Duskie Estes

Background

About Duskie Estes

Known for her joyous personality, passion for ethical sourcing and her advocacy for small farmers, Estes has been a leader in the farm-to-table movement for decades. With her husband, fellow chef and salumist John Stewart, Estes founded and led the critically acclaimed restaurant in Sonoma County, ZAZU Kitchen+Farm. They received the Rising Star Chef Awards for Sustainability and received one of the first Slow Food Snail Awards in the United States. ZAZU was named a TOP 10 best new restaurant and was listed for multiple years in the San Francisco Chronicle’s TOP 100 restaurants. It was included in the San Francisco Michelin Guide for over a decade and rated TOP 50 restaurants in the Bay Area by San Francisco Magazine. On their farm, they raise rabbits, chickens, ducks, sheep, pigs, and goats. Estes and Stewart operated ZAZU from 2001 through the spring of 2019, when the restaurant was lost due to the flooding of the Russian River. The couple also owns the Black Pig Meat Co. This award-winning meat company specializes in ethically-raised pigs sourced directly from small farms and uses the entire animal ‘snout to tail.’ Their products include bacon, bacon caramel popcorn, chicharrón peanut butter cups, bacon toffee lollypops, Lard Lather soap and Lip Lardo lip balm. Black Pig coppa and prosciutto won Good Food Awards in 2016 and 2019. In 2011, Estes and Stewart were crowned King and Queen of Pork at the Grand Cochon at the Aspen Food & Wine. Prior to her move to Sonoma County, Estes worked with Tom Douglas at his acclaimed Seattle restaurants: Palace Kitchen, Etta’s Seafood, and the Dahlia Lounge. During her two-year tenure as chef of Palace Kitchen, she was voted Seattle City Search’s Best Chef. Under her leadership, Palace Kitchen was rated by Gourmet magazine as one of the top five Seattle restaurants and in the nation’s top 50 restaurants. With Tom Douglas, she co-authored Seattle Kitchen, which received the James Beard Award in 2001. Earlier in her career, Estes worked in a variety of mission-driven roles, including positions at Share Our Strength and the White House. At Share our Strength, she organized and led a direct service program or chefs in the hunger relief, now known as Cooking Matters. She also ran the kitchen at Glide Memorial in San Francisco. No stranger to television, Estes competed on Food Network’s Next Iron Chef, seasons 3 and 5 and judged on Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games. She and Stewart have been featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, as well as numerous PBS shows.