Cooking in the Moment

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: September 2024

Chef Peter Brinckerhoff

A twisting trail brought Chef Peter Brinckerhoff to the Greystone Inn.

Born and raised in Long Island, New York, he moved to Florida when he was in his early teens. Surrounded by a family passionate about food – from his father, an advertising executive who loved to cook, to his grandparents who ran a bed and breakfast in Vermont – he was inevitably drawn to the culinary world.

It was equally inevitable when Peter, at the age of 16, needed a job to finance his first car, he would draw on that heritage.

His great good fortune was landing a job at Pattigeorge’s, a Longboat Keys icon, and the best restaurant in two counties, beloved for its global coastal cuisine. It was Brinckerhoff’s introduction to fine dining, and what turned out to be the start of a 40-year journey that would culminate in Lake Toxaway at the Greystone Inn.

Following a three-year stint at Pattgeorge’s, Brinckerhoff completed a “stage” under a culinary Olympic winning chef at the Longboat Key Club before moving on to a position at the Hyatt Hotel. It was there that he won the top prize in a Marzetti salad dressing competition – for his recipe for a stuffed chicken salad.

When the victory provided a chance to transfer to the Hyatt property of his choice, he decided on Lake Tahoe.

“I sowed my roots in Lake Tahoe,”he explained.

In the ensuing years, his career soared. In 1999 he left Hyatt for the Corporate Chef position at the Tahoe Restaurant Collection. A position he retained for 10 years, before moving on to spend the next decade running culinary operations for Vail Resorts in Lake Tahoe.

Three years ago, when wildfires came within a half mile of their California residence, his wife encouraged him to agree to move to Brevard, where she had family. He accepted the Executive Chef position at nearby Greystone Inn in June 2023.

At Greystone, Brinckerhoff’s menus reflect the melding of cultures and influences that have permeated his career. The delicious dishes served daily to hotel guests and local diners are a composition of his passions – using local and high-end ingredients, thoughtfully mixing and blending flavors.

He tells me that, “I like to cook in the moment, going to the markets and talking to the farmers who knows what’s in season. I get inspired by an ingredient.” A local farmer recycles the restaurant’s organic waste to sustainably feed livestock, reflecting Peter’s commitment to sustainability.

He favors using traditional ingredients in nontraditional ways, like saucing a pork medallion with an old school gastrique (a sweetened vinegar with a port reduction) and then, complementing the dish with dehydrated peaches and haricots verts that have been crisped in a convection oven rather than blanched.

Brinckerhoff tells me that “I like to keep things fresh, to make sure people are enjoying themselves. Dining shouldn’t be uptight and stuffy.”

To that end his dishes are approachable and comfortable – pushing the boundaries in subtle touches. A popular winter special of duck with a fig sauce in the manner of the old-fashioned duck a l’orange, showcased his ability to reinterpret classics with flair. Worth ordering recently was a dish of corvina with fresh peppers, artichokes, capers and lemon butter sauce – a dish that Brinckerhoff described as “speaking to me of summertime.”

An appetizer of charred Spanish octopus with a warm German style potato salad and saffron aioli, demonstrated his understanding of how a Spanish fisherman would have cooked the octopus. Summer’s most popular dish was a crab stuffed salmon roulade with a tarragon aioli and a sweet potato and spinach hash. But despite what he describes as the “high end feel” of the recipe, the restaurant is well known for its Wagyu burger served with a beef steak tomato, and Brinckerhoff’s “secret sauce” on a brioche bun.

Greystone Inn invites guests and locals to enjoy its delectable offerings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, providing a year-round culinary retreat. For those interested in experiencing Chef Brinckerhoff’s unique culinary vision firsthand or to make a reservation, visit greystoneinn.com.