Johnathan Sundstrom Chef/Owner Lark John Sundstrom began formal training at New England Culinary Institute, in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1987 and went on to complete the two-year program with honors and an associates degree. Prior to NECI, John apprenticed for 4 years to chef Yasuyuki Shigarami, classically trained in Japanese cuisine and sushi. After graduating from culinary school, John spent the next few years working in some of the country’s finest resort hotels, including; the 5-star Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Club XIX at the Lodge at Pebble Beach and Stein Ericksen Lodge. He moved to Seattle in 1991, worked at raison d'etre, Campagne, and Café Sport, learning about local ingredients and meeting northwest farmers and foragers. He cooked at Dahlia Lounge, was promoted to sous chef within a year, and named chef a year later, working closely with owner Tom Douglas developing the restaurant to one of national prominence. In March of 1999, John toured Japan, exploring, tasting and researching Japanese food and culture. In October and November of that year, he also went on a working tour of New York and San Francisco’s finest kitchens, a sort of "Culinary Graduate School" with renowned chefs Daniel Boulud, Jean-George Vongerichten, Diane Forley, Gary Danko, and Traci Des Jardins. Following these inspiring and educational travels, John returned to Seattle with a renewed sense of purpose, new ideas and techniques, and a greater understanding of excellence. From Dahlia's Pacific Rim ingredients to a stint at Carmelita, a vegetarian Mediterranean restaurant, and John began to invest in organic, foraged, and heirloom ingredients and flavors. In 2000, he happily reintroduced fish and meat to his repertoire when he took over at Earth & Ocean, and within 6 months John was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chef's for 2001. In the 3 years that John was chef at Earth & Ocean, the restaurant thrived. John has been featured on the TVFood Network’s “Best of” Show and Bobby Flay’s “Food Nation”. Also John was one of 13 top chefs featured in the PBS original series “Chefs a-field”, which was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2003. John’s 30 minute episode showed him trekking through the Olympic Mountains in search of wild mushrooms with one of his foragers, and then cooking two recipes featuring those ingredients. In May of 2005, John was nominated for “Best Chef Northwest/Hawaii” by the James Beard Foundation. John opened Lark in December 2003 on Seattle's Capitol Hill, with his wife, JM Enos and partner Kelly Ronan. Lark is an artisan focused restaurant with about 50 seats, serving dinner only. John will be adhering Slow Food principles to source ingredients and products and create incredible meals with a European sensibility using regional American farmers, cheese makers, ranchers and wineries. John will be working with Armandino Batali, custom creating signature salumi for Lark, such as Wild Boar Proscuitto, and Lark's own pancetta.