|
 Cindy
Pawlcyn grew up in an accomplished culinary family, where fresh,
seasonal ingredients were an integral part of every meal and supper-time
was always family-time. “My parents raised me to appreciate
good cooking, even serving me small portions of wine or beer at
the dinner table if it would complement my meal.” Cindy recalls.
By the time Cindy was thirteen she was working at a local cooking
school and equipment store. She ran a catering business through
high school, and went on to trade school and college, where she
earned her Bachelor’s in Restaurant Management. She also studied
at Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris. Cindy began her career in
various restaurants in Chicago and Minneapolis and moved to California
in 1980 to take a job at McArthur Park.
Cindy has now lived and worked in the Napa Valley for over twenty
years. She was the opening chef at Meadowood, worked under Bruce
le Favour at Rose and le Favour and opened her first restaurant,
Mustards Grill, in 1983.
Since Mustards opened, Cindy has been involved in the creation
of over a dozen new restaurants including Rio Grill, Fog City Diner,
Bix, Roti, Buckeye Roadhouse and Tra Vigne. In a review of the Buckeye,
Carolyn Bates wrote, “Creating food with a genuine American
flavor and good-time places in which to eat it are what Cindy Pawlcyn
and her partners do… better than anyone else in California.”
Cindy now solely operates Mustards Grill and her newest creation,
Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, in St. Helena. In a business where
most chefs burn out by their 25th birthdays, Cindy Pawlcyn, who
lives surrounded by organic gardens and orchards that supply the
restaurants, keeps on cooking.
A pioneer in her field, Cindy has been acknowledged by a local
and national following, as well as by many top culinary organizations
and magazines. Cindy is an inductee of Who’s Who of Cooking
in America. She has been twice nominated for the James Beard Foundation
award for Best Chef in California, is the recipient of the Robert
Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence, and the Fine Beverage and
Food Federation’s Career Achievement Award. Her cookbook,
“Mustards Grill Cookbook,” won a James Beard Award.
She is currently working on her third cookbook.
|
