Could Nonesuch finally get its Beard medal?

Id Est fermentations foment a chance for Oklahoma victory on Monday

Chef Jeff Chanchaleune won’t be the only Oklahoma-born-and-bred chef sweating the results at the 2024 James Beard Foundation Awards on Monday.

The three-time nominee and two-time finalist hopes to bag Best Chef Southwest for the Ma Der Lao Kitchen family as chef Andrew Black did for Grey Sweater and Black Walnut ambassadors last year. However, one of Oklahoma’s newest restaurateurs is up for an even bigger award.

New Nonesuch owner Kelly Whitaker was born and raised in Tulsa. He and his wife Erika, a California native, are up for Outstanding Restaurateur in America this year. If the Whitakers win, Nonesuch will be listed with the other five restaurants they own under the Id Est banner on the big screen at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

The Whitakers aren’t new to awards and platitudes. Since opening Basta in 2010, Kelly has twice been named Eater.com's Chef of the Year. In 2017, he received a StarChefs “Colorado Rising Star Community” award. 2024 marks the second consecutive year he and Erika have been up for Outstanding Restaurateur, but the most prestigious prize they’ve earned rides on Michelin.

Id Est properties boasts four Michelin Stars. Bruto, and The Wolf’s Tailor, have a Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star each. Nonesuch join sother Id Est properties Dry Storage, Basta, and Hey Kiddo/OK Yeah still trying to earn theirs.

Whitaker makes clear his goals aren’t determined by awards. They’re just residuals of a well-executed plan. He also makes clear all the accolades were born during summers spent on his grandfather’s farm.

“My grandpa Taylor had a vegetable farm, and he was a butcher and grocer in Oklahoma,” he said. “I didn’t really appreciate it when I was a kid. My grandma, who is getting ready to turn 100 (years old) in Broken Arrow, used to let me help her make jam.”

Such is his grandfather’s influence that a picture of him hangs in Whitaker’s office in Boulder, Colo., and his son bears Taylor as his middle name.

“He was tough, you know. Tough as nails but what an incredible heart,” Whitaker said. “He helped me understand who lives in the farming community and how they saw the world.”

He believes the farm-to-table and locavore movements romanticized farmers when in reality they are hardworking folks trying to feed their families. That respect for farmers, ranchers, producers and food purveyors helped develop the vision that led Whitaker to the award-winning zero-waste and regenerative agriculture practices Id Est follows.

Despite growing up in Oklahoma, Whitaker went to Colorado State University to earn his Hotel & Restaurant Administration Degree. Then it was off to Europe to the Hotel Institute Montreux in Switzerland. From there, he found a job on the line cooking on the Italian island of Procida.

A love affair for wood-fired food that now extends to Nonesuch was born. When he was in town last week, Whitaker not only installed one of the first grain mills Id Est ever used, he also put a wood-fired oven in the kitchen.

“We had to have it,” he said. “Wood-fire is so worth the trouble.”

Whitaker left Europe for Los Angeles at the request of his future wife and partner, Erika. There, he worked as a line cook at Spago and Michelin-starred restaurants Hatfield’s and Providence. Whitaker told me he and chef Zack Walters of Sedalia’s Oyster and Seafood are certain they crossed paths more than once during their time in L.A.

Whitaker returned to Boulder to open Basta, his first restaurant, in 2010. There he employed a young kid named Chad Luman, who is now general manager of Nonesuch.

Nine years later, Whitaker opened Dry Storage as a commercial milling operation but eventually added a bakery and research and development department.

2019 was also when fermentation-forward concept, The Wolf’s Tailor, opened and was named to Bon Appétit’s Hot 10. Id Est Hospitality Group was born the same year. The 16-seat chef’s counter BRUTØ came next.

The R&D folks have a simple mission: Find and document the complexities and flavors of local grain. Turning ingredients often overlooked as waste into something great to eat or drink is the goal. Already hampered by a climate with short seasons, food preservation became akin to business preservation. The movement began with bran, a byproduct of the company's whole-grain flour made by its mill.

"We sift the flour, which was giving us this beautiful, organic bran," Whitaker said. “We were using it as compost for gardens and using it in trade with mushroom farmers.”

Whitaker wondered how else they might be able to create value with waste byproduct.

Enter Mara King, director of fermentation and general manager of dry storage mills for Id Est since 2021. Since she arrived, that bran is used at The Wolf's Tailor to make Japanese nukadoko. Usually made from rice bran, King was able to show Whitaker and the team how wheat bran would not only suffice but create a distinctive flavor.

“When it comes to fermenting, most chefs approach it seeking to create flavors – that’s the wrong approach,” she said. “Flavors are a residual effect of fermentation. Flavors are part of the process, not the reason for it. Once you learn the process from the beginning, you become better at creating flavors.”

Raised in Hong Kong, King has logged more than two decades as a food professional. She co-founded Ozuké, a fermented foods company that distributes nationally in the US, in 2011. She has since sold her interest in the company, but it led her to produce a series of short films on Southwestern Chinese fermentation practices in 2017. Entitled “People’s Republic of Fermentation,” she produced the series with Sandor Katz and Mattia Sacco Botto.

At a demonstration she gave a week ago at Nonesuch, King said she is currently working on a book on the subject. The demo was nothing new, she and Whitaker are committed to sharing the gospel of their fermentation. zero-waste, and heritage-grain programs.

She used charts to walk a group of local bartenders, chefs, and food-service pros through a flow chart for Slow Drinks and the fermentation processes. She even fermented some plums in real-time.

“We don’t even like the term waste or zero-waste,” Whitaker said. “It’s really about giving the ingredients and processes you work with a second look. Looking beyond the perceived value and really digging in and finding all the possibilities. If I sell a pound of flour for $1 that’s ten percent bran, it brings the cost up to a $1.50. So, we started wondering about more ways create value with byproducts."

Whitaker said bringing on King has saved close to 10 percent in food costs.

“So-called waste created an actual solution, an actual ingredient that made our food better,” he said. "So, we stopped teaching food cost and started teaching food waste to help people see the bigger picture. If you learn how to regenerate stuff you were throwing away, the numbers tend to take care of themselves."

The first thing King did in her position was start a large preservation project, using the local farmers to help fuel ideas. She plans to do the same across Oklahoma. Ultimately, King and Whitaker’s campaign to bring awareness to the concept of zero-waste and circular when it comes to food and foodscapes is simply pulling a weed from the root.

"For the past ten-plus years, I've really been trying to figure out what it means to have Colorado food and cuisine," Whitaker said. “Seasonality, geography, and even social culture – everything that goes into it. It’s the same approach we’ll take in Oklahoma.”

Among the things Whitaker has done in Colorado is found the Noble Grain Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting domestic milled-to-order grains. He’s passionate about sharing the knowledge he’s gained because he’s certain the zero-waste movement is one that betters people quality of life.

“We live in a bubble,” he said. “But if we want real impact, real change, we need to think about a bigger thing."

Both Chanchaleune and the Whitakers will find out if they’re Beard medalists on Monday night. The broadcast will stream live on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Nonesuch is open and taking reservations. You can also swing by The Den, which is actively accepting walk-ins for an $85 Bar Tasting experience.