I’ve spent the last three years in a casual food space and actively rejecting fine dining. But I am really excited to jump back into a fine dining service, and bring everything about Caribbean cuisine I have learned over the last three years. I think the entire Sonoma Valley can benefit from expansion of what a fine dining meal looks like, smells like, tastes like, and how wine can be the perfect complement. I loved meeting the kitchen team and winemakers on our initial visit and adding them to my network of food friends. Their passion for the process of wine is palpable, and the amount I learned and will learn about wine and the Russian River Valley has already had an impact on my creativity.

It wasn’t until about three years after culinary school. I was living in Pittsburgh working for my first female head chef. For the first five years, cooking for me was a job, even though I went to school and had made the financial commitment to the profession — I hadn’t made the mental commitment. The combination of family expectations, self-doubt, and a couple of rough years had stifled any ambitions I had for a future in food. Then I worked at place that challenged all that (part of a JBF nominated restaurant group). I saw a future path. I saw a woman command the respect of a bunch of messed up misfit cooks, and got the best out of us every day. I was a part of a close-knit kitchen team, half of us lived together or around the corner, we cooked, we cleaned, we drank, we slept, and repeat. And the food was great, and innovative, and simple, inspiring. That place and those people inspired me to take my career seriously, motivated me to re-recreate that world with my own vision, and I’ve been working toward that ever since.

The Blanc de Blancs sparkling had stuck in my brain since the tasting in February. I’ve never been a fan of chardonnay as a varietal and this wine has changed my opinion of it completely, although I think this might be a singular occurrence. The creamy texture (didn’t know sparkling wine could have that kind of mouth feel) simultaneously rich and minerally, with acid and fruity notes. It blew my mind and gave me many ideas. I also want many bottles of it forever.

My mission to serve more goat to the masses will continue at J this summer. Can’t bring the goat without the curry as well. I am excited to incorporate local oysters, and the wonderful summer produce with a pairing of something like stone fruit, scotch bonnet, cilantro oil and lime mignonette. I think the Blanc de Blancs would be a great pairing. Summer is BBQ season and I have been working on the perfect potato salad, the unsung hero of BBQ sides and a staple at any proper Bajan fish grill. I think it would work well with the Annapolis Ridge Pinot Noir, but I can’t wait to see what Nicole and her team think.

I want guests to feel like everything they tried was unlike anything they have had before, but also reminds them of home, of family, of grandma in the kitchen, if they were lucky enough to have one. I want guests to feel the food in their soul, and know the love that went into it. I want to inspire guests to be adventurous eaters and seekers, bringing J wine to their local Jamaican restaurant with rice and peas and oxtail piled on a Styrofoam plate. I hope everyone has a really good time, that and we all have a Carib party together.