Duskie Estes began cooking at the age of five in her EZ-Bake oven. She grew up in San Francisco and is a graduate of Brown University. She has worked at Luckys/Al Forno (Rhode Island), 21 Federal and Kinkeads (Washington, DC), Greens in San Francisco, and Baywolf in Oakland. In 1994, while leading a Share Our Strength (SOS) program in Seattle, she met restaurateur/chef/cookbook author Tom Douglas and soon accepted the role of corporate sous chef of Douglas' three award winning Seattle restaurants: Dahlia Lounge, Ettas Seafood, and Palace Kitchen. Three years later she became his Chef of Palace Kitchen and during her two year tenure she was voted City Search’s Seattle Best Chef in 2000. Under her leadership, Palace Kitchen was rated by Gourmet magazine as one of the top five Seattle restaurants in 2000 and in the nations top 50 restaurants in 2001. She was coauthor on Tom Douglas’s Seattle Kitchen, which received the James Beard Award in 2001. Duskie and her husband, John Stewart opened ZAZU restaurant + farm in Santa Rosa in the summer of 2001. In 2004, they harvested their first vintage of Holdredge Schiopettino, MacBryde Vineyard, which made it onto the list at The French Laundry! Duskie and John opened BOVOLO in Healdsburg in summer, 2005. Duskie’s husband and co chef, John Stewart is responsible for their line of BLACK PIG MEATS, antibiotic and hormone free bacon and salami made from heritage pork. John learned the craft from Mario Batali and courses at The Meat Lab in Iowa.
They also have 2 children, Brydie and Mackenzie, born in 2001 and 2002 respectively.
You can catch Duskie in the ZAZU garden before service gathering squash blossoms with her two little girls.
www.zazurestaurant.com
www.bovolorestaurant.com
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