Ryan Jackson
Executive Chef

Growing up as the son of fruit farmers in Reedley, Calif., a small town outside Fresno, Ryan Jackson was able to fully appreciate the potential of fresh, seasonal ingredients at an early age, and learned the basics of cooking from his mother and grandmothers. These childhood experiences continue to be a major inspiration for the farm-to-table, ingredient-driven style of cooking that Jackson showcases at Blackhawk Grille.

Jackson’s passion for cooking was reawakened while he was attending nursing school in Ashland, Ore. A part time job at the Apple Cellar Bistro launched his professional culinary career; while there, Jackson realized he belonged in the restaurant business full-time. At this unassuming local restaurant, he had the opportunity to master the basic culinary skills he would need to advance to the next stage of his career. With a move to Ashland’s Monet Restaurant, Jackson received his first exposure to a fine-dining kitchen and more sophisticated French culinary practices. Working under Chef Pierre Verge, who became a mentor, Jackson climbed his way up the ranks from dishwasher to Lead Sauté Cook at Monet. Later that year, he accepted the position of Lead Line Cook at The Black Sheep in Ashland, where he learned additional European techniques, and then returned to his hometown to begin a short stint as Sous Chef at Jon’s Bear Club.

Jackson yearned for more formal training, and enrolled at the prestigious California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, from which he graduated in 2000 with high honors. After culinary school, he worked as Chef Tournant with acclaimed Chef Robert Curry at Napa Valley’s Domaine Chandon, while learning how to execute a highly refined, sophisticated cuisine for 250 guests per day at the renowned winery. In 2001, he accepted the position as Banquet Chef at Napa Valley’s Brix Restaurant and was promoted to Executive Chef within a year. During his more than five years at Brix, Jackson transformed the restaurant’s menu from its original Asian fusion concept to a clean, California cuisine that received rave reviews. During his tenure at Brix, the young chef also served as Culinary Consultant for Silverado Vineyards and conducted cooking classes for the Viking Home Chef Cooking Schools in San Francisco and Walnut Creek, California.

Jackson was impressed with the level of creative freedom Tavistock Restaurants offered him as Executive Chef at Blackhawk Grille and was eager to cook his style of refined contemporary American cuisine, incorporating exceptional quality ingredients from the nearby countryside. The 30-year-old chef, whose presentation style is elegant but unfussy, believes in allowing the quality of ingredients to take center stage. “I let the seasons dictate my menu and never manipulate the ingredients,” Jackson says. “I like to showcase one particularly fine ingredient and let it speak for itself.”
When Jackson is not in the kitchen, he enjoys golf, skiing, fishing, and spending time with his young son.

 

 

 

William P. Woodward
Pastry Chef

Growing up in Fresno, Calif., William Woodward always had a sweet tooth, enjoying home baking but never pushing his skills beyond the basics. He never imagined, as a young man working as a gym manager and bar bouncer, that his childhood hobby and love of desserts would ultimately lead to a successful career as a pastry chef. 
Woodward’s life changed when he started hanging out at Café de Long, a neighborhood pâtisserie where the French-born owner was nearing retirement and gave him a chance to learn the trade. Woodward quickly found his calling and mastered the fundamentals, turning out European-style breads, cakes and tarts. His mentor encouraged him to get more formal training, so Woodward enrolled in a professional pastry and baking program at the Lederwolff Culinary Academy in Sacramento. His focus there was European pastry, chocolate (his sweet spot) and sugar work. Woodward not only gained the skills and credentials needed to take his career to the next level, but he also graduated at the top of his class in 1994.

After graduation, the confident young chef talked his way into the position of Executive Pastry Chef at Sacramento’s upscale City Treasure Restaurant, where he worked until the culinary action of the San Francisco Bay Area beckoned. In suburban Mill Valley, he was hired as Pastry Chef at Piazza D’Angelo, a popular Italian restaurant, where his boss, the Executive Pastry Chef, would eventually become his fiancée. He worked there for three years before serving as Pastry Chef at diverse San Francisco establishments such as Café Tiramisu, Garibaldi’s on Presidio, and the high-profile Aziza. In 2002, Woodward was hired by Marin County’s high-end Woodlands Market, where he transformed its standard supermarket-quality bakery into a gourmet pastry shop. In 2004, he was recruited by Tavistock Restaurants to come on as Pastry Chef at their flagship Blackhawk Grille.

At Blackhawk Grille, where Woodward enjoys total creative freedom, he wows customers with an ambitious, innovative approach to desserts. “Nothing is off-limits,” he maintains. “It just has to be good.” The imaginative pastry chef uses a combination of sweet and savory ingredients in his creations, and will occasionally use gelées, foams and powders, but “never frivolously—there has to be a reason behind it,” he says. Woodward insists on using market-fresh ingredients, which are rotated seasonally. His presentation style is tailored to each dish, and ranges from avant-garde to classically simple.