A Peruvian-Cantonese Fermented Fracas
On Wednesday June 23rd, The Wine School will hold it’s super-popular monthly Sommelier Smackdown.
Last month, we saw Eilon Gigi from Zahav come away with a hard-fought tie against Collin Flatt, the brash n’ blonde youngster on the Wine School roster.
This month, we welcome Christian Garces, Sommelier and beverage manager of Chifa to take on the elder statesman of the Wine School Brood, Frank Ciapparone.
After a few brief stints with a catering company in Chicago, Christian Garces joined the restaurant business full time in October 2005, when he moved from Chicago to Philadelphia to work as an opening manager at Amada, his brother, Chef Jose Garces’, first restaurant.
During his time there, he gained a deep knowledge of Spanish food and wine, including pairing and tasting, and brought that knowledge to Chifa as beverage manager when it opened in February 2009. Since then, he has worked to develop the restaurant’s beverage program, including cocktails, wine and beer that pair with Chifa’s unusual Latin-Asian cuisine.
In a unique twist this month, we will be having the menu designed and executed by the chefs at Chifa, and giving the visiting sommelier a bit of an edge. But, we’re sure our man Frank has a few tricks up his sleeve for the young Sr. Garces. This is sure to be an epic event, but as usual, it is quite sold out. So if you’re already on the roster, get ready for one hell of an evening. If not, we suggest you get yourself on over to our ticketing page for next months event!
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Epikur is a magazine about food and drink, with a focus on our hometown of Philadelphia.
