Chef Charlie Hutchinson has been immersed in global cuisine since childhood. The son of a Foreign Service officer, he was raised on Szechuan, Cantonese, Jing, and a mixture of local West African and home-style French cuisines. Fascinated from a young age by the unctuous balance of French cuisine, he graduated from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris with diplomas in both Cuisine and Pastry, then continued his training at the city's prominent Le Cinq** and Taillevent** restaurants. After serving as Sous-Chef at Seattle’s The Tin Table for five and a half years, he relocated to Ashland in 2017, working at Amuse until its closure in 2022. From there, he became Vineyard Chef at a local award winning Winery where he delighted in focusing on the interplay between wine and food, curating many special moments for their guests. Always having a passion for meat fabrication and charcuterie, frequently opining on “potato science,” and a novice fascination with lacto-fermentation…Alsatian staples speak his language: a steaming cocotte of Choucroute á la Royale avec poitrine salée et un beau jarret de porc. An added joy is to try and foster a broader understanding of the craft that he is fortunate to be a part of. Education is a theme running through his kitchen both for our team and our guests. Part of that education requires assessing things that have fostered an industry facing many challenges that can only be addressed with real change- a living wage, access to healthcare, and identifying strategies to address the disproportionate rates of poor mental health in hospitality.