the Top 25 of the World’s Best Chefs 2020 via Le Chef Magazine. Kinch won an Emmy for his role on the PBS series “The Mind of a Chef.” His first cookbook, “Manresa: An Edible Reflection” landed on the New York Times “Best Sellers List” in 2013, and he has a second cookbook set to debut Spring 2021.

About Director Rémi Anfosso

Rémi Anfosso is a bi-lingual French director working in France and Los Angeles. A Chef’s Voyage (2020) is his feature film directorial debut. Other recent credits include directing/producing Love at First Heist (short/2016) with Attic Light Films, 1st assistant directing with producer Richard Linklater on I Dream Too Much (2015), starring Danielle Brooks and Diane Ladd, and producing with showrunner Nneka Onuorah on the Viceland documentary Queer & Fier(ce) (2019).

Virtual Cinema Platform: Vimeo OTT | Ticket price $10 on Sept. 18

Bon appetite!

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