In 2024, Open Kitchen expanded its vision with the opening of Alkemē, a Santa Fe restaurant that brings “Culture-to-Table” dining to life. Within months, Alkemē was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, cementing Open Kitchen’s reputation for creativity and innovation.
Open Kitchen’s First Meet The Makers Wine Dinner at Alkemē
Open Kitchen is known for cooking up flavorful fun at catered events, cooking classes, private parties, and other edible experiences. In 2022, a special gathering of dinner guests took things to new heights when this collaborative hub hosted an artful evening of creativity, camaraderie, and delight.
Part of the joy came from friends and strangers reconnecting after two years of pandemic isolation. But much more was at work. The event marked Open Kitchen’s inaugural Meet the Makers Collaborative Wine Dinner, pairing Beck & Bulow’s premium meats and seafood with Vivac Winery’s award-winning New Mexico wines. Six courses of Open Kitchen’s culinary wizardry followed. The result felt like true alchemy.
“It was such a beautiful night and it really made my heart sing,” said Open Kitchen founder and chef Hue-Chan Karels. “There was a wonderful perfect storm, so to speak. During the pandemic there was such a hunger for gathering and people craved the desire for everyone coming together. We had 45 people, packed, it was a sell-out. Everyone was feeling a specialness to be among each other. There was a hunger for connection, a hunger for seeing food created in a very special way.”
Food as Art
Each dish at this dinner seemed to spring from a meditation on beauty and melody. With a symphony of flavors, the presentations resembled still-life paintings.
Take the passed hors d’oeuvres: Wild Boar Bacon Mille Feuille with Citrus Mascarpone Cheese and Mini Bao with Gochujang-Hibiscus Candied Salmon Belly, featuring Beck & Bulow’s specialty meats. The colors and composition created artistry that looked almost too good to eat. Vivac Winery’s 2020 Rosé of Sangiovese added light, bright berry notes.
“We’re very color-oriented,” Karels said. “We always make a plate like a painting. At Open Kitchen, we do cooking classes and we always want to teach people to honor ingredients, to really look at the beauty of it before you cook it, and how you preserve the beauty despite the cooking.”
The Flavors of the Evening
Plate after plate arrived: Silky Elk Ravioli with Creamy Purple Potato, Blackened Yellow Tomato Sauce & Basil Oil; Pan-Roasted Wild Caught Alaskan Sablefish with Miso Beurre Blanc, Cauliflower Purée, Crispy Swiss Chard & Squid Ink Tuile; and Wild Cedar Muscovy Duck Breast with Pearl Couscous, Roasted King Oyster Mushroom & Wilted Greens.
Vivac’s wines flowed freely—Chardonnay, Abbot Merlot, and a dry Riesling made in an Alsace style. Karels noted the crowd favorite: the ravioli. “Everyone’s favorite dish, it seemed, was the ravioli,” Karels said. “You can’t beat hand-made ravioli. We used spinach and yellow bean, making it by hand. We love the look and the taste of the purple potatoes, and the black and yellow tomato sauce is an inspiration from one of Chef Mark Miller’s sauces so we kind of jazzed that in, and the fresh basil oil. Everything we do, I literally spend weeks, sleepless nights, trying to imagine how the flavors will come together. Most often it does really work.”
A Team Effort
Open Kitchen began as a collaborative culinary center, and Karels credits her team for its success. She highlights chef de cuisine Erica Tai: “Erica Tai is my second hand, the chef de cuisine. She was one of Santa Fe Community College’s Culinary Program students working with me nonstop during the pandemic, when we were making prepared meals, and now we have the ability to make inspiring food for people.
It takes a lot to be a chef these days—it’s not just cooking, it’s creating what you do in a special way and she has been amazing. We’re not like regular restaurants where we have menus that are static for a year. Every menu that we do is new, and creating and executing the vision is a talent that you have to have in your repertoire to make it in this new world of this industry. Erica has that amazing skill to create beautiful food and she’s very disciplined.”
Celebrating the Makers
Naturally, the dinner featured the makers themselves, who were thrilled by the pairings. “It was a knock-it-out-of-the-park evening all around,” said Chris Padberg, co-owner, co-founder and winemaker at Vivac Winery in Dixon. “When we’re doing a wine dinner with a chef, it’s hard to know what to expect. Sometimes the pairing won’t work or the dishes will be awful or the people—you have to win them over and make them love you while you’re talking to them. If you can’t do that, it can be kind of a dead night. But from the get-go to the end, that crowd was ready to party and be happy.”
Beck & Bulow’s co-owners, Tony Beck and J.P. Bulow, were equally impressed. “Our heartfelt thanks goes to Open Kitchen for honoring the makers,” said Bulow. “We want to pass that honor to these amazing, life-changing meats and seafoods that were featured. The best chefs use the best ingredients, so it was great to work with Chef Hue-Chan who highlighted our local bison, elk, and Alaskan wild salmon and sablefish.”
Every menu Open Kitchen creates is new, opening up avenues of culinary creativity and beautiful presentation.
Story by Lynn Cline
Photography by Tira Howard
Food Styling by Keith Recker
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