Personalities

David Kinch

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Chef - Manresa

David Kinch Chef/Proprietor

David Kinch has forged a distinctive culinary career path leading to the opening of Manresa and putting him at the forefront of new contemporary California cuisine. Kinch’s driving force for his daily work remains the satisfaction he gets from cooking. “This can be a difficult business to be in if you don’t like it—including long hours on your feet every day and dealing with the public,” he notes. “Very simply, I love doing this. My great pleasure is people being incredibly happy with their experience at the restaurant.” Although he was born in Philadelphia, Kinch was raised in New Orleans, a city with a rich and distinctive culinary history that had a lasting impact on him. His first job was in a restaurant kitchen at the age of 16 and from there he formally pursued a culinary career by enrolling at Johnson and Wales Culinary Academy in Providence, RI. “The only jobs I’ve ever had were in restaurants; I was fascinated by the culture of working in them,” he recalls. “I knew early on that I wanted to have my own restaurant.”After graduating, Kinch spent the next 15 years working his way up in the culinary world, completing stages at Michelin-starred restaurants in France, Germany, and Spain; working as a chef in New York; and as a consultant chef in Fukuoka, Japan. In 1993, he relocated to San Francisco and two years later opened Sent Sovi in Saratoga, CA. In 2002, he moved south to Los Gatos, buying the property that would become Manresa. Kinch’s culinary philosophy is fostered by the terroir, or the “sense of place” of the California Coast, and the kind of ingredient-driven cooking and modern technique he has studied around the world. His pursuit for exceptional ingredients has inspired an exclusive partnership with Farmer and Owner Cynthia Sandberg of Love Apple Farms, where all of the vegetables, as well as herbs, eggs, honey, and many other ingredients, are grown for the restaurant. By having an exclusive working relationship with the farm for most of his ingredients, Kinch is creating a closed loop between the farm and his kitchen, and assuring that the dining experience imparts to guests a distinct sense of place and time. “What we have is a working farm and a working restaurant,” Kinch says. “We’ve made it a viable partnership, and that makes it unique. Every decision we make is based on the quality of what we can do and controlling the quality of the ingredients we offer our guests.” For ingredients not provided by the farm, Kinch works closely with local purveyors, making sure that everything being presented on the menu meets the same high standards.
Manresa has been awarded two Michelin stars for six consecutive years and in 2010, he was awarded the Best Chefs in America award for the Pacific region from the James Beard Foundation. He lives in Santa Cruz, CA.

David Kinch’s Career 1977 Commander’s Palace, New Orleans, working under Chef Paul Prudhomme 1981 Graduated with honors from Johnson and Wales Culinary Academy in Providence, Rhode Island 1982 Sous Chef at Hotel Parker Meridian, New York; Executive Chef, La Petite Ferme, New York 1984 Stage at Hôtel de la Poste, Beaune, France, under Marc Chevillot 1984-88 Chef, Quilted Giraffe, New York 1989 Consultant chef to Hotel Clio Court in Fukuoka, Japan, where he played an integral part in the creation of a contemporary American restaurant 1989-90 Executive Chef, Silks, The Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco 1990-92 Stages at Schweizer Stuben, Wertheim, Germany; L’Espérance, St-Père-en- Vézelay, France; Akelarre, San Sebastián, Spain 1993 Executive Chef, Ernie’s, San Francisco 1995 Chef-proprietor, Sent Sovi, Saratoga, California 2002 Chef-proprietor, Manresa, Los Gatos, California

David Kinch Distinctions and Honors 2012 World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Restaurant magazine, UK 2012 Two Michelin Stars, Michelin Guide San Francisco Bay Area and Wine Country, 2007-2012 2012 Zagat Survey 2012, Top Five San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants 2012 Opinionated About Dining Guide, Top Restaurant in Northern California
2011 Chef of the Year, GQ magazine
2011 4 Stars, Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle, December 2011 & September 2005
2011 Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants, San Francisco Chronicle, 2003-2011 2011 4 Stars, Josh Sens, San Francisco magazine, August 2011 2011 Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S., Gayot, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011 2010 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chefs in America: Pacific 2011, 2010 Forbes Travel Guide Four Star Award 2010 World’s 50 Best Restaurants, second tier, Restaurant magazine, UK, 2009-2010 2009 Best New Restaurants of the Decade, Zagat 2009 12 Restaurants That Matter, Saveur, April 2009 2009 Four Stars, Mobil Four- and Five-Star Hotel and Restaurant Awards, 2007-2009 2008 Top 10 Most Dedicated Farm-to-Table Restaurants, Epicurious.com 2008 Fine Dining Hall of Fame, Nation’s Restaurant News 2007 Award of Excellence 2007, Wine Spectator 2006 America’s Top 50 Restaurants, Gourmet, October 2006 2006 Four Stars, Aleta Watson, San Jose Mercury News, December 2006 & December 2002 2006 Rising Star Chef of the Year, David Kinch, Northside San Francisco 2006 Commendation by the Town of Los Gatos, March 20, 2006 2005 World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Restaurant magazine, UK 2002 Top 10 of 2002, Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2002