Chestnut

Daniel Eardley began his career in most unwitting circumstances. While working on the family farm as a boy, he was given the rare opportunity to learn where food comes from. While raising vegetable gardens, chickens and horses the family also put up all its own farm and wild preserves for winters.

After working in local restaurants for nine years he enrolled in cooking school at the Culinary Institute of America. He graduated with honors and proceeded to a post in the Napa Valley at Tra Vigne. From there he traveled throughout the valley and San Francisco working for free just to absorb skills and knowledge. A brief year in Seattle’s Pike Place Market completed his west coast run.

A return to New York with honed skills led chef Eardley to Larry Forgione’s flagship An American Place. From there he met Jonathan Waxman and opened Washington Park. Hailed as a “cool west coast breeze of fresh flavors” the chef put a new style of fresh menus without a cultural identity. Emphasis was placed on the ingredients to be local, organic, in season and minimally prepared. His philosophy “simple is pure” allowed ingredients to show their true nature and beauty.

The old relationships with local producers and foragers have bloomed into a network of farm cooperatives that supply many restaurants in New York. Chef Eardley still goes upstate to his native Dutchess County to forage and visit farms of his childhood filling the car with all it can carry. While in the city he rides his bicycle to greenmarkets “I ride all over the city looking for ingredients. Luckily, I have an enormous messenger bag and a small restaurant.”

Championing the small farmer seems only fitting in such a small venue as Chestnut. As seasons come and go the menu is as reflective as a still lake at twilight in a place where you can still see the stars.