Cindy Pawlcyn has pioneered fresh, seasonal, sustainable wine-country cuisine since opening Napa Valley’s legendary Mustards Grill in 1983. She is the founder/owner of three of Napa Valley’s most beloved restaurants – Mustards Grill, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, and Brassica. She is also Culinary Partner at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Born in Minneapolis, “one of my earliest memories is of sitting in the garden eating tomatoes fresh off the vine with a dash of salt,” she says. True to her roots, organically-farmed gardens at Mustards and Brassica provide produce for her restaurants.
Cindy earned a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, trained at Le Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris, worked at some of the Midwest’s finest restaurants and moved West in 1979. She was the inaugural chef for Napa Valley’s Meadowood Resort, and has partnered in the creation of a dozen iconic Bay area restaurants as well as her own.
In addition to earning countless awards, rave reviews, and a devoted following, Cindy is also the author of the James Beard Award-winning Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Fog City Diner Cookbook, Big Small Plates, Cindy Pawlcyn’s Appetizers and Cindy’s Supper Club – released spring 2012.