Cara Cara

For those who have yet to read Drink Pink and Wine Girl , or haven’t had the pleasure of dining & drinking at COTE or COQODAQ, please tell us a bit about yourself…

Hello People who love food and wine! I started out working at greasy-spoon diners in New Jersey when I was a teenager, moved to NYC for college and was bartending in Hell’s Kitchen when I realized – oh snap, I know nothing about wine. I took a wine course and was hooked. Next thing you know I’m dropping out of college to become the youngest sommelier in the country at 21 years old! That was thirteen years ago and I’ve worked my way up in Michelin-starred restaurants, eventually becoming the founding partner of Gracious Hospitality Management – our restaurant group with CEO Simon Kim — and now we own and operate Michelin-starred COTE Korean steakhouse in New York, Miami, Singapore, (and next year– Vegas, baby!), as well as COQODAQ our Korean fried chicken concept in NYC which I paired with the *LARGEST* Champagne list in America. Come on out!

Outside of restauraunting, I’ve written a couple books - one during the height of the rosé craze and where I chat about why it is actually the oldest wine out there / not to turn your nose up at (Drink Pink) – and the most recent, a bestseller called Wine Girl, on my coming-of-age in the Old Boys’ Club of the wine world. Which, spoiler alert, was an insane roller coaster of I-can’t-believe-this-actually-happened. I’m working on my third book now as well, so stay tuned!

As the co-founder of Wine Empowered, a non-profit supporting BIPOC and women in hospitality, how do you envision the future of diversity in the wine industry?

So myself and two other female sommeliers co-founded our 501c3 non-profit, Wine Empowered, in 2018 in order to diversify the upper ranks of leadership in hospitality. Essentially, we grew up in this elite world that wasn’t particularly welcoming to women, and often was downright unhealthy. Once we all held positions of power, we wanted to change that for the next generation. We’ve seen many of our alumni go from being servers or bussers to sommeliers, wine directors, and managers – doubling and tripling their salaries and running some of the best wine programs in NYC. The future is definitely bright and with more dynamic voices in the industry we are seeing much more interesting wine lists, restaurants, and concepts emerge as well as a new group of consumers that are being welcomed in by these very persons that were once told they didn’t belong in the world they so dreamed of being a part of.

Friends are coming over last minute for bubbles & a bite, what is your go-to quick prep meal?

On this shoot I had the great joy of making the best under-15 minute meal (seriously!) of spaghetti and garden meatballs. While the water is boiling for the spaghetti, make the meatballs (recipe below!) and then put the meatballs in the oven when you put the noodles in. By the time the noodles are drained, mix in your favorite red sauce with lots of olive oil and a little pasta water, some cheese, and voila! 

Garden Meatballs:

Not to fool you – these aren’t vegetarian just loaded with a generous amount of herbs from my garden. Grab whatever bushel you can pull together, I like basil, parsley, marjoram, oregano, thyme, etc.

• ½ cup bread crumbs

• 1 large egg

• Lots of salt and pepper, chili flakes

• Minced garlic and yellow onion

• 1 pound of meat – I like a combo of beef and pork

Mix all of the above in a bowl. Shape into balls and place on a sheet pan. Place under the broiler in the oven for no more than 5mins if you want mid-rare, and up to 8 if you want more well done.

Serve in a big pot and let the table get messy and saucy for a good time.

While you’re making the spaghetti and meatballs make sure you pour your guests a good amount of Champagne – I like a blanc de blancs like from Angéline Lassalle or Diebolt-Vallois, and some anchovies or olives to snack on.

With the pasta and meatballs pop open a good bottle of Tuscan red (sorry to my family from Piemonte! You need Sangiovese with tomato-sauce) – like a Rosso or Brunello di Montalcino or Chianti. My favorite producers right now are Villa di Geggiano and Poggio al Sole for Chianti, Sesti and Stella di Campalto from Montalcino.

So much of your personal outlook is built on making a seemingly exclusive industry more accessible for all. With that being said - is there one bottle you recommend, that can be found at most groceries or wine shops, for under $50?

Yes! One of my favorites right now for the change of seasons is this racey yet meaty nebbiolo from Alto-Piemonte, Sperino’s Uvaggio . We have it at all of our restaurants in NYC, and you can find it at most great wine shops for around $30-35 a bottle. Truly a steal and it tastes like a $75, fantastic with any Northern Italian cuisine or chilled a bit and served with first courses – meats, pastas, cheeses, etc!