John Stewart, Zazu and Bolovo
John Stewart is from Mt. Kisco, New York and grew up in the kitchen of his family’s fourth generation catering company, Thomas Fox and Sons, founded in 1919 by his great grandfather. By the age of 7, he was polishing silver, folding pastry boxes, and icing petit fours with his grandmother. Relocating to Seattle in 1994, John worked at Etta’s Seafood and Palace Kitchen, where he met Duskie. John is a 1990 graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, an avid gardener, and as of the move to Sonoma, a blossoming chicken, pig, and sheep rancher. John is an avid salumist studying with chef Mario Batali and at the University of Iowa Meat Lab. He is responsible for their line of BLACK PIG meats, bacon & salumi made from heritage breed, antibiotic and hormone free, and free range pork.

In 2001, John and his wife Duskie Estes opened ZAZU restaurant + farm in Santa Rosa. ZAZU was named a TOP 10 best new restaurant of 2002 and was listed in the San Francisco Chronicle’s TOP 100 restaurants in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2005, Duskie and John opened BOVOLO in Healdsburg. Gayot included BOVOLO in their TOP 40 Cheap Eats in the U.S. and Zagat included BOVOLO in its San Francisco Dining Deals.