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5 0 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t The first thing that struck me about Brian Curry, owner/GM of Seattle's Ten Mercer, was his in-depth tasting notes on the J. Lohr Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon: "The finish has a really nice, dusty minerality. Plenty of black fruit up front; brambly blackberry with ripe plum and notes of spice on the nose. Vanilla notes coming in on the nose as well. You can tell the alcohol is in control, not overblown. They have that nice diurnal shift down in Paso; you get those 100-degree days and those 50-degree nights, which help to keep things under con- trol. You get that phenolic ripeness, too, which is great. On the palate, the black fruits give way to ripe raspberries and overripe strawber- ries, so there's that nice acidity that serves as the balancing aspect with that abundant black fruit. Then, notes of cocoa and a very long, soft finish. The tannins are soft and precipitating. It's a great food wine." I insisted on knowing Curry's background after hearing the thoughtful notes above. "I've been in the restaurant trade since I was a kid, but I really got into wine when we opened Ten Mercer in the year 2000. This is a very wine- centric restaurant. I am the buyer so we have weekly tastings, and we taste probably 3,000 to 4,000 wines a year. But I'm most in love with the viticultural aspect of wine, so much so that I obtained a viticulture degree with the Wash- ington State University Extension program." Brian Curry's passion for wine and viti- culture is enough to bring anyone back to a restaurant. But that's certainly not the only reason Ten Mercer is one of Seattle's shiniest staples. As for the cuisine, says Curry, "It's New American, and when we first opened, our in-house guideline was that [we had] eight- to nine-step dishes that you're never going to do While she was working as a producer and living in Santa Monica, says Carole, "there was restaurant on the corner on my street that I frequented because the food was so good." The man partially responsible for that food? Santos MacDonal. They met there and eventually married. However, this wasn't Chef Santos' only fortunate experience in an Angeleno restaurant. Santos got his start at Giorgio Baldi in Malibu, mentored by the restaurant's renowned namesake chef. Chef Santos, says Carole, "literally went from dish- washer up because Giorgio recognized how hard he worked. He's the same way to this day. He's Executive Chef at two restaurants, and he still works the line as hard as any of the cooks do." No longer in the film and TV biz, Carole runs those two restaurants (La Cosecha Bar + Restaurant is the couple's latest venture). "At Il Cortile, we always want to ensure a full dining experience. The food is extremely fresh. That's nothing earth-shattering but every single day Santos is making fresh pasta, and we sell out every night," she says. "His philosophy is that he just wants people to be happy, and we have an open exhibition kitchen for this reason. He wants to be sure they're enjoying the food and the experi- ence. Freshness aside, he doesn't complicate things. It's kind of the true nature of authen- tic Italian food. There's never 27 ingredients. He flavors the food in such a way that you taste the featured ingredient." One such menu item is the grilled octopus. Says Carole, "It's charred on the grill, per- fectly textured, served with fresh marinated vegetables and a spicy vinaigrette over can- Carole MacDonal indulging in a glass of J. Lohr 2013 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon at Il Cortile, her restaurant in Paso Robles, CA. "A Reasn G Ou ": J. LOHR AT TEN MERCER, SEATTLE J. Lohr 2014 Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon. photos by Joann Arruda

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