You all know where you read it first

So, I guess you know you're bang on trend when wine guru Eric Asimov of the New York Times agrees with you. I am, of course, speaking of my solid defense of the wine menu. If you haven't read his blog post at The Pour, you can find it here.

My position has been that pairings are not the way to go on a tasting menu: too expensive and too passive. But my curmudgeonly stance has changed, or at least evolved. This is partly because I’ve now been to enough restaurants that apply the same unleashed minds to the beverage pairings that they do to the food. If the idea is to give yourself over to the chef, why not to the sommelier? Double the dazzle. - Eric Asimov 

The fabulous thing about being human is that one has ample opportunity to change one's mind. We do this for various reasons, but in this day and age when pushing the envelope is a requirement for keeping one's clientele entertained enough to return and new patrons intrigued enough to venture in, new experiences are pushing that very change.

This strategy is not without dangers. It requires the sommelier to dance to the same fervidly imaginative tune as the chef while accepting the notion that the food is the star. The pairings must support and enhance, never dominate. It’s a team effort, and it can yield epiphanies. - Eric Asimov

Current trends see chefs worshiped like rock stars, with TV show after TV show dedicated to following the minutiae of their lives and their profession. I predict that the next big thing will be following sommeliers and their waitstaff, who also know one or two things about sparkle, fizz and sharp blades, and no less than any chef about the rock 'n roll lifestyle. After all, the restaurant can't run without us, no matter how skilled the chef. We're half the experience, half the skill, half the drama. Kitchen and service combined is an organism in of itself, and certainly more than the sum of its parts.