For the last two years I’ve been consulting for restaurants, but  with the exception of helping out at The Herbfarm from time to time, not really working in them.  Anyway, this week I joined the wine team at Wild Ginger and The Triple Door as a sommelier.  I started yesterday, and by the evening, I realized how much I miss being in a restaurant every day.  There’s something about the excitement of each night’s service, and of finding people wine that they really like, face to face, that is pretty hard to beat, and definitely my natural environment.

However, it wasn’t just any restaurant that could drag me from the ranks of the self-employed.  Wild Ginger is a special place, a restaurant that has continuously bettered itself, despite the fact that it has consistently been the most popular restaurant in Seattle.  Most importantly for me, Wild Ginger recognizes, more than almost any restaurant I’ve worked with, how important wine is to their guests’ experience, and has made an enormous commitment to that end (witness their recent Wine Spectator Grand Award of Excellence).   It’s going to be incredibly fun to have a role in their incredible wine program, and I am looking forward to working with the great team that is already in place to continue Wild Ginger’s legacy of being ahead of it’s time with wine.

This means a couple of things for my business.  I will be quickly ramping down my restaurant consulting: really just finishing up some existing projects.  I will continue to operate The Extraordinary Wine Club, and I will also continue to consult for my private clients as my time permits.

I also expect that it will give me a little bit more to write about (yes, I’ve been quite for the past few months).  So keep your eyes, ears and noses peeled.  I can’t wait to share.

Jake