Four Five-Star Chefs Teach the Art of Cooking

— by Margie Doyle —

Four renowned Orcas chefs will conduct a series of classes that demonstrate their skill, for “students” to enjoy and learn to prepare in their own kitchens.

The series, sponsored by Red Rabbit Farm and Island Market, will take place:

• Saturday, Feb. 28 with John Trumbull of Roses Bakery and Café
• Saturday, March 14 with Geddes Martin of Ship Bay
• Saturday, March 21 with Christina Orchid of Red Rabbit Farm
• Saturday, March 28 with Steve DeBaste of New Leaf Café

All classes start at 3 p.m. at the Red Rabbit Cooking Barn in West Sound. Payment of $100 per person and registration can be made at the Office Cupboard or at the Orcas Island Chamber of Commerce office. Proceeds from the series will benefit the annual Shakespeare Festival.

About the Chefs
John Trumbull with his wife Joni, have owned and operated Roses Bakery Café in Eastsound for the past 24 years. Like many who have worked in the kitchen world, he began his career as a dishwasher before working his way deeper into the kitchen, bouncing around a few restaurant kitchens in Utah and California.

The most important influences to his career prior to the present work, have been living in Paris for most of a year while learning about classic French cuisine at Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in 1979/80, and working at Chateau Montelena Winery in the Napa Valley for seven years through the 1980s, just prior to coming to Orcas. Those years in the wine country near the San Francisco Bay Area really helped to instill an appreciation for the wisdom of cooking with the season, and seeking and using the finest ingredients.

Geddes Martin, a Vermont native, went to culinary school in Portland, Oregon. Before moving to Orcas Island, he worked as a Chef de Cuisine at Atwaters Restaurant, a leader in “fresh and local” inspired cuisine in the Portland food and wine scene in the 1980s and 90s. Geddes then sought the challenge of a brand new kitchen in Portland’s Hotel Monaco. He moved to Orcas Island with his wife Mary Anna and their young family in the spring of 1998 to  be the Chef at Rosario Resort.

Four years later, he and Mary Anna embarked on the journey which has become celebrated as Inn at Ship Bay. Since his arrival at Orcas, Geddes has always sought local products and has had a strong working relationship with the many farms in our island community. His commitment to “know the food source” philosophy is reflected in the Inn at Ship Bay’s several acres of kitchen gardens and working fruit orchards.

He is also one of the few stockmen who breed and raise Mangalista pigs on the west coast.  The pork and produce are featured in his always-changing seasonal menus at the Inn.

Northwest native, Christina Orchid, called a pioneer in the farm to table movement is a chef, farmer, and proprietor of Red Rabbit Farm on Orcas Island. Orchid’s namesake restaurant, Christina’s, created and maintained its position as a top rated NW dining destination for over 28 years by serving locally raised lamb, vegetables, fruits, shellfish and seafood, using fresh herbs and orchard fruit from her own farm long before these practices became the norm in good restaurants and started the movement toward sustainability.

Her talent in the kitchen brought recognition to the northwest region for its bounty of fresh seasonal foods, an independent kitchen sensibility and creativity based on the seasons and its ingredients, and it’s acceptance of Women Chefs.

Today Orchid serves dinners twice a week during the season at the farm, makes small batch preserves, and enjoys hosting farm stays for visitors. Her book, Christina’s, Recipes and Stories from an Island Kitchen has become a northwest classic, continuing her mission to entertain and inspire through the conviviality of the kitchen and the meals she serves.

Chef Steve Debaste began his career as the Chef at the Creperie de Touraine in Honolulu, then after many years in Hawaii returned to his hometown of Seattle as the Chef of the nationally recognized 1904 Restaurant and Wine bar where downtown Seattle’s top young Chefs came to eat and drink after work.

After the transition of the 1904 to the Dahlia Lounge,Steve was one of the opening Chefs at the first Palomino in Seattle and then moved on to another Restaurants unlimited establishment, Scotts Bar and Grill in Edmonds. Before moving to Orcas Island in 2010, Steve worked as a District and Executive Chef at Microsoft and also as an Executive Chef for Guckenheimer, being recognized as the Pacific Northwest Chef of the Year in 2006.

The New Leaf Café in the Historic Outlook Inn is Chefs Debaste’s new home where he is excited and inspired by the wealth of local organic farms and fresh seafood.