Gavin Kaysen Is Writing a Cookbook

Opening a new restaurant, winging around the globe and keeping things humming at his North Loop success story, Spoon and Stable isn’t enough for Gavin Kaysen. Now, the James Beard award winning chef, Bocuse d’or coach and all around super star local guy is gathering up recipes to share with the home cook.

“It’s been a pretty reflective process,” Kaysen said. During the time that he first landed back in Minneapolis and throughout the first year after opening Spoon and Stable, he kept a journal detailing the process. Now, he’s working with writer Rachel Holtzman to turn those musings, along with his recipes into Pulling From My Roots to by published by Abrams out of New York, but the team behind this project shares his midwestern roots.

“You want people who understand what it means to be from this part of the country,” said Kaysen. “My hope is that someone can pull this book off a shelf in San Fransisco, California or New Orleans, Louisiana and say ‘this reminds me of my childhood growing up on a farm in North Dakota or in the middle of Ohio.’”

The book will be about his evolution as a chef and the journey to reconnect with his homeland; how this region has molded him and the way the experience has changed his family. The recipes will be homey; easy to make featuring the “sumptuous yet hearty food that defines his gastronomic style.”

Keeping with the local theme, Kaysen has tapped photographer Eliesa Johnson to capture the images for the book, saying, “I love the way she brings things to life.”

Gavin Kaysen is the Minnesota-raised chef who shot to fame at New York’s Cafe Boulud before shocking the world with his decision to move back to Minnesota and open a restaurant. Since its opening service Spoon and Stable has racked up awards, including being recognized by Eater’s Bill Addison as one of the country’s best restaurants.

Kaysen is currently at work on his second restaurant to be called Bellecour located in downtown of Wayzata.

In between all of this, he will be hard at work on this book that with any luck will come out in the Fall of 2018.

• Gavin Kaysen on the First Year at Spoon and Stable [EMPLS]
• The Best Restaurants in America [EATER]
• All Spoon and Stable Coverage [EMPLS]