Associate Chefs

Winery Chefs is committed to building a team of chefs that have experience in creating wine and food pairings and bring a shared focus of providing each client with unsurpassed service.

Meet Nathan Molina. Nathan is Winery Chefs first Associate Chef

My first food related memory began around six years old. Both parents loved to cook. One of their favorite dishes is chicken enchiladas made with homemade tortillas. It took a few minutes to show me that fresh tortillas came from mixing a bit of corn flour with some bacon fat, water, and lime. I was in love with the idea of learning how to create delicious food from basic ingredients.

I graduated from New England Culinary Institute (NECI) located in Montpelier, Vermont in 1997. Following graduation I relocated to the Napa Valley with several school friends and began my culinary journey through the vigorous and demanding food industry. My initial restaurant experience began working for Bob Hurley at the Napa Valley Grille in Yountville. From Chef Hurley I learned the importance of maintaining focus and a good attitude under pressure. At the time I was only twenty-one and full of energy so I took up a second job working for Sean Knight at Pinot Blanc in St. Helena, now Go Fish. Chef Knight taught me to perfect my sense of timing and emphasized the importance in balancing flavor components. In 1999, I relocated in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to take up a chef position at the Crescent Hotel a small Bed and Breakfast / Restaurant. This experience proved invaluable for it taught me to be very proactive in terms of maintaining food and labor cost as well as keeping a highly organized kitchen.

Some years later yearning for the city life again, I relocated to the Bay Area to work at Ed Moose’s restaurant Moose’s in San Francisco with then Chef Jeff Amber. From this experience, I further honed my kitchen and hospitality skills. In the spring of 2008, a close friend from culinary school Chef Richard Haake who had recently taken the chef position at Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley called upon me to help him in the kitchen. Once again, I found myself in the Napa Valley this time with a family and over a decade of kitchen experience providing a more grounded approach towards food, wine and family. Working with Richard Haake proved to be essential in terms of understanding how food and wine can compliment and balance each other to provide a memorable food experience. Richard and I continue to work closely together for other local wineries developing wine and food programs that focus on balancing food and wine.

More recently, I have been working with other local Napa Valley chefs such as Morgan Robinson of Smoke Catering, Janelle Weaver of Kuleto Estates, Rick Warkel, and Jonathan Bodner all of whom focus on the interaction and balance between food, wine, and guest. The amalgamation of my culinary career allows me to offer many culinary styles and cooking perspectives including French, South American, and Asian to name a few. So come and join me in creating great food related memories and perhaps share a few moments of our lives together over a glass of wine in the Napa Valley.

Sincerely,

Nathan Molina