Last week, we gathered with Courtney Grow for an intimate dinner cooked by chef and artist DeVonn Charles Francis. DeVonn is known for the way he blurs lines — between art and cooking, tradition and reinvention, intimacy and spectacle. His food is rooted in culture and memory, but also in the act of creating space: space for joy, for storytelling, for connection.
The menu moved with elegance and surprise — from tartlets of Taleggio and spigarello to the delicacy of tilefish crudo and the brightness of chicories and herbs. But the dish that lingers most in our minds is the main: poached cod with llapingacho.
Llapingacho, an Ecuadorian potato cake, is a food of warmth and comfort, often served with peanut sauce and pickled onions. In DeVonn’s hands, it became something both soulful and refined — golden and layered with history, set against the delicacy of poached fish, enriched with cultured butter and pistou. A reminder that the most unassuming ingredients, potatoes among them, can carry centuries of story and possibility.
This is DeVonn’s gift: to turn food into narrative, to take what’s familiar and give it new shape without losing its soul. The table became not only a place to eat, but a place to listen, to share, and to celebrate what emerges when tradition meets imagination.
We are delighted to bring you this dinner as part of our ongoing In The Kitchen series — a reflection of how food, at its best, brings us closer.
Q&A with Chef DeVonn Charles Francis
1. You’ve spoken about food as more than nourishment — almost as a form of memory and identity. Is there a dish or ingredient that feels like home to you?
Porridge. My mom always makes it when I’m back home. If I’m lucky, it’s usually the first thing waiting for me. It’s not fancy, but it’s steady. See the thing about oats or ground cornmeal is that they only turn out right if you give them your undivided attention. Too long and they’re glue, too short and they’re raw. There’s something about someone getting it just right for you that feels like care without any showmanship.
2. Is there a ritual you always begin with in the kitchen — something grounding before the chaos of service or prep?
When I worked in restaurants as a busboy, there was a CDC who always started his shift by wiping down the counters. He was very slow, methodical—no rush. I only thought of it just now, but I think that’s what I’d like to embody before I cook. Not a big production, just taking a minute to reset the space and get my head clear.
3. What’s the last non-food thing (a book, a song, a piece of art) that shaped a dish for you?
Songs shape my food always. I think of a menu like an album. Each dish has its own track, building toward something that makes sense as a whole artwork. I’ve always wanted to be a musician, so maybe that’s part of it. Music helps me think about pacing, rhythm, tone, and how people literally move through a meal without realizing it.
4. You’re creating an intimate dinner with PORTA and Courtney Grow — what does intimacy at the table mean to you?
I think intimacy is having all your senses on, but without rushing. In New York, we tend to cram everything into one moment and miss the small stuff. A table is one of the few places where you can slow down enough to notice. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being present.
5. If food is a way of life, what’s one non-food ritual that’s just as essential to your creativity?
Showering. Or just taking a bath. Water resets me — it’s where I do my best thinking. Sometimes it’s the only quiet space I get all day.
6. What’s a detail you notice when you walk into someone else’s home — the thing that tells you how they live?
The smell. It hits you before anything else and tells you almost everything. Smell is memory — even if you can’t name it, your body remembers.
About In The Kitchen With
PORTA offers a uniquely honed edit of homewares from Europe bringing unique character and thoughtful design to your table and home in a way that simultaneously celebrates tradition while embracing contemporary style. Through our travels, interests and obsessions we bring storied traditions and histories to light so they can be engaged with in new ways. Many chefs explore and play with similar interests and ideas through food, and in our seriesIn The Kitchen With…we hope to highlight the joy and creativity that happens from stove to table by inviting chefs to whip up something wonderful on (or accessorized by) PORTA products. Each chef is generously sharing their recipe with us so that we can all recreate the magic at home, and answering a few questions about their love of food and approach to bringing people together around the table.
