Chef starts open fire catering company

Six years ago, chef Morgan Robinson left his comfortable life as a winery chef for Franciscan Estates, where he prepared meals for up to 500 people at a time. With his wife, Irma, he formed Smoke: Open Fire Cooking in Napa.

The business was inspired by fire — the Mediterranean roots of rotisserie, grilling and other open hearth techniques.

His passion was the Santa Maria tri-tip barbecue feast he remembered from growing up in the Santa Barbara region, and his first idea was to show up with his grill and prepare the meal for wineries and other customers.

He soon found out that cooking wasn’t enough. He had to handle the whole meal, from planning to dishes, cutlery, staffing and decorations. Fortunately, Irma had experience arranging winery events, and the partnership soon was providing a whole catering experience.

But the foundation of his business is to deliver the type of experience that winery and consumer clients expect from a fine if casual Napa Valley restaurant. To do that, he commissioned a 5-by-10-foot outdoor grill (parilla) with trailer hitch and wheels to prepare those meals.

He uses his elaborate grill as a portable kitchen, enabling him to cook fresh, local artisan ingredients on-site over an open fire, and serve the finished dishes immediately, just as it’s done in a high-end restaurant.

This is in contrast to traditional caterers, who cook the food in a catering kitchen, then transport it to the event site where they reheat it and serve the guests.

Robinson uses local ingredients and artisan food producers, all employing sustainable practices, to prepare his menu items at each event, thus guaranteeing freshness.

His largest assignment was serving 700 for the Napa Valley Grapegrowers’ Harvest Stomp this year. He also cooked at BottleRock. He has catered for as few as a dozen people for good clients, but generally the minimum event is 40 or 50 people. This includes wedding dinners and rehearsal parties as well as winery and corporate events.

He offers any level of service, from casual buffet to formal seated service. He also offers locally handmade dishes and serving pieces if desired.

Though he generally cooks on-site, Robinson has another rare tool at his disposal. He knew about the wood-burning smoker oven at Foothill Cafe, and when it closed, he took over the space as his kitchen and office. “The city would never allow an oven like this to be built inside,” he admits.

The smoker was originally used by the Foothill Cafe’s predecessor, the Rib Shack, starting in the ’50s. He can use it as a conventional wood-burning oven or smoker. It allows him to smoke ribs and other meats, which he can’t do with the grill on-site, of course. “I can smoke and cook 40 chickens in a snap,” he says.

With its walls 12 inches thick and absorbing heat, he can even make pizzas in the oven. It can hold six full sheet pans for baking.

He cooks a lot in heavy cast-iron pots, which retain their heat if he takes them on a catering assignment, too. Then he finishes the food on the grill.

The grill can take a full cord of wood. “We’re never limited in BTUs,” he said

Born to cook

Robinson’s family came to California in 1849 and once owned a large farm. He was born in Mexico to American parents. His father was a “beatnik,” he explained. Raised primarily in Santa Barbara, he loved food and cooking from an early age. His first restaurant job was at 13, and he continued to cook in restaurants through his college years.

Realizing his desire to acquire the rigorous formal training of a classically trained chef, Robinson pursued an additional degree at the elite New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt.

He worked at restaurants like the Ritz-Carlton in Aspen, but a strong interest in wine led him back to California and the Napa Valley. He subsequently worked as a chef for wineries including Cakebread Cellars, Domaine Chandon, Quintessa and Franciscan, creating distinctive menus to complement their wines. He also worked at Bistro Don Giovanni.

Robinson’s years as a winery chef afforded him opportunity to develop wine-pairing expertise with foods, and a natural step was to get in the wine business.

In April 2008 the Robinsons visited South America and fell in love with its wines. The couple, together with business partner Julio Suarez, founded TasteVino Selections, which imports wines from family-owned, sustainable vineyards in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Their biggest supplier is Pueblo del Sol.

Those wines are available in retail channels as well as with some of his catered events — although not events at local wineries.

Irma handles the business and marketing sides of both the catering and the wine business.

Another sign of Robinson’s entrepreneurship is his business of preparing and selling Morgan’s Salty Nuts, smoked almonds and other nuts available on his website and local gourmet stores.

Holiday entertaining

Not surprisingly, the holidays are a busy time for Robinson. He prepares a lot of catered meals but also cooks for his family.

He sometimes smokes his turkey, but however he prepares the bird, he likes heritage turkeys rather than the supermarket birds. “They have smaller breasts, but are much more flavorful,” he says. He adds that the legs are tough, so he turns them into sausage inserted under the breast skin for even more flavor; the sausage helps keep the breast juicy, too.

If you’re roasting a regular turkey, he recommends salting the bird inside and out and letting it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for two or three days before roasting. This makes it juicier.

He recommends browning the whole bird first on top of the oven in a heavy pan, then cooking it low and slow. He warns, “Never stuff a bird. Bake it separately. If you add it to the turkey, you’ll have to overcook the bird to get it hot enough to be safe.”

He always prepares his mother’s French orange cranberry sauce to accompany the feast.

His grandmother always served ham at Christmas, not turkey. He likes Brussels sprouts for the holiday meal, and desserts with firm Fuyu persimmons.