Yvon Goetz
Perfect Pairings
This month’s featured dish demonstrates how easily some of the most common of winter produce items found on grocery shelves at this time of the year can be turned into a dazzling meal, rich in flavor and eye appeal. Chef Yvon Goetz transforms the simplest of garden vegetables, potatoes, parsnips and pearl onions, into an elegant and tasty accompaniment for his Colorado Rack of Lamb with Red Bell Pepper Essence, Dutch Yellow Potato and Rosemary Gnocchi and Zinfandel Braised Parsnips and Pearl Onions. The dish shows off the chef’s focus on the natural flavors of whatever each season delivers to his kitchen at The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar in Tustin, California. Chef Yvon works closely with his Melissa’s representative in order to ensure that his menu reflects the freshest produce available during each season.
The chef combines some of the vegetables from the root cellars of old, with just the right balance of herbs and spices, creating a melange of earthy flavors and the perfect pairing for his wonderfully marinated lamb. Of course, true to the name of the restaurant, the recipe is specific about the wine to be used in the recipe as well as the vintages to be served with it. The chef is the first to insist that the wine is as important as the food at this restaurant.
"We believe that a meal without wine is not a complete dining experience", explained the chef. "The entire menu is paired with suggestions of wine options to complement each dish. Our sommelier, and managing partner, William Lewis, spends as much time on these wine pairings as I do on the recipes. In fact, in order to choose the right wine for a dish, William must be as intimate with the ingredients that went into it as I am. We have an equal focus on cuisine and wine offerings." This precept is supported by a 6,500 bottle wine cellar that may be viewed by patrons from three observation points in the restaurant.
As executive chef and partner, The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar is Chef Yvon’s first ownership venture after enjoying a successful career cooking in some of the finest hotel kitchens in Europe and America. However, for Chef Yvon, corporate cooking left little room for his own creativity. The good mix of management expertise that each of his three partners brings to the team allows the chef to act out his own sense of how a kitchen should work without the distraction of someone else’s authority. The most obvious testimonial to the inspiring effect this newfound freedom is having on Chef Goetz is that, while the restaurant has been open for only a few short months, The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar has been completely booked since the first dish was served.
While the food and wine are of a quality usually associated with the more formal "special occasion" eateries, The Winery’s atmosphere is comfortable and very unpretentious. In fact, with a variety of dining settings under one roof, the restaurant offers a backdrop to suit just about any dining situation. The Havana Patio, where fine cigars from around the world are the fare, might host a power meeting between influential business moguls. The larger Vineyard Patio offers year-round open air dining on limestone floors with wicker furnishings, while the Napa and Sonoma Rooms offer privacy for larger group events. The Wine Bar, with its unique pared-down menu of the restaurant's specialties is the perfect meeting place for friends.
The day-to-day business of this multifaceted restaurant is handled by a very busy managing partner, J.C. Chow who, like any new parent of a fifteen-week-old, hopes to sleep again someday when the new eatery develops its own routine. The concept for the restaurant was born out of a vision shared by William and J.C. who, like Chef Yvon, had worked for years together in the corporate restaurant industry. Having built up a following of influential local clientele over the years, they got together a willing group of investors to make their vision a reality and then recruited a seasoned culinary team to operate it. In fact, this sense of being a part of something new by the entire staff lends an upbeat atmosphere to every room, making it just a comfortable place to be no matter the setting.
The fourth member of the group helps with that comfort, bartender extraordinaire, Patrick "Irish" Quinn. Patrick contributes the necessary balance of humor and a bit of charming blarney that keeps the challenges of each day in perspective. He is a genuine Irish bartender, hence a perfect fit to round out a management team focused on the experience of fine dining without being ostentatious.
Fine-tuning a new restaurant, especially one with as many varied settings as The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar, takes time, patience and hard work. We leave the choice of vintage up to an expert like William, but all of us at Melissa’s would like to raise a glass of our very best wishes to everyone at The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar. Like a good vintage, may your success improve with age!
