As Executive Chef of Lemaire, Walter Bundy uses the influences of many cultures in his cooking, but the core principles of Southern cuisine are the guiding forces in his kitchen.
In his own words: “Lemaire features upscale Southern regional seasonal cuisine, using the freshest and local available products.”
Lemaire’s menu honors the local influences of Richmond. But, the restaurant’s cuisine also mirrors the accommodation of The Jefferson Hotel – a classical hotel with strong regional influences. Located in what was originally the ladies' parlor of The Jefferson Hotel, Lemaire is named after Thomas Jefferson’s White House maitre d’hotel, who introduced Americans to the art of cooking with wine.
Appropriately, Richmond’s most prestigious restaurant now has a native son at the helm, devoted to using the region’s products in his kitchen. A graduate of the New England Culinary Institute, Bundy has worked with some of the nation’s finest chefs, including Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley. In 1998 Keller was the James Beard House’s national chef of the year. Bundy has also worked at Pinot Blanc in St. Helena, CA., and at the Coyote Café in Santa Fe, NM.
Heavily involved with local charities and non-profit organizations, including the SPCA, Tuckahoe Women’s Club and St. Christopher’s School, Bundy was one of the featured chefs at the legendary James Beard House in New York in 2002. Earlier in 2003, he presented a dinner for renowned New York chef Daniel Boulud, while every spring and fall he creates a wine dinner at Lemaire that celebrates the Virginia wines that receive the distinguished Gold Medal Award.
Since assuming the position of executive chef at Lemaire in May 2001, Bundy has undertaken the task of frequently altering the menu to reflect the freshest ingredients that Richmond and the Chesapeake region has to offer.
Lemaire seats 118 guests in eight intimate dining rooms, including a library and a newly added Victorian-style, glass-enclosed conservatory. The Library, which houses the famous oil painting, “The Soap Bubbles” by Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau, is the most well-known dining room and accommodates up to 20 guests. The restaurant, like the hotel, is decorated with antique crystal chandeliers, elaborate draperies and elegant tapestries.
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