Duskie Estes is a chef, farmer, and rancher behind Black Pig Meat Co. along with her husband, John Stewart. They are known for their pasture raised bacon and a line of snout-to-tail products available at Oliver’s, Big John’s, Andy’s, Epicurean Connection, Wm Cofield, Dry Creek General Store, and blackpigmeatco.com. You can find them at events on their food truck, the Black Piglet.
They operated ZAZU Kitchen+Farm in Sonoma County for 19 years raking in the awards: TOP 10 best new restaurants and TOP 100 restaurants in San Francisco Chronicle, Top 50 Restaurants in the Bay Area by SF Magazine, Michelin Recommended in the SF Guide for over a decade, Rising Star Chef Awards for Sustainability, Slow Food Snail Awards, King and Queen of Pork at Aspen Food & Wine, and multiple Good Food Awards.They have been featured on Food Network’s Next Iron Chef, Guy’s Grocery Games, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, and Alex v. America as well as on PBS, OWN, and Discovery+.
Duskie was the Executive Director of Farm to Pantry for 4 years, a gleaning non-profit in Sonoma County, rescuing produce from over 300 farms and backyards with 500+ volunteers and sharing with families fighting food injustice.
Estes and Stewart met in Seattle at Tom Douglas’s acclaimed Seattle restaurants: Palace Kitchen, Etta’s Seafood, and Dahlia Lounge. As chef of Palace Kitchen, Duskie was voted Seattle City Search’s Best Chef and Palace Kitchen was awarded the nation’s top 50 restaurants by Gourmet Magazine. She co-authored Tom Douglas’s Seattle Kitchen, receiving the 2001 James Beard Award.
