I was reading a piece in the New York Times a few weeks back about how weve all come to glorify being busy. Its become the knee-jerk response to, How are you? by many and when it comes right down to it whether intentional or not its often a boastful reply. Ive been consciously trying to ease up on using the word since, really, were all busy and on top of that, who cares?
Someone I look to for inspiration on this is Lindsay Ferguson, the sommelier at Gastowns Wildebeest, undoubtedly the hottest new restaurant in town. When James Iranzad and Josh Pape partnered up with Chef David Gunawan to unleash some mighty adventurous, often carnivorous fare over at 120 West Hastings, they had Lindsay first on their list to head up a wine program that could match the menus combination of eccentricity and refinement.
A certified sommelier, Lindsay has been in wine sales and had been on my management team at Salt Tasting Room a few years back, which is how wed become closer colleagues and friends. She has an incredible palate and, well, really knows her shit.
Through a slew of chance events around that time, her boyfriend Michael and a pal had created the concept of Re-Up BBQ, some creative thought that culminated as one of the very first new food carts on our streets. Their pulled pork and beef brisket quickly became the stuff of legend. Shes helped Re-Up BBQ build as a business and a brand, adding a retail component (bacon!), and soon opening their first bricks-and-mortar location at New Westminsters River Market. As the business grew, she stepped away from working at Salt and took on a position at Abbott Streets charming Jules Bistro, overseeing their wine program, matching it toward the French classics on the menu.
It was while all of this was building that the Wildebeest crew approached her. She accepted the sommelier position and thats when things really got going! Next to the under-construction Re-Up BBQ at the River Market was a fish n chips shop, that she, Michael and their partners ended up taking over, re-christening it Fathom and began serving casual sea fare including particularly kick-ass Oyster Po Boys. As the food cart hummed along, they built two restaurants in New West, she ran the wine program at Jules and was creating one for Wildebeest.
And did I mention she and Michael found out they were expecting their first child? A wedding followed, as did the purchase and renovation of a heritage house in New Westminster because, really, whats a little house-renovating when youve obviously got all of this energy to burn?
While she is technically on maternity leave with their adorable daughter Ariana during these first few weeks of Wildebeests explosion onto the scene, she is still putting in hours training staff and cultivating a list of classic wine styles that lean to the Old World, many of the bottles being rarities from superior recent vintages thought long-gone from liquor store shelves.
On sleepless nights with the baby she spent her time researching online, finding those handful of 05 Burgundies and 04 California Cabs gathering dust on the liquor store shelves of everywhere from Revelstoke to Dawson Creek. Shes still doing her thing for Jules Bistro as well, plus the business side of Re-Up and Fathom, and looking to start work on the floor at Wildebeest later in the fall.
Yup, shes busy, but shes full of energy and excitement about everything going on in her life. In fact, when I met with her to chat about this column, the first thing I said was, How are you?
Her response?
Awesome.
