CleverRoot

PHOTO BY HARDY WILSON Rotunda's rich and crunchy lobster fries with Cherry Pie Pinot Noir in San Francisco, CA. Chef Ruby Oliveros presents her short rib pappardelle pasta at San Francisco's Rotunda restaurant. A Strong Union in Union Square Kristoffer Miller, General Manager, Restaurants, Neiman Marcus, and Ruby Oliveros, Executive Chef of Rotunda, San Francisco The synergy with these two is palpable even on the phone. They finish each other's sentences, and when I asked Chef Ruby Oliveros what brought her to the historically chic dining room lo- cated inside San Francisco's Neiman Marcus store, it was revealed that General Manager Kristof- fer Miller made the recommendation. Says Miller, "I ran all the catering at the Mandarin Oriental before I came here, and I immediately thought of her when we were in need of a chef. We work really well together." Today Oliveros and Miller run the largest restaurant and largest wine list under the Neiman Marcus umbrella, seeing 300 to 500 covers during an average lunch. There, Oliveros' seasonal ap- proach to California-centric cuisine involves working with local farmers. Miller's wine list also aims locally. Says Miller, "I work really hard with a lot of our wine vendors to feature wines like Cherry Pie, as it's a wine that is unique to this area. We're in San Francisco, so the majority of the people coming through are tourists here to see Napa and Sonoma, and we want to feature wines that are representative of a lot of our local wineries here in the Bay Area." "Pinot is a big seller," continues Miller. "It's the most popular red varietal on our menu. We serve the Cherry Pie Single Vineyard Stanly Ranch by the glass, and it's fabulous. Stylistically, it's jammy and smooth on the finish. It's got a very aromatic nose, and it pairs well with a lot of our dishes, especially our meat dishes and a lot of our appetizers. I prefer the short rib with the pappardelle pasta; I think that's a beautiful paring with the Stanly Ranch. The balance and the acidity of the wine with the rich fattiness works fabulously. I also think it works really well with our lobster fries." Oliveros adds, "The Cherry Pie goes beautifully with that aioli with the lobster fry—the crunchy richness of all of that blended with the smooth Stanly Ranch. It's a very well- balanced wine." s u m m e r 2 0 1 7 | 4 9 PHOTO BY HARDY WILSON PHOTO BY HARDY WILSON

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