Friday, September 30, 2016

9/30 LIVE FROM THE WINERY RESTAURANT, THE THIRD ANNUAL NEWPORT BEACH WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL

ABOUT THE WINERY RESTAURANT
3131 West Coast Hwy, Newport Beach,
WWW.THEWINERYRESTAURANT.NET

 The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar pairs contemporary California regional cuisine, with a hip, vibrant, sophisticated setting, to create a cutting-edge dining experience. Located on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach, The Winery was named "Restaurant of the Year" by the Orange County Concierge Association in its first year in business. The restaurant's wine list, which currently offers 650 selections, changes weekly, offering diners a wide range of varietals from around the world.  Guests can look into and even tour the restaurants' climate-controlled cellars, which can hold up to 7,500 bottles! The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar offers a warm and passionate menu complimented by the perfect wines -- endless possibilities and something to suit every palate.

ABOUT THE THIRD ANNUAL NEWPORT BEACH WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL
www.newportwineandfood.com


The Third Annual Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival, Southern California’s premier food and wine event, takes place September 29 – October 2, 2016. Taste Around Town events will be held Thursday and Friday at Ritz Prime Seafood, Pizzeria Mozza Newport Beach and The Winery Newport Beach, followed on Saturday and Sunday by the Daytime Festival, presented on the grounds of the contemporary Newport Beach Civic Center. The epicurean adventure includes live cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs; book signings; master sommelier panels; two Grand Tasting Pavilions featuring samplings from prestigious Orange County restaurants; world-class wine, spirits and beer tastings; special sponsor lounges; and live jazz. The Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. Proceeds from the Festival will continue to benefit Project Hope Alliance, the Festival’s longstanding local charity partner.

MICHAEL IS JOINED BY...

YVON GOETZ - EXECUTIVE CHEF, THE WINERY RESTAURANT
After spending the majority of his career leading other restaurateurs and culinary groups to success, internationally renowned Chef Yvon Goetz has joined The Winery Restaurant as Executive Chef and Partner. Goetz, considered one of the most highly decorated chefs in Southern California, has received such accolades as "Alsace's gift to Southern California" by the Los Angeles Times, "The Best of the Best" by The Travel Guide, one of three recipients in California of the AAA Five Diamond Award, "2004 Chef of the Year" by the Orange Country Business Journal, and "2004 Chef of the Year" by the Southern California Restaurant Writer's Association.

As Executive Chef and Partner in The Winery Restaurant, Goetz has developed and oversees a cutting-edge menu featuring contemporary California regional cuisine with a focus on specialties and ingredients found in California's vast Wine Country.  He is responsible for hiring, training and directing a culinary team that delivers consistent, quality fare that sets new standards for restaurants in Orange County and beyond.

HUBERT KELLER - FLEUR & BURGER BAR
Hubert Keller, a Frenchman classically trained by France’s top Chefs, is now one of America’s most widely recognized and acclaimed chefs. Chef Keller reside in Las Vegas, where he operates Fleur by Hubert Keller, featuring his contemporary French cooking accented with cuisine around the world. With his palate-attuned to America’s evolving tastes, Chef Keller launchedhis widely popular Burger Bar Restaurants in Las Vegas, San Francisco and Beijing.

He has won numerous awards including the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef: California and has been elected to the Foundation’s prestigious Who’s Who in Food and Beverage. Food and Wine magazine tapped him as one of the Ten Best Chefs in America, and Restaurant & Institutions gave him its Ivy Award.

Chef Keller has cooked for several United States Presidents and was the first guest chef invited to the White House to personally prepare his sophisticated menu to President Clinton and his family. Chef Keller is also know for his performance as a judge on Top Chef as well as for his grace-under-pressure performance as a contestant in the first season of Top Chef Masters on Bravo. Chef Keller was as well a resident judge on Top Chef Just Desserts on Bravo.

Keller appears frequently in the media including appearances on “The Chew” on ABC, “Regis & Kelly” on ABC, “Rachel Ray”, “The Travel Channel“, “ The Food Channel Network”, “The Real House Wife’s from Orange County”, “Good Morning America”, and “Bizarre Foods” with Andrew Zimmern. Chef Keller’s own cooking show, Secrets of a Chef, airs on PBS and is currently in Season 4.
Dubbed a “Rebel with a Cuisinart” in the New York Times for his early championing of original, multi-course vegetarian menu in a 4-start setting. Chef Keller consistently cooks with a light hand and an eye on health. This led to his developing recipes for inclusion in Dr. Dean Ornish’s best selling cookbook, Eat More, Weigh Less.

Chef Keller’s own cookbooks include The Cuisine of Hubert Keller (Ten Speed Press) and Burger Bar, Build your Own Burgers (Willey0. And his latest cookbook “Souvenirs” Memoires, Stories and Recipes from My Life, written with Penelope Wisner, (Andrews McMeel) released October 2012.

JEAN-PIERRE DUBRAY - THE RESORT AT PELICAN HILL
Dubray came to the United States in 1980 when he had an opportunity to be part of the opening team for La Vie en Rose restaurant in Brea, Calif. –and he has been in the Golden State ever since. In 1984, Dubray joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company becoming the first dining room chef of the then newly opened The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. In 1987, he opened The Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage in the Palm Springs area, and over the years was sent on 14 overseas assignments as a team trainer for the openings of Ritz-Carlton hotels around the world. It was in1991, however, when the opportunity came –to open The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco as executive chef–that would accelerate his career to the highest level. Demonstrating exceptional skills and creativity, he helped make The Dining Room one of the country’s culinary stars and a recipient of countless honors, including the AAA Five Diamond rating and one of only two restaurants in California and 17 in all of North America with Exxon/Mobil’s Five-Star designation.

He reached the pinnacle of accomplishment and recognition at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco –establishing the credentials to take the culinary reins of The Resort at Pelican Hill®, where he oversees Andrea Ristorante, the Coliseum Pool &Grill, Pelican Grill at Pelican Hill Golf Club®, the Resort’s pastry and bakery operations, in-room dining to 128 Villas and 204 Bungalows, and catering and special event services, both on-site and off-premise. Chef Dubray has been a guest chef for a James Beard Foundation event in San Francisco and for numerous charitable events for such organizations as the March of Dimes and Meals On Wheels. He has participated in many promotional events with celebrity chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse and Julia Child. Among the numerous awards he has received, the Marin County Branch of the International Wine and Food Society named him “Outstanding Chef of the Year” in 2002, and later the same year the French Minister of Agriculture awarded him the prestigious “Le Merite Agricole.”

PASCAL OLHATS - PASCAL & CAFE JARDIN
Pascal Olhats is extraordinary French born, and trained Executive Chef, and restaurateur. He has won numerous awards, owning and collaborating on a number of restaurants in Newport Beach over the past 27 years. He currently owns four businesses, including: Café Jardin Restaurant & Pascal’s Tea Garden Creperie (on the lush grounds of Sherman Gardens & Library in Corona del Mar), Pascal’s Café in San Juan Capistrano (a café/ bakery/ fine dining establishment) , and Pascal’s Catering (offering full-service catering for 20 years throughout Southern California). Pascal also partners with Manassero Farms, and orchestrates breakfasts, dinners, and incredible special events, often showcasing guest chef specialties with ingredients from the farm.

Born in Normandy , France and like many chefs in Europe, it is all about apprenticeships in the kitchen. Pascal’s his first jobs were in the top kitchen of his home town of Rouen. This included, Hotel de Dieppe and La Couronne in the heart of the old city. La Couronne also happens to be the first restaurant Julia Child visit when she and her husband moved to France. She enjoyed the Sole Meuniere by the way.)

Next stop was Brussels and Pascal spent 4 years attending school at the CERIA, a hotel and restaurant college. From there he worked for the well-known Chef Paul Bocuse, first as a server and then as Chef de Rang (Assistant Head Waiter). From there he moved to Lyon, which is well known for the production and weaving of silk, capital of gastronomy in France, and home to Paul Bocuse’s inside food hall and market, Les Halles de Lyon on Cours Lafayette. There Pascal worked at Leon de Lyon Restaurant, as Chef de Rang. From the river’s edge, it was to the shore and St. Tropez was calling. His next job was Service Staff Manager for three years at the famous Club 55. He was also in charge of catering and cooked and served for many celebrities. . In 1984 Pascal moved to the United States working as Chef for Piret’s Restaurant, then Chef de Cuisine for Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach. He was also the Executive Chef at Player’s in Irvine, followed by an Executive Chef position at the Chanteclair Restaurant in Newport Beach.

In addition to managing day-to-day operations of his four businesses, Pascal consults for other restaurant groups (including: French 75, Savannah Chophouse and Brasserie Pascal), was recently hire by the Macanese government of Tourism, to promote and demonstrate their cuisine in the United States, and travels the world with groups to explore countries, culture and cuisine.

STEFANIE SALEM – FOUNDER/CEO, NEWPORT BEACH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL 
Stefanie Salem is the Founder & CEO of the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival. Salem takes her entrepreneurial and international business background combined with her insatiable love for all things food, wine and cooking to curate and lead all programming for each year’s event. Her 20 years of business experience, which includes living and working in foreign countries, collaborating with political leaders and leading projects with economic corporations, has played a key role in helping her secure high-profile sponsors, participants and partners to make the Festival a true world-class event.
Salem’s impressive career accomplishments have included: promoting foreign investment in emerging markets by working with Heads of State, Ministers and CEO’s of multinational and local corporations in the countries of Greece, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Nigeria. Salem also led editorial advertising in US News and World Report, Sunday Telegraph (UK) and USA Today. Subsequently, she was Founder and President of Hampton Court Publishing, London, which published “In God’s Time, the Building of a Democratic Nation”, focusing on the cultural, historical and political independence of Nigeria where she worked with President Obasanjo, Vice President Abubakar, all 36 Governors and Ministers. After founding the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival in 2014, Salem was honored as one of the “Most Influential People of 2015” by Newport Beach Magazine. In that same year, the Festival was also touted as the “Top 5 Places to Travel to in October (World-wide)” by Forbes Travel.

Salem considers herself a “taste-bud traveler”, gaining much of her inspiration for the Festival by experiencing cultural cuisine throughout her international business travels, and today, traveling the world with her two sons, family and closest friends. Salem also enjoys frequenting restaurants around Orange County, wining and dining with her chef and master sommelier pals, cooking gourmet meals at home and never missing an episode of “Top Chef.”

Salem was born and raised in Southern California and earned her BA in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara in 1992.


Friday, September 23, 2016

9/23 CYNTHIA PECK, ANGELO’S AND VINCI’S, GREG MORENA, THE ALBRIGHT ON SANTA MONICA PIER, STEFANIE SALEM, NEWPORT BEACH WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL

CYNTHIA PECK – OWNER, ANGELO’S AND VINCI’S                        
OUR HISTORY
Forty-three years ago, our restaurant was built with tradition and has since continued with tradition. At our home in the old marketplace, we tribute our ancestors who came to America in the late 1800’s – their spirit and their recipes!

A little about this old building…
Originally built as an L-shaped marketplace in the days when Fullerton was an orchard (early 1900’s), the local farmers would bring their produce in from the fields by horse and wagon to sell to the townspeople. The original wood trusses of the old roof system may still be seen in the Venetian Room. Approximately twenty years later, renovation of the building changed it from its original L-shape to a square. This was accomplished by the large wood barrel trusses (an unusual truss!), which can be seen in the Sicilian Room and the Piazza Fantasia. During our renovation in 1992, the old wood, terra cotta tiles and brick was salvaged and re-used to keep alive the feeling and memories of those days long ago.

About our décor…
Be prepared when you walk into Angelo’s and Vinci’s Ristorante to be overwhelmed! With surprises in every corner, you won’t know where to look first! You will sit amidst the art of the great masters, in an Italian town square complete with the storefronts of old Italian butcher and cheese mongers, fruit and wine vendors, seamstresses showing their wares, and more. Fairy lights abound under cathedral ceilings as our ancestors smile down at you from the Family Love Altar. Explore and you will be surrounded by colorful Sicilian puppets, the carnival masks and canals of Venice, and the romance of Romeo & Juliet. Find our mystical Room of the Moon…and don’t forget King Kong, Dracula, Frankenstein, witches, ghosts and who-knows-what that await you in the Monster Wine Cellar!

And, as for Hollywood…
Founder, Steven Peck, renowned Hollywood dancer, choreographer and veteran actor of over 100 movies and television performances, has delightful photographs of over 40 years of famous stars, directors and dancers. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor, Broderick Crawford, Kirk Douglas, Walter Winchell, Sam Wanamaker, Vincent Minnelli, Sylvester Stallone, Ted Danson, David Hasselhof, Ray Sharkey, Shirley MacLaine, Cyd Charisse, Dolly Parton, Joan Collins, Raquel Welch, Olympia Dukakis, Shelly Winters and so many more. Films from Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., MGM, Desilu, United Artists, Universal Studios, to name a few.

Ask for a “Walking Tour” brochure to find out more about the meaning and dedications behind our décor!

BANQUET & PARTIES
Established in 1971, Angelo’s and Vinci’s Ristorante is a family-run establishment with a festive, theatrical, highly decorative Italian atmosphere that makes any event a celebration!
From a small, intimate rehearsal dinner or bridal shower, to a wedding reception for 650, Angelo’s and Vinci’s can fill just about any wedding need. With a professional staff of wedding coordinators, bartenders, disc jockeys and master of ceremonies, you will both be treated as guests at your own wedding reception!

Planning a birthday party, anniversary dinner, graduation celebration, business meeting? Angelo’s and Vinci’s has a variety of packages and options to suit most any budget!
For an estimate for your event, please call our Banquet Sales office Monday through Friday, 11:00am to 7:00pm.

WWW.ANGELOSANDVINCIS.COM



GREG MORENA - THE ALBRIGHT ON SANTA MONICA PIER

THEALBRIGHT.COM
258 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica CA 90401 | 310-394-9683
Monday-Friday 12pm -9pm Saturday-Sunday 11am-10pm

After 35 years as SM Pier Seafood, Yunnie Kim Morena took the helm of the Pier mainstay which her parents had opened in 1977 upon emigrating to the U.S. from Korea. Yunnie and her husband, Greg Morena, modernized and streamlined the look while preserving the restaurant’s original atmosphere and character. The relaxed seaside setting is a perfect compliment to the delicious menu that reflects a commitment to sustainably caught seafood, locally sourced ingredients, as well as an extensive craft beer and California wine program.

The Albright is honored to be the longest running restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier which also happens to be the birthplace of the beloved American icon, Popeye the sailor-man. Popeye was created in 1929 by cartoonist Elzie C. Segar and was inspired by a retired Navy sailor named Olaf Olsen who worked on the Pier. Don’t miss out on the life-size cut outs of Popeye, Olive Oyl and their baby, Swee’Pea outside the restaurant!


STEFANIE SALEM – FOUNDER/CEO, NEWPORT BEACH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL 

Stefanie Salem is the Founder & CEO of the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival. Salem takes her entrepreneurial and international business background combined with her insatiable love for all things food, wine and cooking to curate and lead all programming for each year’s event. Her 20 years of business experience, which includes living and working in foreign countries, collaborating with political leaders and leading projects with economic corporations, has played a key role in helping her secure high-profile sponsors, participants and partners to make the Festival a true world-class event.

Salem’s impressive career accomplishments have included: promoting foreign investment in emerging markets by working with Heads of State, Ministers and CEO’s of multinational and local corporations in the countries of Greece, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Nigeria. Salem also led editorial advertising in US News and World Report, Sunday Telegraph (UK) and USA Today. Subsequently, she was Founder and President of Hampton Court Publishing, London, which published “In God’s Time, the Building of a Democratic Nation”, focusing on the cultural, historical and political independence of Nigeria where she worked with President Obasanjo, Vice President Abubakar, all 36 Governors and Ministers. After founding the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival in 2014, Salem was honored as one of the “Most Influential People of 2015” by Newport Beach Magazine. In that same year, the Festival was also touted as the “Top 5 Places to Travel to in October (World-wide)” by Forbes Travel.

Salem considers herself a “taste-bud traveler”, gaining much of her inspiration for the Festival by experiencing cultural cuisine throughout her international business travels, and today, traveling the world with her two sons, family and closest friends. Salem also enjoys frequenting restaurants around Orange County, wining and dining with her chef and master sommelier pals, cooking gourmet meals at home and never missing an episode of “Top Chef.”

Salem was born and raised in Southern California and earned her BA in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara in 1992.

ABOUT THE THIRD ANNUAL NEWPORT BEACH WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL:
www.newportwineandfood.com


The Third Annual Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival, Southern California’s premier food and wine event, takes place September 29 – October 2, 2016. Taste Around Town events will be held Thursday and Friday at Ritz Prime Seafood, Pizzeria Mozza Newport Beach and The Winery Newport Beach, followed on Saturday and Sunday by the Daytime Festival, presented on the grounds of the contemporary Newport Beach Civic Center. The epicurean adventure includes live cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs; book signings; master sommelier panels; two Grand Tasting Pavilions featuring samplings from prestigious Orange County restaurants; world-class wine, spirits and beer tastings; special sponsor lounges; and live jazz. The Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. Proceeds from the Festival will continue to benefit Project Hope Alliance, the Festival’s longstanding local charity partner.



Friday, September 9, 2016

09/09 JONATHAN NAGY, BYRON, JEFF STEWART, HARTFORD FAMILY WINERY

JONATHAN NAGY – WINEMAKER, BYRON

To really understand Byron, one must spend some time exploring the Nielson Vineyard that surrounds the winery. More than just the primary source of fruit for Byron’s wines, it has great historical significance as Santa Barbara’s first commercial vineyard. When planted in 1964 by Uriel Nielson, this gently canted site was deemed too cold and inhospitable for grapes, but time has proved the naysayers wrong.

Ken Brown, Byron’s founder, acquired the 432-acre Nielson Vineyard in 1989, five years after he launched the winery. It is located roughly 18 miles east of the Pacific Ocean at 500 to 750 feet above sea level. Chilling winds and thin soils ensure that Byron’s wines possess great intensity, heightened aromatics and firm structure.

Since day one, Byron has been a bastion of experimentation. The early years were devoted to researching clones, rootstock, vine spacing, trellising and farming. Since becoming head winemaker in 2003, Jonathan Nagy has continued down the path of research and innovation. He has also implemented many new methods including red/green fruit drop, intensive sorting, native yeast fermentations and small-lot fermentations. Under Jonathan’s watchful eye Byron Winery produces spectacularly rich and exotic Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from the Nielson Vineyard and other premier sites in Santa Barbara County. The region once deemed “too cold and inhospitable” is now widely regarded as one of America’s greatest AVAs.

WINEMAKER
Our winemaker, Jonathan Nagy, uses high-end, small-lot winemaking techniques, such as hand pruning, block-by-block harvesting, barrel fermentations and lees stirring, in combination with fruit from some of the AVA’s most renowned sites to ensure that our wines capture the culture, lifestyle and flavor of Santa Barbara County.

WWW.BYRONWINES.COM


JEFF STEWART - GM/WINEMAKER, HARTFORD FAMILY WINERY

FAMILY ARTISAN WINERY
Hartford Family Winery was founded in 1994 as a result of Don and Jennifer Hartford's appreciation for the wines, the people, and the unique vineyards near their Russian River Valley home. Located in the Sonoma County town of Forestville, the winery is about 15 miles from the cool Pacific Coast.

We are located at 8075 Martinelli Road in Forestville, California. Click here for hours and directions, or call us toll free at 1-800-588-0234 for more information.

HIGH PERSONALITY WINES
Making delicious wines of high personality is directly related to the difficult locations of our vineyard sources, the limited production of our bottlings and the varietals we use. "Character through adversity" is an expression that we believe applies to people and grapevines and surviving adversity builds character, and personality, in both.

SINGLE-VINEYARD AND LIMITED BOTTLINGS
Hartford Family Winery specializes in making wines from single vineyard sites. In recent vintages we have made about 25 different single vineyard bottling’s Small and low-yielding vineyards deliver meager amounts of expressive and personality-rich wine. Our single-vineyard Hartford Court Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays total as few as 93 cases up to about 800 cases. Likewise, our Hartford Old-Vine Zinfandels are produced in small quantities. Our single vineyard wines are highly allocated.

Pinot Noir
We love Pinot Noir and in many years make about 15 of them with fruit from the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Green Valley, Carneros, Anderson Valley, Marin and Oregon appellations. We feel that Pinot Noir makes the most seductive red wine, notable for its supple, silky texture. Pinot Noir is also known for expressing vineyard site characteristics in a transparent manner.

Chardonnay
Cool climate Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley Chardonnay vineyards are singularly expressive. Those that are planted with multiple clones, specially matched to their sites, also reflect the distinctive terroir in these high-risk, high-reward locations.

Old-Vine Zinfandel
Our 80-100 year old Zinfandel vineyards are irreplaceable treasures. We source our vineyard designated Russian River Valley Zinfandels (150-500 cases) from some of the oldest Zinfandel vineyards in California. The complexity and depth of flavors from these vineyards produce the most consistently bold and unctuous Zinfandels found anywhere.

Russian River Valley Appellation Chardonnay, Pinot Noir & Zinfandel
In addition to our small vineyard designated bottlings, we make a Russian River Chardonnay, Russian River Pinot Noir and Russian River Zinfandel that are made from a handful of vineyards each year. These Russian River Vineyard Cuvees are now found in some of the worlds most prestigious restaurant and retailers worldwide.

ABOUT JEFF
Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe, California, Jeff Stewart is, not surprisingly, an avid skier. But it was a summer trip to France and an enthusiastic chemistry teacher that enticed him away from the mountains and into winemaking.

"My summer in France was really my first experience with wine as part of the family meal. I was fascinated with the lifestyle and the importance of wine in that culture," says Hartford Family Winemaker and General Manager, Jeff Stewart. "I knew I wanted to pursue a career in science and after several conversations with my high school chemistry teacher, I was soon enrolled in the Viticulture and Enology program at U.C. Davis. The idea of combining agriculture, science and the creativity of making wine, something celebrated and revered in many cultures for thousands of years, was mesmerizing."

A UC Davis graduate with a degree in Fermentation Science, Viticulture, and Enology, Jeff has been making Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Old Vine Zinfandel in the Russian River and Sonoma County for over 25 years.

WWW.HARTFORDWINES.COM