History of Riesling

[Randy Caparoso]

Hmm, perspective. We have restaurants in New York City, Florida (Bonita Springs, plus Tampa, Orlando and Boca Raton by next Jan.), Denver, both Phoenix and Scottsdale, Newport Beach and Pebble Beach in California (plus San Francisco and La Jolla by Nov.), Seattle, three in Tokyo, and one in Guam. Plus, in our five places in Hawaii, we entertain people from literally every part of the world -- our dining rooms are literal microcosms of the wine drinking world. We're pricey, but not expensive. At $35 to $45 a head, people can afford our brand of fine dining. So if all this is not perspective, I don't know what is.

So yes, we respectfully serve Chardonnay and Merlot, and still a good amount of White Zin. We're not a Gluckstern account,after all. Many of our Asian seasoned dishes are wood grilled and/or laced with beurre blancs, oils and tropical fruits -- more than decent with decently balanced Chardonnay -- and soft tannin reds are quite friendly with fish and lean meats in layers of sauces and vegetables. Plus, even simple pink, fruity stuff can be a revelation with sweet/hot/sour accented dishes. Food and wine matching with Euro-Asian style cooking is not as difficult as you may think.

But we also probably serve more Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir than any restaurants in the nation (well, we are good sized, after all). Their delicate, crisp qualities sometimes come down from heaven! Rieslings -- we're just beginning to touch the surface of this recent revival. It's developing. Zinfandel (red ones) have been hot; and now, perhaps Syrahs (and Shee-razzes) are even hotter. We're there -- they may be big and tannic, but their sweet toned spiciness do amazingly well with meats in Asian spiced veal stock and red wine reductions.

You've heard me talk about the range of things we serve before, Foodie. We're not the only ones, of course. Globally sourced wine selections are evolving right along with the consumers' tastes for globally sourced foods and food styles. I'm proud to say that our restaurants have been part of this process. Besides, what's the difference between people walking into your one place, and the thousands walking into all of ours every day and night? Both your guests and ours are, in a sense, "captive."

So you can call us anything --but narrowly defined, I don't think so!


[This message has been edited by Randy Caparoso (edited 06-01-2000).]