Culinary notables toast memory of John Ash, father of Wine Country Cuisine

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Everyone likes to eat. The chefs, home cooks, restaurateurs, diners and others who gathered Saturday in Santa Rosa to celebrate the life of John Ash honored him for elevating meals hereabout to choicely delectable, fresh and regionally sourced, wine-paired experiences.

Gentlemanly and endlessly curious,  Ash, who died Aug. 7 in Santa Rosa at the age of 83, was widely praised as the father of Wine Country Cuisine – local, seasonal, responsibly harvested foods thoughtfully complemented by the nectar of grapes grown nearby.

Before the formal program on Saturday, Lisa Hemenway, a longtime friend and associate of Ash who’s also celebrated as a Sonoma County culinary pathfinder, said this about what the acclaimed chef, cookbook author and teacher brought to cooking: “0His artistry was beautiful, seeking to bring the essential natural flavors together with depth and homage to the history of a dish. His jubilation over a perfectly presented plate of food was unforgettable.”

A potent undercurrent of Saturday’s heartfelt tribute was that beyond all that Ash brought to the region’s palate was what he brought to its heart.

Heads nodded throughout the ballroom opposite John Ash Restaurant off River Road as son Tyler Ash said perhaps the most lasting gift from his dad wasn’t how he cooked but “how he made people feel. So many people have said the same thing: that he was kind, that he was unpretentious and genuinely interested in everyone he met. That’s the part that stays with me.”

Phil Younger, who often invited Ash to cook and fish and teach and entertain as a visiting chef at his lodge in Alaska, praised him as “one of life’s true princes.”

Many prominent Sonoma, Mendocino and Napa county chefs, restaurant owners and winemakers took part in the celebration that Tyler Ash and his sister, Emily Ash Lamb, hosted at the former Vintners Inn, now Vinarosa Resort & Spa. The venue includes the John Ash Restaurant.

Josh Silvers, who with his wife, Regina, opened Jackson’s Bar & Oven in Railroad Square after their run with the popular Syrah Bistro, recalled coming to town in 1999 as one of the local dining scene’s young guns.

Silvers told of standing in awe of, and learning from, the likes of Ash, Hemenway and Michael Herschberg, whose contributions included the Mandala, Matisse, Mistral and Sassafras restaurants and also Mezzaluna Bakery.

Singling out Ash, Silvers called him “a shining example” of a Sonoma County chef/restaurateur who “paved the roads for young guys like me.”

“Now, I feel like I’m the old guard,” Silvers, 61, told the crowd of about 150. Still today, he added, he’s aware of standing on the shoulders of culinary giants who most certainly include the man to whom everyone present Saturday was paying tribute.

“John Ash was really a giant of the community,” Silvers said. “I think our community is smaller for the loss.”

As guests mingled and savored raw oysters and other delicacies before the speaking began, renowned Sonoma County foodies Duskie Estes and John Stewart reflected on the passion Ash applied to gathering ingredients of the highest possible freshness and quality. The married couple runs Black Pig Meat Co. and formerly operated Zazu Kitchen + Farm.

Stewart remembered Ash walking through an orchard and taking clear delight in finding a nearly perfect apple, then one even better.

Added Estes, “He was the king of the sourcers.”

Ash’s trajectory in the region began in the 1970s. It carried him from Russian River Vineyards near Forestville to Courthouse Café in downtown Santa Rosa, then to Montgomery Village, where he opened John Ash & Co. in 1980.

Seven years later, Ash relocated the restaurant to River Road, near the stylish Vintners Inn.  After he sold the restaurant, it continued to bear his name.

Ash authored six cookbooks, two of which – “John Ash Cooking One-on-One” in 2005 and “Culinary Birds” in 2014 – garnered the prestigious James Beard Award. His 1996 “From the Earth to the Table: John Ash’s Wine Country Cuisine” won the Julia Child Cookbook Award for Best Cookbook of the Year.

For 38 years on the radio, Ash and co-host Steve Garner served up culinary tales, recipes, interviews and gardening tips on the weekly “The Good Food Hour,” broadcast on Santa Rosa’s KSRO. It was the country’s longest-running food talk show.

Ash’s food stories and recipes were staples for many years in the food section of The Press Democrat.

Prominent on the guest list to Saturday’s life celebration were Ash’s on-air co-host Garner; acclaimed Russian River Valley vintner Merry Edwards; Thomas Schmidt, former executive chef at John Ash & Co.; John Finger, co-founder and CEO of Hog Island Oyster Co.; Gayle Okumura Sullivan and Brian Sullivan of Dry Creek Peach & Produce; Barbara Hom, restaurant-hotel consultant and former manager of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone; Bruce Riezenman of Park Avenue Catering; Tracey Shepos, executive chef at Kendall-Jackson Wines; Lou and Susan Preston of Preston Farm and Winery in Alexander Valley; automobile dealer and Sonoma Media Group owner Lawrence Amaturo; and Ash’s longtime cooking and teaching partner, Mei Ibach, also the culinary arts director at Sebastopol’s Analy High School.

Also invited were vintner John Balletto of Balletto Vineyards, Nas Salamati and Najine Shariat of Goguette Bread; Jeffrey Madura of Jeffrey’s Hillside Café; Jim Reichardt of Liberty Ducks; Kim Hough of McEvoy Ranch; Jim Fetzer of Ceago Vinegarden and formerly of Fetzer Vineyards; former Fetzer winemaker Bob Blue; chef Andrew Wild of Wild About Food and Drink; former leading Sonoma County cardiologist and Ash business partner John Reed; Erica Simpson of Napa’s Uptown Theatre; Anna Beuselinck of Campovida Winery in Hopland; sustainable seafood educator Jennifer Bushman; Donna Bernheim, former hospitality manager of Sonoma-Cutrer Winery; mushroom grower David Law; Deb and Phil McGauley of Korbel Winery; Donna Del Rey of Relish Culinary Adventures in Healdsburg; Mark Dierkhising of Dierk’s Parkside Café; and Ginger Hopkins, a former Monterey Bay Aquarium official who worked with Ash on sustainable seafood.

Guy Fieri, who was a partner in two Santa Rosa restaurants when he became a Food Network star in 2006, wasn’t able to attend but contributed a videotaped tribute to John Ash. The Ash siblings concluded the memorial by rolling the video.

On it, Fieri recalled that when he came to Sonoma County and opened Johnny Garlic’s in 1996, “John Ash was the name. He was the draw. He was the recognition. He really was the farm-to-table, the sea-to-table.”

“He really was one of those pioneers, one of those folks who paved the way for us. But the great thing that he taught all of us, the one thing that he celebrated the most, is his love of the Wine Country, the love of food and family, and tying it all together.

“So, we celebrate you, Chef. We recognize you and we will hopefully do our best to carry on your dream and your legacy.

“Namaste.”

Chris Smith is a retired Press Democrat reporter and columnist. He is at csmith54@sonic.net.