Small kitchen, big creations for new chef

New chef at Laurentia Vineyard says she’s inspired by her new setting

Chef Donna Chriszt, the new chef at Laurentia Vineyard, says she’s inspired by her new setting.

Chef Donna Chriszt, once named by Bon Appetit magazine as one of Cleveland’s “hip young chefs,” has landed at Laurentia Vineyard and Winery in Madison Township.

Although its log cabin-style tasting room has a very small kitchen not really suited to preparing meals, its small plates designed to pair with its wines are engaging Christzt and her out-of-the-box style of combining flavors.

“The smaller kitchen makes us better organized,” she said.

Fresh from a stint at Shoreby Club in Bratenahl, Chriszt has great chef credentials. She headed the kitchen at Table 45 in the Intercontinental Hotel on the Cleveland Clinic campus, had her own restaurants with Jeso, Oz and J Cafe in Cleveland’s Tremont area and worked for a time at Sysco.

But, she says, cooking for Laurentia takes her back to the original reasons she developed a passion for the kitchen.

“Here I can change the menu every day according to what is best and freshest,” she said. “The produce available to me is amazing.”

Nearby Rainbow Farms is one of her major suppliers. Its cucumbers recently were used to make the delicious chilled cucumber soup offered as today’s recipe. And another bushel of cucumbers is being made into pickles for the charcuterie board.

At Laurentia, the visitor steps up to a counter to order wine and food, pays for it and takes a number to the table chosen. Tables, both indoors and out, take advantage of expansive views. Many seats on a rambling porch have floorto-ceiling windows that let the outdoors in. The setting is sublime.

Food runners deliver the food, sometimes so promptly that guests have barely settled in with their wine. Dishes often are presented in rustic-looking canning jars with lids.

“On a busy Saturday, we sometimes see both patios and every seat filled — and we produce 500 plates of food,” Chriszt said. “People will order one thing from our menu and then come back for more.”

The menu suggests wines with each item. Included are a soup, selection of seasonal salads, cheese and charcuterie boards and flatbreads. A fig-and-brie flatbread with housemade pork belly bacon and a balsamic drizzle has emerged as a favorite.

“The menu is always light and both vegan- and glutenfree-friendly,” said Chriszt. “I change it every Friday, but we could never do away with the fig and brie flatbread.”

On a recent visit, I ordered the chilled cucumber

soup and the Laurenita Vines flatbread of rosemary roasted red and white grapes over whipped goat cheese and candied nuts, pairing it with the 2017 Estate Rosé.

“I was blown away by the rosé,” Chriszt said. “But all the wines here are excellent. I have to tell you I was very surprised.”

A recent menu of small plates included curry chicken meatballs with spicy cabbage and daikon salad with coconut sauce; an Angus Beef medallion with local heirloom tomato, flat beans and fresh mozzarella; and a tuna poke with avocado, carrot slaw, a ginger soy dressing and sea beans.

The winery, which opened in 2011, remains largely undiscovered by many. Its tasting room is not visible from the road but is about a mile south off the Route 528 exit of Interstate 90. It’s reached

COURTESY OF LAURENTIA VINEYARD Laurentia Vineyard and Winery patios are shown here in the spring.

COURTESY OF LAURENTIA VINEYARD Cucumber Soup is served chilled and in rustic canning jars.

COURTESY OF LAURENTIA VINEYARD Donna Chriszt is the new chef at Laurentia Vineyard and Winery.