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In the Home Kitchen
Chef Walter Bundy of Lemaire
Story by Shannon Montsinger-Fake
Photographs by Matt Stanton
It's a new concept at Boomer — a food section that features local celebrities cooking and entertaining at home. To start things off, we’ll interview a local chef – but not in his restaurant. Instead, we’ll meet him on his home turf to find out how he cooks for his family.
Enter Walter Bundy — Richmond native, old friend of mine (not to say he is “old” by any means) and head chef at The Jefferson Hotel’s Lemaire Restaurant.
THE LONG ROAD TO LEMAIRE
“It’s been about 20 years,” I say as we sit down for coffee one recent morning.
The road that led him to Lemaire Restaurant is a long, colorful, winding one. While in college at Hampden-Sydney, Bundy helped open The Blue Point Restaurant on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with John Power, a fellow Hampden-Sydney alum, and chef Sam McGann. It was there that his love for cooking began to blossom.
Bundy graduated in 1990 and eventually made his way back to Richmond, where he worked a stint at The Tobacco Company Restaurant before meeting his wife, Carolyn. They moved in time, heading to Santa Fe, N.M. Bundy got a job working in the outside cantina at the famed flagship Coyote Café led by chef Mark Miller. Bundy made the leap to lead grill cook quickly.
After three years at Coyote, Bundy moved again, this time to Vermont, to attend the New England Culinary Institute. Not long after completing a nine-month program, he headed out for his “externship” at Pinot Blanc in California’s Napa Valley, a new restaurant opened by celebrity chef Joachim Splichal. There he enjoyed an education in not only cooking but in wine too. After completing his externship, Bundy made the move to the nearby, legendary French Laundry, where he joined friends on staff for the next two years.
Bundy and his wife moved back home to Richmond in the spring of ’98. Soon after, Bundy landed a sous-chef position at The Jefferson Hotel’s Lemaire Restaurant. He was named head chef in 2001.
THE NEW LEMAIRE AND ITS “URBAN GARDEN”
He’s happy to have been involved in the 2009 reopening of the “new” Lemaire, which has been “lightened and livened” up quite a bit. From lowering prices and featuring nightly specials to adding a bar and changing the color, look and sound of the place, the new Lemaire is more approachable, comfortable and inviting to native Richmonders and newbie out-of-towners alike.
Add to that the “urban garden” created by Bundy in the parking lot of the hotel, where herbs are grown for featured dishes, and a Virginia Green certification for the restaurant, and you have a unique, modern twist on a classic, Richmond establishment.
Bundy values his executive culinary position at The Jefferson but also appreciates the “outside-of-work” time that he has to spend with his family as well as hunting, fishing and playing outdoor sports.
Although he claims several times throughout the interview that nowadays he leads a pretty boring lifestyle compared with the Bundy of the past, I find the transformation from a “whatever goes” nomadic traveler to grounded, devoted father of two boys to be refreshing and far from boring.
 “COOK WHAT YOU LOVE”
What tip, I ask, can you give the readers for healthy living in your cooking routine? Bundy jokingly touts working out or “playing hard” during the week so that you can enjoy good food on the weekends.
“Be healthy,” he urges, “but also allow yourself to be human. No diet will ever stick if you can’t give yourself an out on the weekend to splurge a little and enjoy some great food.
“Cook what you love,” he continues, “but save it for a special occasion — not every day.” In his case, that “great food” generally includes things locally grown and from “the hunt,” such as these delicious Virginia recipes he shares with us.
Bundy says his kids, Quinn (age 10) and Foster (age 8) are “pretty basic“ in their culinary needs from their chef dad. Both have developed a fondness for fried shrimp and oysters (with ketchup) and they love steak. They also love venison any way that Bundy chooses to prepare it, as well as bacon-wrapped dove, duck, and crispy pheasant with peanut sauce.
Bundy himself enjoys any wild game that he's harvested and fresh fish that he's caught, whether rockfish, croaker or spot. He loves a thick-cut steak (ribeye usually) on the charcoal grill with a fresh salad of any type. But he shares that his all-time fave is steamed lobster served with artichokes and warm butter.
As for a special tip for preparing game meats like venison and duck, Bundy recommends soaking the meat in milk and adding fresh chopped garlic, herbs from the garden and ground peppercorn to the mixture. “This,” he says, “not only adds flavor but also takes away some of the gaminess of the meat.”
Shannon Montsinger-Fake is a Richmond-based freelance writer.
Two of My Favorite Recipes
BY LEMAIRE CHEF WALTER BUNDY
Peanut-Crusted Chesapeake Bay Oysters
Serves 6
In this recipe, I use local Chesapeake Bay oysters. David Whitby at Yellow Umbrella generally always has freshly shucked select oysters in their liquor. I fry these guys up, and they are a great appetizer for friends or family when entertaining at home.
I have also incorporated Virginia peanuts in this dish. My favorite peanuts are Hubs from Sedley, in Southampton County.
At Lemaire, I have served the oysters “P.B.J.”-style (with Kite’s country ham and a grape jelly sauce). At home, I tend to serve them just flash-fried with a quick “remoulade” sauce.
I first drain the oysters in a colander in the sink. Then I dust them in seasoned flour, dredge them in an egg/buttermilk wash, and finally coat them with panko bread crumbs (Japanese-style) and chopped peanuts. The result is outstanding!
1 pint freshly shucked select oysters
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 whole eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 8-ounce can panko (Japanese-style) plain bread crumbs (crush in hand a few times to grind slightly)
10 ounces Hubs peanuts, roughly chopped
1 ¼ cups Duke’s mayonnaise
¼ cup Heinz ketchup
1 Tablespoon Sriracha sauce (chili paste — can be found in most grocery stores)
1 lemon, cut in half and juiced
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
1 quart peanut oil
1 large pot (1-2 gallons or larger with tall sides)
1 paper bag
1 pair tongs
1 candy thermometer
“Remoulade”
Combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, Sriracha sauce, lemon juice and black pepper. Season the sauce with salt to taste.
Create a breading station.
Place the flour in a fairly large Tupperware container and season with salt.
In a medium-sized Tupperware container, combine the eggs and the buttermilk. Whisk together.
In yet another Tupperware container, combine the panko bread crumbs and the chopped peanuts.
Carefully place an oyster in the all-purpose flour and thoroughly coat. Lift it out and shake off the excess flour. Drop the oyster into the buttermilk/egg mixture and remove it. Let some of the egg wash slide off. Drop the oyster into the bread crumb/peanut mixture and thoroughly coat. Repeat for all of the oysters. Lay the breaded oysters on a plate and place in the refrigerator briefly until ready to use. Fry in peanut oil at 350 degrees until golden brown. Drain on brown paper bag and serve immediately with the “remoulade” sauce.
Enjoy!
“Ducks Flying South”
Chipotle-Honey-Glazed Mallard Duck,
Stone Fruit-Apple Relish, Creamy Grits, Orange Marmalade
4 mallard duck breast filets
A) 1/2 cup honey
1 Tablespoon chipotle chile powder (available at Martin’s)
B) 1 Granny Smith apple, cut medium dice
1 Pink Lady apple, cut medium dice
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
3/4 cup dried stone fruit (1/4 cup julienned dried apricots, 1/4 cup dried cherries, 1/4 cup dried cranberries)
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup water
C) 1 cup Byrd Mills Stone-Ground Grits (available at Martin’s)
4 cups whole milk
2 Tablespoons whole butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
3 ounces mascarpone OR cream cheese
D) 6 ounces orange marmalade
Fresh lemon juice from ½ lemon
1 Tablespoon butter
1 ½ Tablespoons brandy
Season duck breasts with salt and pepper. Sear skin side of breasts in pan with butter over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Once golden, turn over and sear 2 more minutes. Remove duck breasts and let rest on a cutting board for a few minutes. Slice thin.
A) In a bowl, combine honey and chipotle powder.
B) In a pan over medium heat, cook apples, pistachios and dried stone fruit with the butter, cinnamon and sugar until slightly softened. Add water and continue to cook until water has been absorbed.
C) Slowly stir grits into boiling milk, butter, salt and bay leaf. Let them bloom. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 30 minutes or until soft, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in mascarpone
D) Heat marmalade in small saucepan with lemon juice, butter and brandy.
To serve, drizzle chipotle honey over sliced duck breasts and reheat under broiler in oven. Spoon warm grits, relish and orange sauce on plate to finish. Ideally, the meat should be served medium rare and no more or it will become tough and livery.
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