Perfect Pairings

DMV sommeliers are pairing Malvasía Volcánica with kataifi and Cidrerie du Vulcain with daikon fritters. Check out some of our favorite pairings while on the ground in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

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Rose Ave Bakery

Baker Rose Nguyen’s food memories perk up with a Saigon cinnamon brown butter banana cookie and a cup of Vietnamese coffee. “A combo that really takes you somewhere,” she says. Potent, spicy Saigon cinnamon, a nod to her hometown, is baked in with ripe banana, brown sugar, and salt. The soft, cakey cookie acts as the counterpart to Càphê Roaster’s Espresso Blend that Nguyen uses as the base for her Vietnamese coffee at Rose Ave Bakery. “Both the cookie and coffee have a balanced, savory, and nutty flavor profile so they complement each other really well. There are moments when foods make me slap the table and that moment is when I pair the banana cookie and coffee together. It makes me stop and just savor the moment, a moment of pure joy.”

Queen’s English

The cool energy at Queen’s English is contagious and it carries right through to Chef Henji Cheung’s sizzling Hong Kong-inspired dishes and Sarah Thompson’s ambitious natural wine list. Their daikon fritter, for example, is filled with intensely deep, savory shiitake, baby shrimp, and scallion and topped with oyster sauce, pork sung, and Kewpie mayo. And with such a melt-in-your-mouth, luscious bite, the daikon fritters are screaming for a sharp sip. Thompson opts for a glass of Cidrerie du Vulcain’s naturally fermented cider made from foraged Swiss apples, which she describes as “slightly sweet and floral with a rustic finish, pairing perfectly with the umami-packed daikon.” It’s a combo to savor and sip over and over again. 

Albi

When the knafeh hits the table at Albi, the room fills with a sense of drama: The crispy kataifi, shimmering with a floral brown butter orange blossom syrup and the bright Gala apple sorbet, slowly melting onto the walnut crumble (full recipe here). It only makes sense for Pastry Chef Emma Scanlon’s dessert to be paired with a wine that is arguably the most dramatic of them all—a late-harvest Bermejos malvasía coming from the black volcanic soils of Lanzarote. “Late-harvest malvasías always have a little salty-savory note which works well with the cheese in the knafeh,” says Wine Director and General Manager William Simons. Alone, the off-dry malvasía is bursting with notes of raisin and roasty, toasty brown butter. Accompanied by the knafeh, the deep caramel flavor rounds out the tart sorbet and subtle funk of the ricotta filling. Imagine taking a big, sticky bite of a caramel apple at the base of a volcano—that is the knafeh and malvasía volcánica.

RPM Italian

Wine Director Nick Schulman knows his Italian wines. “For me, the fun aspect of this job is hunting hard-to-find gems from remote corners of Italy,” he says. “I love it there. I’d move there if I could.” Although Schulman has a special place in his heart for Barolo (the RPM Italian cellar has over 200 Barolos alone), for a wagyu steak, he just had to dust off a 1998 Fontodi “Vigna del Sorbo” Chianti Classico Riserva. “Fontodi is the premier Chianti Classico producer in Tuscany,” says Schulman. “The ‘98 is characterized by a longer growing season resulting in a well-balanced wine with good acidity and regal tannins.” Decanted tableside, the red wine’s gentle notes of tobacco and charcuterie are a classic complement to the tender Montana wagyu, topped with shaved Italian black truffles and gold flakes, for an extra touch of decadence.

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