Menu Pretension
Broadening the Wine Menu for Show
So this wine menu is excellent, but this is the place that turned me completely off to the existing approach to sommelier service, which after I finish with my wine informatic project I can hit home why that is. Frankly, most people who come here are overwhelmed by the menu and the servers typically are working so fast that they have a handful of favorite go to's, as it's just not feasible to know every wine on the list, and during the tastings there is a lot of wine palette relativism, which will indeed be the case for all drinkers, but that isn't helping consumers understand the value of their purchase, so oftentimes, the "wine experience" remains good insofar as the novelty of drinking a new wine, to which I grew frustrated over this format, as I cannot see "what's the point?" After working with Antoine's Sommeliers, I expected more not only for myself but for the guests. But at the end of the day, Chicago can be a flock-eat-dog kind of city, so establishments need to aggressively pursue money to compete. In terms of making money, in terms of attracting the food network, the concept works. However, the people who run the operation, carry on as if they are dissatisfied, as if they are going through the motions as they wall themselves up with a product offering that is too broad to be properly followed or understood. That's not passion. That's not authentic desire. It's show. It's a culture that embodies greatness, but has no soul. It's food celebrity.
