Chefs At Home: Suzanne Tracht's California Country Kitchen Slideshow
The adorable breakfast nook, with slightly mismatched wooden chairs, is perfect for casual meals with the family. A vintage calendar urging you to "Eat more fruits and vegetables" hangs by the door.
The view from the breakfast nook: Greg Murphy (a friend of Tracht's) and Tracht prepare some food for friends. Antique water jars from Eastern Europe line the shelves.
Tracht prepared some chashu pork for Chinese New Year, noting that San Gabriel Valley in Southern California has the best Chinese food to offer.
"I love Boos, but I would never have asked for a personalized board," Tracht said of her engraved John Boos heavy cutting board. Luckily, they just gifted her with one.
Tracht's family has four dogs total: Mickey (14, the oldest), Arrow (standing on the left, 1 year old), Juno (3 years old), and Leah (3 years old). Leah, on Tracht's lap on the right, was the shy one of the bunch.
The head honcho of the dogs, Mickey, gets the prime spot by the stove in the kitchen. Tracht kept most of the kitchen intact when she moved in some nine years ago, but replaced the stove with a vintage O'Keefe & Merritt four-burner range. "It gets hot when you need it to, its consistent heat, it's my baby," Tracht says.
"I love waking up in the morning and making coffee on it," Tracht says of her vintage stove. Naturally, however, Tracht doesn't own a microwave. "My kids are all like, where's the microwave? It's right there," Tracht says, pointing at the oven.
Tracht keeps her kitchen minimalist with just a thin refrigerator in her kitchen. "I have a big fridge in the back for entertaining," she says, "but I'm not a Costco buyer."
Drippings from the chashu pork don't go to waste, as Arrow and Mickey get dibs on the treat.
The breakfast nook is filled with antique finds. A sketch from a friend, a rooster from a Thailand market, and a painting from Paris line the ledge. The light fixtures were purchased from a second-hand store, while the hutch (right) holding the water jars also houses antique seltzer bottles. "I collected antique seltzer bottles for a while, but then I stopped because then I'd have a million of them," Tracht says.
Meanwhile, a beautifully tarnished sugar and creamer set is prominently displayed on the kitchen table. "My mother gave them to me, I grew up with them," Tracht says.
Juno (also known as Junebug) eyes a cheese and olive spread in the dining room.
The full feast: Chashu pork, salad, cheese plate, bread, and, obviously, wine.
A closer look at the chashu pork (left), plus the drink of the day (right): The Lincoln. The white grapefruit and tequila concoction, whipped up by Jar bartender Margo Tyler, uses fresh-squeezed juice from farmers' market grapefruits. As for the vintage shaker? "I got that at an antique shop probably 20 years ago," Tracht says. "I love it; it has a 1950s vibe."
A look behind the scenes, as Tracht and Tyler relax before eating.