Chef Ken Frank holding truffle

Chef Ken Frank is the official host chef of the annual Napa Truffle Festival. Each year, he helps select the master guest chefs and provides his beautiful La Toque restaurant as the venue for the festival’s signature Truffles & Wine Dinner. Widely considered the top truffle chef of North America, he holds the distinct honor of being the first, and so far the only, American chef invited to participate in the Fiera Internazionale Tartufo Biano D’Alba, the world-renowned Annual White Truffle Festival in Alba, Italy.

You’ll enjoy this delicious and user-friendly pasta with fresh truffles recipe – one of Chef Ken’s favorites and simply superb!

Chef Ken, entirely self-taught, began his career at 16 with a dishwashing job in France and quickly worked his way through the kitchen ranks. He was the first “young American chef” on the West Coast and was the opening Chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica, considered the Los Angeles birthplace of “California Cuisine.” At age 23, he opened the original La Toque on the Sunset Strip, pioneering a style of cooking that has become widespread today. His early insistence on using only the finest, mostly local artisanal ingredients, remains at the heart of great cooking in America.

In 1998, Ken decided to pursue his dream of moving to Napa Valley to open a new La Toque in Rutherford at The Rancho Caymus Inn where it was named one of the 20 Best Restaurants in America by the Wine Spectator and received a prestigious Michelin star. In 2008, La Toque moved to the new Westin Verasa in downtown Napa.

La Toque offers a truffle menu nearly all year round (fresh and premium quality, of course). Check out their current truffle menu. Chef Ken invites your foodie questions: Ask Ken!

Tagliatelle Pasta with Fresh Black Truffles

 

Tagliatelle Pasta with Fresh Black Truffles