Heartwood Provision’s Chef Varin Keokitvon is always up for an adventure. Laotian by birth; a Seattleite by upbringing, his culinary prowess crosses cultures and he loves a good culinary challenge. For instance, when he heard about Spain’s Cocinando con Trufa —the international cooking contest for cooking with truffles—he had to enter To be considered, every…

It’s pretty obvious that Chef Varin Keokitvon knows his way around fresh produce. This is the man responsible for fermenting his own black garlic, poaching quince for a bevy of seasonal desserts, and the very funky roasted asparagus with fermented black bean chili making an appearance on the menu. United Fresh Awards Varin Chef Varin…

Chef Varin Keokitvon is passionate about mushrooms, and about foraging. Spring may find him hunting the burns of eastern Washington in search of morels, summer casting lines for salmon while scanning the shoreline for hints of porcini, but it’s fall that delivers the true fungal bonanza: more types of mushrooms than might be counted on…