Jason Vincent’s Nightwood was a well-kept Chicago secret — located off anybody’s beaten path, but revered for its way with farm-to-table meats and unusual bits. Then Vincent won the national Grand Cochon in Aspen last year, and a few weeks ago, he was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs for 2013, putting Nightwood on everybody’s must-eat-while-in-Chicago list. Photographer Huge Galdones has shot at Nightwood several times, and he followed Cochon 555 all around the country as it led up to Vincent’s coronation as the King of Porc, so to mark Vincent’s Food & Wine honor, he decided to go behind the scenes at Nightwood for the better part of the day to capture what makes its chef and kitchen tick. It starts below.
Galdones, who worked in college at Joe Beef in Montreal, says there’s a particular similarity to that celebrated restaurant in the way Nightwood approaches farm-to -able cooking, especially in terms of “the overall rhythm of the back of the house … Vincent’s modesty shines through, being the first to admit that his has always been a team effort. He credits Ben, his chef de cuisine, with the best description of the kitchen’s food: ‘always delicious, sometimes pretty with a side of interesting.’ And while he admits that the restaurant has been pigeonholed into the ‘farm-to-table’ movement, he calls Nightwood a ‘Seinfeld equivalent of a restaurant concept’ without a concept — they just run with it as long as it tastes good.” Here’s his slideshow and further observations in the captions.
Sous chef Shae breaks down some breakfast sausage for ragu. The sausage is from The Butcher & Larder, whose owner Rob Levitt counts Jason Vincent as a friend and cooking mentor.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
While the bar seating onlooking the open kitchen is sought-after by patrons each night, it is equally prized real estate by cooks for mise en place before service.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Homemade pasta for family meal = delicious.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
The crown from Grand Cochon 2012 out for all to see.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
The combination of cherrywood, applewood and white oak gives Nightwood’s grilled and rotisserie items character.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
A very involved pre-service meeting.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
While Nightwood may look like a casual atmosphere, Vincent (JV to his crew) insists that the kitchen is all about “putting your head down and getting things done. The fact that these guys show up at 10:30 each day but only start getting paid at 2:00 tells me that they are in it to win it.”
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
JV walks Danielle and Pedro through a scallop dish (with ramps in hand) that makes its first appearance on that evening’s menu.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
A huge scallop, wood-grilled and served with first of the season ramps, nduja and oyster vinaigrette and scallop roe toast.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
All pastas are handmade, in-house (in this case, the fusilli is also hand-twisted).
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Fusilli.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Fusilli dish.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Colin, who started out as an unpaid intern, is now a full-time line cook, working the warm apps/pasta station.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Mollie, an alum of the underground dining group Sunday Dinner Club, plates crispy pig ears.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
The crispy pig ears are perhaps Nightwood’s best-known dish— made with cultured butter, maple, habañero and cilantro, and irresistible as a bowl of chewy friedness.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Black pigeon mole (simmering for several days) for a burrata dish with cashew, peanut, espelette and garlic bread.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Ben (chef de cuisine) expedites with ease, a job that JV happily concedes.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Wood-grilled lamb chops with harissa, buttered lentils and ricotta insalata.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Wood-grilled Slagel Farm chicken thigh with potato, honey and yeast gnocchi in dried chili sauce, greek mint and yogurt
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Potato, boquerones, bread and garlic purée, wilted spinach, burrata and truffle.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Chicken-fried sweetbreads, bacon cream and black-eyed peas.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Prep cook Martin grinds through service in the belly of Nightwood: the prep kitchen located downstairs.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
When asked what was his favorite dish, JV hesitates at first but settles on the spaghetti alla chitarra with veal meatballs stuffed with house ricotta, tuna sauce, pine nuts and chili de arbol.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Wisconsin trout with oyster mushrooms, peas, green garlic aioli and olives.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Pedro working the hottest station on the line (the wood-fired grill is immediately behind him).
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Quack.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Spit-roasted Michigan duck getting broken down à la minute.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Spit-roasted Michigan duck, sauerkraut, bacon, juniper, fennel and prune condiment.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Apple Upside Down Cake with rhubarb, oat streusel and buttermilk rhubarb ice cream.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Sarah, executive pastry chef, plates her spring-fed goat cheese dessert with sugarbeets, pistachio ice cream and olive oil sponge cake.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
Apple upside-down cake may sell itself, but other items such as the goat cheese dessert require a more-informed FOH to do the dish justice.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
The dining room.
Photo: Eugene (Huge) Galdones/? 2013 Galdones Photography // All Rights Reserved
