The Chicago selections are interesting.
I'm not a huge Paul Kahan fan, but that may be because his places are just not comfortable places to have a meal. Taste and presentation are extremely important, but if I'm sitting on top of people, it doesn't matter.
Jean Joho is a master. Due to the location of his place (at the top of a building on downstreet street that is a bit difficult to get to) it tends to go off my radar. I need to go back.
Les Nomades is a nice place, but I wouldn't rank it in the top 5 in Chicago.
Nice to see Charlie Trotter's place in LV get some attention. I had a great meal there about two years ago. "Pelago" I've never heard of, which is interesting since I tend to be pretty tuned in to the Chicago restaurant scene. I may be losing touch.
Nice to see Alinea and NoMi get attention for wine service. Alinea in particular has an outstanding program. I love the fact that they serve me stuff I've never heard of.
Brian Duncan, nominated for best wine and spirits professional, is a guy that I've known for about 15 years (since his days at Spruce). He is everything a wine guy should be. Enthusiastic and completely down to earth. It would be great to see him win.
Alpana Singh use to run the wine program at Everest (Jean Joho's place). I think because she was young and female, people may have given her a bit of a hard time, and as a result, it seemed like she felt that she had to impress us with her knowledge. I really wanted to tell her "You are running Joho's wine program. If he selected you, that's good enough for me. Make your recommendations, and I will trust your judgment. Don't bother trying to impress me. That's already been done."
