Award-winning chef Perry Hoffman is the new Culinary Director of the two-year-old Healdsburg SHED, on of my most favorite Sonoma County haunts.
Perry joins Healdsburg SHED, a modern grange hall, cafe, fermentation bar, and marketplace after a celebrated run as the Executive Chef at étoile at Domaine Chandon, which closed earlier this year.
Given the Napa Valley native’s grandparents Sally and Don Schmitt were the original owners of The French Laundry in Yountville and founders of The Apple Farm in Philo, Mendocino County, it seems Perry was destined for a career in the culinary arts.
Not surprisingly his pedigree led him into fine dining where he honed his craft at such notable institutions as Auberge du Soleil and étoileat Domaine Chandon where the young chef rose quickly through the ranks, and even planted a culinary garden that greatly fostered and expanded his farming and ingredient knowledge.
“There are so many reasons we are thrilled that Perry Hoffman is joining SHED,” shares co-owner Cindy Daniel, “he has the heart of a gardener and, like us, he believes that cultivating good food comes from good farming.”
While most of Perry’s 16 years of professional cooking include white-tablecloth dining, he will break that mold at SHED and embrace their more casual, but refined sensibility. Perry will oversee the entire culinary program that includes three eating periods (morning, afternoon and evening), private dining and events. The 31-year-old celebrated chef will focus on enhancing SHED’s offerings (including plenty of shareable options) and he will continue to cultivate a nourishing and convivial experience, with a sense of discovery and delight at the table.
“Cindy Daniel and Doug Lipton have created something alive and beautiful at SHED. I am eager to be a part of the SHED community — to get to know the farmers—and to learn and collaborate.” Perry adds, “I’m especially looking forward to exploring seasonality and terroir in Sonoma County, and being part of creating and completing the cycle from seed to plate. “
With a focus on responsible farming, ingredient-driven cooking, and flavorful food, Cindy and Doug are excited to see where Perry with his “immense culinary talents and creativity” will take their cuisine. Having founded Carneros Micros, a micro-green/edible flower farm with Jerome Cunnie, he will have the opportunity to get his hands dirty again (literally) as he collaborates with grower and co-owner Doug Lipton who owns HomeFarm five miles away.
“I am thrilled to think that I am now a farmer for one of our region’s most talented and passionate young chefs,” says Doug, who looks forward to growing new and interesting flavors that Hoffman will be bringing to the plate—straight from HomeFarm.
ABOUT THE SHED CAFE:
SHED is a market, café, and community gathering space designed to bring us closer to the way we grow, prepare, and share our food.
The café brings together all of the elements we believe in: responsible farming, ingredient-driven cooking, and flavorful food. Located in the heart of our space, the café features an open kitchen, wood-burning oven, and house-made products. menus change daily, inspired by what’s in season, and reflect our commitment to local farmers and producers. Whether you gather at our community table, find a seat at the counter, or take an outside table overlooking the creek, you're invited to share in the bounty of the SHED kitchen. SHED won the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant Design for 2014.
Much of the food served at SHED is grown five miles away at HomeFarm, and what’s left over is either preserved or composted back at the farm. SHED also sources from neighboring producers, most of whom farm within Sonoma County. This allows SHED to support small family ranchers and farmers and make the freshest, healthiest, most delicious food possible.
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