5 whole black peppercorns.

That moment was 1988.And it was a fine time to be a chef.. That same year, an editor at Food & Wine.

named Malachy Duffy was walking down Varick Street in New York City looking for a lunch spot.He happened upon a new restaurant serving dishes that were radical for the time: tuna au poivre with wilted baby spinach and poached lobster with arugula, a then-uncommon green.He ate a meal that, some 30 years later, he still described as "stunning, spectacular, and unbelievable."

The restaurant was called Rakel; the name of the chef was.Courtesy of The French Laundry.

At the time of his lunch at Rakel, Duffy had been charged by his editor-in-chief, Ila Stanger, to develop an award for chefs.

"Wolfgang Puck had become a celebrity; suddenly it was all first names: Marcella, and Julia, and Craig," remembers Duffy.The sleek but organic look of this set comes from locally sourced clay in Portugal through a single-firing process that makes the set durable enough for the dishwasher, freezer, and even the oven up to 480 degrees..

The semi-matte glaze on these pieces is the element we love—especially with the nine beautiful color options.Choose neutrals like Moon, Fog, or Dune, or make your dinnerware your statement piece with terra cotta Canyon or the blueish Lagoon..

$180 at Sur La Table.When San Francisco-based cool coffee tool brand Fellow launched its Stagg Pour-Over Kettle in 2014, we took notice.