P.O. Box 987, Sausalito, CA 94966-0987,Phone: 415.332.6937, E-mail: Iwfs@aol.com
There are few San Francisco Chef’s who can take great pleasure at being at the forefront in creating a new dining district. When there was little, to no dining scene in the South of Market, one Chef proved that if you have great consistent cuisine you can open a restaurant anywhere and avid dinners will follow.
At that time, Master Chef, Gerald Hirigoyen (a recipient of the Rae Norman Outstanding Chef of French Cuisine Award) decided to open an upscale French Bistro called Fringale, which changed the face of the South of Market dining scene forever.
In 2002 Gerald decided to endeavor on a solo effort at Pastis on Battery Street, later to become Piperade -- creating once again another outstanding trendy restaurant -- this time with his signature “West Coast Basque Cuisine”.
Simone and I were elated to hear that he had expanded the restaurant with his striking private “Lauburu Room” (Named after the ancient Basque Cross that symbolizes Spirit and Life). We immediately placed a reservation and were off again for another memorable night of Gerald’s cuisine. He indeed has a great flair for first-rate Basque dishes, and Simone has enjoyed duplicating a few of his creations from him and his wife Cameron’s beautiful cook book “The Basque Kitchen “Tempting Food from the Pyrenees”.
Searching for a location to duplicate the Veedercrest Winery event we just co-hosted with the London Wine & Food Society in London last November, I decided to engage the talents, once again, of our esteemed member, Ron Fenolio who owns Veedercrest, one of the most awarded wineries in California.
Along with the many wines Ron presented during the event, his tribute wine to the Robin Williams “Pym Rae” Vineyard was the show stopping wine of the day, where one London California wine expert gave the wine a 10 out of 10 perfect score!
I approached Ron to duplicate the wines, and he was equally elated at the opportunity. Ron’s family goes back decades in California, his great Uncle the owner of Charles Krug in the 20’s.
Ron, who formed the initial investors group, with then owner Al Baxter, later became the sole proprietor of this superb property. Veedercrest later gained notoriety when becoming one of the wines in the infamous “Judgment of Paris Tasting”, which was personally selected in the competition by British Wine Merchant and organizer of the event, Steve Spurrier.
We are in for a fabulous evening in celebration of Ron’s wines, especially as paired with Gerald’s sensational dishes.
Please book early since we do have limited seating. March 8, 2015 Best regards,
Jack Rubyn, Chairman