For his 15th summer in the Windy City, Christopher Kostow decided he needed to earn a little cash. Money, it seemed, would help loosen the apron strings.

Little did he know then that it would be apron strings he’d welcome once he landed in his chosen career.

Hired to work summers at an eatery in Ravinia, a Chicago suburb best known for its music festival, the teenager immediately noticed “the guys in the kitchen seemed to be having all the fun.”

Kostow joined their ranks where he flipped burgers, made sandwiches and prepared salads, or any other task to which he was assigned. “I did that for a few summers ... but I didn’t see it as a career, working with a bunch of odd, old men.”

But the cooking continued when Kostow enrolled at Hamilton College, near Utica, N.Y. He decided to pursue a major in philosophy, recalling director Woody Allen’s description of the study of such doctrines to be “‘intellectual masturbation.’ I really had no idea of what I was going to do.”

“I was always the guy cooking,” he recalls from the sunny veranda of the Restaurant at Meadowood, where, since February, he’s hung his toque. At the time, Kostow brushed off suggestions he seriously pursue a culinary career, opting instead to get his bachelor’s degree as planned.

Growing up in the cold weather climate of Chicago and subsequently spending four years in snowy upstate New York, Kostow was eager to settle in a warmer climate. With the help of friends, he relocated to San Diego in 1999.

Before long, Kostow caught the eye of acclaimed La Jolla chef Trey Foshee, executive chef and partner of George’s at the Cove. Within a few months, Foshee gave him the opportunity to create his own dishes when he was only 22.

“Those were my formative years in cooking,” he says today, “where I really learned how to cook and toughen up.”

‘There was this girl...’

Kostow left the sure thing of highly touted restaurant to pursue the unknown kitchens of France. He landed in several of them, from Paris to Montpellier. He even manned the stoves at a former monk’s abbey dating to the 14th century in Provence.

He says the main reason for the move was to experience both living and cooking in another country. Also, “there was this girl ...”

“After living in France for two years, I felt I was a lot closer to being a chef than I had been when I started,” he adds. “At that point, I really felt I could run a kitchen.”

Returning to the states, he settled in San Francisco where he signed on as sous chef on executive chef Daniel Humm’s culinary team at the award-winning Campton Place Restaurant. He worked at Campton Place for a year.

But “the idea of having my own restaurant led me to Chez TJ in Mountain View,” he continues. “It was a dream — three cooks, a little garden — a great experience, and it was well received.” In fact, during Kostow’s two-year tenure at Chez TJ, Food & Wine Magazine named one of his creations to the list of Top 10 Dishes of the Year in 2007. In addition to praise from diners, Kostow was also rewarded with two stars from the prestigious Michelin Guide.

Ingredient-driven

Insisting his dishes be ingredient driven, Kostow knows the importance of staying in touch with his purveyors. He loves mushrooms, for example, so he checks in with the local funghi queen, Connie Green, on a regular basis. “We go from there,” he adds, only then beginning to put together dishes for the Restaurant menu, a menu that accents “local gardens, nearby waters and pastures and ranches.”

“I’d say 90 percent of the time it’s the ingredients that determine (what will be on the dinner menu). Five percent comes about because of technique and 5 percent due to some crazy, freakin’ idea I had.

“I think chefs think a lot about temperature and texture, but at the same time try not to take ourselves too seriously. We shouldn’t think we’re so talented that we can transcend our mistakes.”

Coming from Polish stock, the 31-year-old Kostow is the only member of his family working in culinary arts.

“Meadowood gives me the freedom and resource to approach food in a creative way,” says the Restaurant’s new chef. “It’s a large kitchen with many skilled cooks, so I can take time to craft the dishes and put a lot of thought into my food.”

“I’m always learning new things,” the young chef declares. “There’s a thin line between being creative and experimenting, and being disciplined and thoughtful about food. I’m walking that line, and I’m going to make my food taste as good as it can possibly taste.”