07/24 THE HYATT, NEWPORT BEACH, CHEF LEO GIANULIS, SHOR AMERICAN SEAFOOD GRILL

LIVE FROM THE HYATT IN NEWPORT BEACH 
WITH SPECIAL GUEST CHEF LEO GIANULIS

ABOUT THE HYATT
Experience comfort and relaxation at Hyatt Regency Newport Beach. Our resort-style hotel features beautiful guestrooms, suites and villas, and luxury amenities for business and vacation travelers to Orange County. Surrounded by the beauty of the Upper Newport Bay and 26 marvelously landscaped acres, our modern beach house ambience creates a sanctuary for the soul.

The Hyatt Regency Newport Beach is the perfect place to work, play, relax, meet, dine, and be you. Enjoy mouthwatering, locally sourced cuisine at SHOR American Seafood Grill, tee off on our nine-hole Newport Beach golf course, and get energized in our StayFit™ Gym and three swimming pools. Our convenient hotel offers free Wi-Fi and shuttle service to and from John Wayne Airport, Fashion Island and Balboa Island. We also have a Hertz Rental Car right at the hotel to keep you moving and on track.

DINING
Whether you’re meeting for cocktails or looking to dine on the freshest local seafood, Hyatt Regency is where you’ll find a delicious pairing of both. SHOR American Seafood Grill features fresh from the docks specials every day and cuisine that focuses on simple, fresh ingredients. Gather for mouthwatering food in casually elegant indoor and outdoor atmospheres for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our Lobby Lounge offers a lively, modern environment where you can relax and enjoy a glass of wine, evening cocktail or morning cup of coffee. Unwind with friends in front of the fireplace before heading into town, or find a cozy space in the library for reading a book or intimate conversation. Step outside and enjoy the Lobby Veranda, complete with comfortable armchairs and couches and a vibrant firewall along the scenic backdrop of the calm Upper Newport Bay.

WWW.NEWPORTBEACH.HYATT.COM

ABOUT CHEF LEO GIANULIS
Executive Chef Leo Gianulis hangs his chef’s coat at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach on Jamboree, just east of Pacific Coast Highway. In addition to responsibilities for all the culinary operations and events in-house, their SHOR restaurant is a lovely hide-away with an outdoor terrace that is just perfect for this warmer weather. And in keeping with spring and summer fare, the Strawberry Lemon Cake is the perfect finish to any meal. Chef Leo’s secret ingredient is Meyer Lemons.

With a Greek heritage, Chef Leo explains that lemons are a big part of his repertoire. Growing up, he had a large Meyer lemon tree and this was a basic staple in the house. From dolmades, to broiled halibut and baklava for dessert, they used as much as that tree produced.

On the menu for spring and summer this year, Chef Leo is heralding a dessert infused with Myer lemons, and that his refreshing Strawberry Lemonade. This dessert has four components. In addition to the fresh strawberries, this dessert features a lemon cake, lemon curd and lemon cream.
TWITTER: @ChefLeoG

MORE ABOUT SHOR GRILL
Melding the best regional seafood with preparation methods that highlight the beauty of simple, fresh ingredients, SHOR Restaurant by Hyatt boasts four distinct locations in our Clearwater, Key West, Waikiki and Newport Beach properties.

FEATURING DAILY CATCH RIGHT FROM THE DOCKS
Oysters, Shrimp, Mussels. Order just one or a handful.  We don't make you buy a dozen or a half dozen. We are happy if you want one or two. For those who just want to sit and not make a decision, try our House Specials. Enjoy local menu options, fresh as can be!

WWW.SHORGRILL.COM

07/17 THE STONEHILL TAVERN, THE ST. REGIS MONARCH BEACH RESORT AND HOTEL, CHEF RAJ DIXIT MICHAEL ALLEGRA

LIVE BROADCAST FROM THE STONEHILL TAVERN AT THE ST. REGIS MONARCH BEACH RESORT AND HOTEL 

WWW.STREGISMB.COM

The St. Regis Monarch Beach offers an unparalleled selection of celebrated restaurants and lounges for foodies and gourmands to choose from. From Chef Michael Mina’s award-winning Stonehill Tavern and its sommelier’s handpicked collection of over 500 wines, to the freshest locally sourced California cuisine at Motif, to a refreshing drink overlooking the fairway at Club 19, savor an unforgettable dining experience morning, noon, and night.

Stonehill Tavern at The St. Regis Monarch Beach is Michael Mina’s acclaimed restaurant concept, offering tavern fare in an elegant and sophisticated setting.

Guests of the Forbes Four-Star Stonehill Tavern enjoy a one-of-a-kind dining experience, including modern American cuisine that features seasonal ingredients and contemporary twists on classic tavern dishes. With Chef Michael Mina’s signature Lobster Pot Pie as a menu mainstay, the culinary team continuously develops new offerings using the region’s finest ingredients.

Executive Chef Raj Dixit - Stonehill Tavern

Raj Dixit, Executive Chef at Stonehill Tavern at The St. Regis Monarch Beach, is a Mission Viejo native who has returned to his hometown after working as a chef in states across the country, including New York, New Jersey and, most recently, Texas. Through all of his travels and experiences, one constant has remained true in Raj’s cooking – less is more.

After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America, Chef Raj worked at The Ryland Inn under the direction of Chef Craig Shelton - known for making the farm-to-table concept a nationwide movement, and that experience continues to shape Raj as a chef. He also served as opening chef for Dennis Foy and Chef de Cuisine for Tribeca restaurateur David Bouley, while opening his eponymous New Bouley Restaurant in New York City. Other memorable influences include his world travels, including visits to France, Japan and sojourns to Spain.

Chef Raj’s menus are a clever collaboration of the senses. He avoids cooking trends, favoring instead a minimalist approach – sourcing the freshest, seasonal ingredients and keeping them in their purest forms to maintain the flavor and integrity of the ingredients. Raj always keeps in mind the flow and presentation of the courses, so every dish tells a story.

In his time off, Chef Raj enjoys reading, listening to an eclectic mix of music and spending time with his fiancée in the Santa Ynez valley.


Lead Sommelier Paul Coker - Stonehill Tavern

Paul Coker is the lead sommelier at Stonehill Tavern, the Forbes Four-Star Michael Mina restaurant at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. Coker has an Advanced Sommelier certificate, and oversees a wine selection of more than 700 bottles with a focus on boutique producers in the California wine regions.

Prior to becoming a sommelier, Coker spent seven years as a cook and leverages his culinary background to create wine pairings on a molecular level. His fresh, fun approach to wine is easily accessible to aficionados and novices alike. Coker is ingrained in the Orange County community having worked at several local restaurants. In his free time, Coker enjoys playing hockey, mountain biking and reading.

“Sometimes people make too big a deal of it. We want wine to be fun,” said Paul. “My goal is for people to try something new, shift their paradigm a little, but ultimately have a great night enjoying delicious food and wine.”


Director of Food and Beverage Michael Allegra - St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa

For the past 16 years, he had been with Hyatt Hotels, overseeing food and beverage for the Park Hyatt Beijing, the Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo and the Park Hyatt Dubai

07/10 MARTIN DIEDRICH, KEAN COFFEE

MARTIN DIEDRICH FROM KEAN COFFEE            

Fine organic and fair trade specialty coffees from around the globe roasted fresh daily. Espresso drinks as culinary works of art. Indulgent chocolate drinks. Virtuous teas. Authentically independent. A true community gathering place. Taking coffeehouse culture to the next level.

About Kéan Coffee
Kéan Coffee™ is the newest, most exciting coffeehouse concept by coffeehouse visionary Martin Diedrich. Our mission is to purvey fresh-roasted artisan coffee the way it is meant to be, in a beautiful, eclectic coffeehouse environment. Martin is craft roasting the finest coffees from around the globe on-site, many organic and fair-trade. This enables us to serve our coffee so fresh, most days it has been roasted within hours of the moment it reaches your cup. Our expertly trained baristas are creating the most innovative, cutting edge coffee beverages to be had.

Martin, local coffeehouse pioneer and founder of the Diedrich Coffee chain, left behind the world of corporate culture to return to his origins as an independent coffeehouse operator in order to stay true to his ideals of what a coffeehouse should be and what coffee culture should be. Along with his wife Karen Varese Diedrich, Martin spent two years putting all of his creativity, inspiration and community and global awareness into bringing Kéan Coffee to reality. Martin and Karen Diedrich aptly named this next generation of coffeehouse after their son, Kean.

Kéan Coffee also features an outstanding selection of organic loose-leaf hot and iced teas from Tao of Tea in Portland, Oregon, as well as non-coffee steamers and a decadent chocolate beverage menu. Our pastries and savories are baked fresh daily by small local artisan bakeries. We also offer scrumptious gluten-free and vegan options. Come and enjoy our warm, community atmosphere in the true coffeehouse tradition!

About Martin Diedrich
Martin Diedrich grew up in Guatemala where his family owned a small coffee farm. In 1983, Martin left behind a blossoming career in Mayan archeology and came to Costa Mesa to help his parents with their small custom coffee roastery. During that year his vision emerged to create community meeting places where folks could gather and enjoy his family's high quality coffee. He founded the first Diedrich Coffee coffeehouse in Costa Mesa in 1984. Under Martin's direction, Diedrich Coffee grew to nearly a dozen locations over the next ten years and earned the reputation as "The Best Coffeehouses in Orange County". These original coffeehouses were exciting, creative hives of activity and the most popular gathering places in their respective neighborhoods.

In September of 1996, Diedrich Coffee went public. Within a few years there were more than 30 Diedrich Coffeehouses in California, Colorado and Texas. Martin Diedrich is now considered one of the pioneers of the coffeehouse phenomenon. Martin has been a Master Roaster for 21 years and is an internationally recognized coffee expert. In 2005 Martin was presented with the Specialty Coffee Association's Lifetime Achievement Award an award only bestowed on a handful of other individuals, including, Alfred Peet the founder of Peet's Coffee, Jerry Baldwin the founder of Starbuck's, George Howell the founder of Coffee Connection in Boston, Dr. Illy the family patriarch of the Illy Coffee.

In June of 2004, Martin resigned his position at Diedrich Coffee, and began to manifest a new vision: a state-of-the-art, cutting edge coffeehouse that would bring back the community feeling, coffee connoisseurship, and cultural atmosphere of his early Diedrich coffeehouses, as well as embrace his ideal that businesses should model community and global responsibility and awareness, both environmental and cultural. In December of 2005, Martin and Karen Varese Diedrich opened the doors of Kéan Coffee in Newport Beach, California. Named for their only son, Kean, Kéan Coffee is just a stones throw from the first location where Martin had originally joined his parents Carl and Inga. Kéan Coffee has already developed a loyal following of customers with its high quality artisan coffees fresh roasted onsite daily by Martin himself, in a world-class roaster built and manufactured by his brother Stephan Diedrich in Sandpoint Idaho. Through Kéan Coffee, Martin Diedrich is taking his community coffeehouse vision to the next level.

WWW.KEANCOFFEE.COM

GEORGE MILIOTES, THE CAPITAL GRILLE, MATT SMITH, GRAPESEED WINE

THE CAPITAL GRILLE’S MASTER SOMMELIER GEORGE MILIOTES

George Miliotes, hasn't strayed far from his roots. Born and raised in Orlando, Fla., Miliotes began his restaurant career at Mr. Dunderbak's, his father's regional franchise, as a teen. After attending Depaul University he returned to Orlando and did stints at Chris’ House of Beef, a Best of Award of Excellence winner under his direction, and Disney’s California Grill, an Award of Excellence winner since 1997.

Today Miliotes is the master sommelier for the Capital Grille, a Darden restaurant concept based in his hometown, where he oversees the wine list for all 40 locations of the national steak house chain. With wine lists ranging from 300 to 1,000 selections, all 35 Capital Grilles that Miliotes entered in Wine Spectator's 2009 Restaurant Wine List Awards earned either a Best of Award of Excellence or Award of Excellence. Miliotes is also the food and beverage director for another Darden concept, Seasons 52, with locations in Florida and Georgia. They earn the Award of Excellence for their succinct yet exemplary bistro wine lists. Miliotes passed the demanding master sommelier examination in 2007.

OVERVIEW OF THE CAPITAL GRILLE

MENU PHILOSOPHY
Exceptional Ingredients, Artfully Prepared
It is our sole desire that everything, and we mean everything, that arrives at your table at The Capital Grille delights you. To ensure that experience, we use only the finest, freshest ingredients, artfully prepared in recipes designed to engage all of your senses. Let Executive Chef Jim Nuetzi tell you more in the video above.

DRY AGING
Long before our steaks meet the grill, they’re carefully aged and hand-trimmed on premises to achieve incomparable flavor and texture. Discover why our exacting, time-intensive dry-aging process is so very worth it.

ARCHITECTURE
While every Capital Grille restaurant is carefully designed to create an atmosphere of refined sophistication, some of our locations display unique details of which we are particularly proud. From historic architecture to exceptional finishing touches, allow us to share with you a gallery of our most noteworthy features.

Washington DC
A stately building worthy of our nation’s capital, with a stunning view down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Building itself.

Downtown Chicago
An exceptionally grand entrance, located just one block from Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile shopping district.

Las Vegas
Modern angles and floor-to-ceiling glass give this unique location a spectacular view of the famous Las Vegas Strip.

NYC Chrysler
The Trylon Towers, designed by the late, renowned contemporary architect Philip Johnson, are a dramatic addition to the Chrysler Building, and home to The Capital Grille. The gleaming, seven-story glass and steel pyramid is unlike anything in Manhattan, and one of the most unique dining settings anywhere.

Scottsdale
The building’s design was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, and guests dining on the outdoor patio enjoy a view of a magnificent spire (designed by Wright himself), dedicated to the famous architect.

NYC Wall Street
In the historic Equitable Building, what was once a mighty bank vault is now the highly coveted Calloway Room – an ideal setting for a private meeting or celebration.

Providence
Union Station, host to nearly 300 trains a day a century ago, became The Capital Grille’s first home in 1990.

Costa Mesa
Located in the acclaimed South Coast Plaza, this exceptionally grand entrance attracts patrons of the arts and shoppers alike.

Seattle
Built in the Beaux-Arts style, the historic 1910 Cobb Building in downtown Seattle is our home in the Pacific Northwest.

www.thecapitalgrille.com


MATT SMITH - VP WINEMAKING & OPERATIONS, GRAPESEED WINES

GrapeSeed connects award-winning winemakers to wine enthusiasts like never before. Their high-end, small production wines are meticulously made by winemakers who have received years of acclaim, awards and are recognized leaders in their field.

After more than a decade with Kendall-Jackson, Matt Smith joins GrapeSeed as Vice President of Winemaking and Operations. Over 20 of his red wines have received scores of 90 Points or higher from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, in addition to a slew of critical acclaim and 90+ Point scores from The Wine Enthusiast and Vinous.

What first brought you to winemaking?
I am originally from a suburb of Detroit, and as a French major in college I ended up studying at the Sorbonne. When I got back to Michigan I couldn't wait to return to France, so I worked in restaurants, saved up money and traveled the world–from Australia and New Zealand to Asia and the then–USSR–before I did finally end up back in Paris. I spent a few years working as a tour guide there. In my restaurant work I'd already fallen in love with Spanish wines, so I traveled extensively in Spain, too. In Paris, my closest friend's father had an amazing collection of St Emilion, so we had lots of opportunities to taste at family meals. In the states, again, I began to tend bar in Chicago and fell in love with California wines–especially red Zins from Sonoma County. When I relocated to San Francisco in 1995, the first place I wanted to visit was Sonoma. I'd taken a job with a French import/export logistics company that had a lot of wine industry clients, and I found myself working with people whose jobs I envied. Soon I applied to the Masters program at UC Davis, and began interning with David Bruce, Robert Mondavi and producers in Burgundy and Australia. My first job was with Kendall–Jackson, as a viticultural enologist, a position created by Pierre Seillan to allow winemakers to spend more time in the vineyard. It was a great experience, and I stayed at KJ for a decade, most recently as Winemaking Director for any and all wines that go into a Claret bottle–everything from California's North Coast, from Sauvignon Blanc to Zinfandel to red blends.

And when you're not winemaking?
Spend a lot of time with my family–in fact, I first met Dave at our kids' sports events. There's no place like Sonoma County for just enjoying what's all around you. Since moving to the West Coast I've known I wanted to live in Healdsburg. It's the crux of so many appellations. You can spend a day in Dry Creek Valley, driving down Westside Road. You can wander around in Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley. Wherever you go, you never quite lose that small–town feel. It's an amazing landscape–incredible mountain vineyards, peaks rising in every direction. We like every aspect of life here–from the people to the outdoor activities all year round, like canoeing down Russian River, watersports at the lake in Geyserville, tennis, baseball, etc. It's a great place to raise our kids.

GRAPESEEDWINE.COM