A couple of weeks back Julian restaurant in Brookside hosted a very special wine dinner…
It paired Market Vineyard wines with thoughtfully selected courses. The collaboration was remarkable as both brands have locally grown roots, but share national recognition.
Julian is owned and operated by James Beard Award-winning chef Celina Tio. Although Celina spent many years fine tuning her craft, Julian is the first kitchen Tio can call her own. The dining room is both minimal and casual, which allows you to truly appreciate the open window to the kitchen that is in constant motion.
That motion and energy caught the eye of Daniel Schulte and Steve Anderson, both Kansas City residents and partners in Market Vineyards. Celina’s talents and status in the community fit perfectly with vision of all the Market partners, which also includes Matt Riesenweber & Bob Bertsc (both in Washington.)
Market Vineyards was started by the four friends with a goal to develop handcrafted wines from Washington State vineyards. In December 2010, Market Vineyards was awarded a 93 from Wine Spectator for their Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Arbitrage 2007. Now, Julian will be the first restaurant in Kansas City to feature the Columbia Valley and Red Mountain bottled creations.
For this particular wine dinner Julian presented a specially crafted menu that highlighted each variety of wine to the fullest potential. This included the Market Vineyards Derivative Red Wine, 2008 paired with a delicately layered sweet potato and goat cheese terrine. The highlight for me was the combination of the Market Vineyards 2008 Marval Malbec with the earthy and garlic-laden skirt steak chimichurri with yucca fries. It warmed my heart on a particularly bitterly cold evening. Guests were treated to other selections of Market’s red varieties, such as the 2007 Basis Points Meritage and the 2007 Benchmark Merlot.
On any given night in Brookside, you can find Chef Tio lovingly producing plate after plate of creative comfort food. This spring Julian will double their capacity when the outdoor patio comes back to life.
What is next for Market Vineyards? “At the request of many of our wine club members we are excited to be unveiling our first white wine this spring. The varietal will remain a secret until we first reveal it to our wine club members in advance of their next shipment,” says partner Daniel Schulte.
This is an excellent collaboration to be sure. It is a treat to enjoy both wine and food built from the imaginations of local entrepreneurs, reaffirming my belief that bright ideas and success are manifested right here in our own back yard.
A toast to that.
Look for expanded availability of Market Vineyard wines to restaurants throughout Kansas City on both sides of the state line. Visit http://www.MarketVineyards.com/ to join the Market wine club and find additional details.
Visit Julian at 6227 Brookside Plaza Kansas City, MO 64113 816.214.8454
point of light
The KC food scene is absolutely littered with owners and chefs who portray this humanitarian “good guy” routine. The fact is that a huge number of them treat their employees and vendors like crap. Tio has always been different. It is ironic as well, because she is the best and most well known chef in KC. Her work on The Next Iron Chef on Food Network validated her as a star…. And she is not an egomaniacal coke sniffer on a constant quest for self validation and gratification. Go to Julian.