Chef Kaelin Ulrich Trilling
LA CALENDA, YOUNTVILLE
“Well, the octopus can adapt well to many environments. I like to think I can, as well,” says Kaelin Ulrich Trilling, chef de cuisine of Yountville’s La Calenda, as he runs his hand over the large cephalopod tattoo on his forearm.
I’d say that Chef Trilling is, in fact, masterfully adaptive. He carries with him a few traits that make him easy to welcome. “I always made sure I was very easy to work with. I am respectful, I work hard. I knew the skill would come, but the attitude had to be there, too.” He also craft s exquisite Mexican food. A very agreeable recipe, indeed.
La Calenda is a casual dining restaurant, part of the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, and located just down the road from the group’s mothership, The French Laundry. Although TKRG is known for its strong culture of hiring from within and for grooming beginning cooks to move up to chefs de cuisine, Chef Trilling’s journey to La Calenda has been as unusually charmed as the restaurant at which he now showcases his skill. “I moved here to open the restaurant. Chef Keller humbly searched for a chef that really knows Mexican food, as it is not his specialty. I’m very honored by his trust,” he shared on the day we met in his bustling kitchen.
If, like me, you are an ardent fan of PBS cooking shows of decades past, you may have heard of Chef Trilling’s mom, Susana Trilling. A Philadelphian by birth, Susana was running two restaurants in New York when she met a Dutch farmer who talked her into lighting out with him for Oaxaca, Mexico. As Chef Trilling tells it, their privation in the early years connected his mother to the women in Oaxaca, who welcomed and fed her family, teaching her recipes from their “grandma’s grandma’s grandma.” That tender time in friends’ kitchens started a lifelong passion for Oaxacan cuisine in both mom and son. The marriage did not last, but the tomato farm started by his father, and Seasons of My Heart, Chef Trilling’s mother’s cooking school, are both still thriving today.
As a kid, Chef Trilling worked at his mom’s school, as well as on his father’s farm, and knew he would end up inheriting one of those devotions. At 17, while assisting his mother at a Food & Wine event in Texas, the host hotel’s head chef told him, “Because of the way you listen to your mom and follow through, you can have a job here any time.”
After finishing high school, he moved to San Antonio to learn the ways of the restaurant kitchen. From there, he went to Houston to work with James Beard Award–winning chef Hugo Ortega, a family friend. At Caracol Mexican Coastal Kitchen, Trilling was named sous chef and began to take on responsibilities beyond cooking. At 21, he learned how to order, to manage, to stay inspired. “The first week, I think I ate 100 tortillas. And I also really learned that this is a business.”
After two years at Caracol, another James Beard Award–winning chef, Jonathan Waxman, invited Trilling to become executive chef at Waxman’s Bajo Sexto Taco in Nashville. He was soon running two locations, yet found himself feeling out of synch with the corporately owned restaurant vibe. Despite the temptations of a third location, a cookbook and a high salary, he left.
From there, Trilling staged at NOMA Mexico in Tulum, a two- Michelin-star whirl of super high standards and energy, and consulted for Marcus Samuelsson on a taqueria concept in London. And then he stopped.
Traveling through Europe, he says he found the peace that allows for observations like, “Who knew that a piece of bread with a little olive oil and tomato could be so incredible?” He spent a few months in Oaxaca with his family, cooking and farming and eating “everything.” Tasting anew the regional dishes of his homeland, he says, was like seeing someone you love, when they don’t know you’ve spotted them—so familiar to you and also fascinatingly separate and new.
After a few more stages and consulting gigs, he got “the” call— from Thomas Keller. Keller had reached out to Susanna Trilling for her recommendations for a chef who was an expert in Mexican cuisine, having decided that was the direction he wanted to go for the Yountville location [the former home of Hurley’s], having no idea that she had a son who might be the ideal fit. He was.
Before La Calenda opened last January, The French Laundry’s culinary gardener, Aaron Keefer, accompanied Trilling to Mexico to bring back seeds that grow in Yountville now. Restaurant furniture and tableware were sourced from Oaxacan artisans. The corn for the masa is grown in Mexico, and the colors change with the seasons. “I sniff them like people sniff wine,” the chef admits.
Of crafting authentic Oaxacan food in Wine Country, the charmingly adaptive chef good-humoredly notes, “This was Mexico, not too long ago.”
Edible Marin & Wine Country: What was the first meal you made that you were proud of?
Kaelin Ulrich Trilling: Pancakes from scratch without my mom’s help. I was probably 5 years old and made my own batter with cinnamon and orange extract, then covered them in lots of butter and maple syrup, of course.
What was your favorite food as a kid?
I grew up around my mom’s cooking classes, where there was always mole to be eaten. Mole Coloradito was my favorite—not too spicy and not too sweet, easy to love. I also loved squash blossom quesadillas. Simple, with just a good tortilla, cheese, squash blossoms and epazote, but the fresh quesillo (a Oaxacan cheese) is what made all the difference in the world. So fresh and incredibly delicious.
What food do you wish you loved?
Liver.
What food do you love unreasonably much?
Fried eggs, sunny side up.
What is the most difficult cooking technique to do well?
The whole process of making a proper tortilla. At La Calenda, we start with corn that comes from different regions and altitudes all around Mexico. We cook the dry corn with cal (calcium hydroxide) for nixtamilazation, also sourced from Mexico, for about an hour, then let it soak for 12 hours overnight. In the morning, the corn is rinsed and then ground in the molino to make masa. The masa then needs to be properly rehydrated into a specific consistency, and then pressed and cooked on the blackstone.
What are you exploring in your kitchen now?
How to take advantage of the plethora of produce and the seasonal ingredients that we have available to us here in Yountville. I’m working closely with Aaron Keefer, The French Laundry’s culinary gardener, to make sure we utilize everything available to us from the garden. Lamb’s-quarters has been popping up, so we’re looking for ways to use it in our dishes.
What nonculinary influences inspire you?
I love Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Salvador Dali and Picasso, and just exploring SF MOMA on my days off. And music—I like to turn on classical music or Marvin Gaye when I’m cooking at home.
What is your idea of a very healthy meal?
Smoked salmon and simple greens from the garden, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
What is your favorite ingredient?
Avocado—you can use it on everything.
What is your favorite hangover meal?
Tacos al pastor or gringas, which are basically tacos al pastor, griddled with cheese.
What restaurant in the world are you most dying to try?
Asador Etxebarri in the Basque country of Spain.
What kitchen utensil is most indispensable to you?
A sauce spoon. I use it for tasting, for mixing, for plating. I always have one on hand.
Whom do you most like to cook for?
Guests at La Calenda and, of course, my family. It has also been so special to be able to cook for Chef Keller, to give him a taste of where I grew up. It is such an honor.
If you could do one other job, what would it be?
Photographer. I love how photography can capture the emotion of a specific time and place. A photo can be interpreted so many different ways, and I find that to be quite moving.
What is your favorite midnight snack?
Breakfast for dinner. Eggs, bacon, toast and two fried tomatoes. That was my dad’s go-to breakfast, or last-minute dinner, that we grew up eating constantly, so it gives me that childhood comfort.
What most satisfies your sweet tooth?
Chocolate Oaxaqueño from Seasons of My Heart, my mother’s cooking school and store. It’s simply cacao, sugar and cinnamon, but it’s so delicious when you whisk it up with a molinillo. It’s really all about the froth.
What would you eat at your last meal, if you could plan such a thing?
Pasta from Lilia in Brooklyn and “Oysters & Pearls” from The French Laundry.
What’s your favorite place to go (and what is your favorite thing to order) for… … a splurge meal?
The French Laundry, for the whole experience. I was fortunate enough to have the chance to dine there with my mother and brother when they visited last winter. It was an incredible experience.
… breakfast?
There’s a little restaurant on the side of the road in Oaxaca called El Tio. I go there with my dad whenever I’m at home for pork ribs cooked in salsa verde. Yes, that’s for breakfast.
… pastry?
A morning bun from Tartine Bakery or a classic croissant from Bouchon Bakery.
… a late-night/after-work meal?
In-N-Out Burger for a Double-Double with everything, and fries.
… a cup of coffee?
I don’t drink coffee, but I love the matcha at Stonemill Matcha in San Francisco.
… a greasy spoon meal?
Xi’an Famous Foods in New York for their hand-ripped noodles and the Tiger Vegetables Salad.
… groceries?
Browns Valley Market, which is close to my house and they have the essentials.
… kitchen equipment?
J.B. Prince in New York. It’s expensive but they have great stuff.
… ice cream?
La Calenda for our Oaxacan chocolate ice cream.
… chocolate?
My mom sends me Oaxacan chocolate. When I’m at work, though, I tend to snack on Chef Keller’s K+M Extravirgin Chocolate bars.
And lastly but not leastly… what is your favorite local wine or beer for the season?
Reynolds Family Winery’s Stags Leap District Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon or Delgadillo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. We have a really nice bottle of Delgadillo Cellars at La Calenda and I appreciate that it is part of MAVA (the Mexican-American Vintners Association), through which we find a number of our wines.
