When you operate the premier seafood restaurant in Queens, how do your assure that the staff meets the highest expectations when it comes to recommending the right wine?
If you’re Brad Haskel, the wine director at the 50-year, family-owned London Lennies in Rego Park, the answer is simple. You bring in vintners and experts to teach the staff, twice a month.
Having evolved from a quintessential fish ‘n’ chips shop to a dining destination that has garnered the Wine Enthusiast “Award of Distinction” in 2007 and 2008 and Wine Spectator’s “Award of Excellence” in 2008 and 2009, Haskel saw the need for the training.
He took the idea to current owner Leslie Barnes and mom Joan. Having passed seafood expertise and impeccable standards from generation to generation – and not being content to sit on their laurels – the family was hooked.
“Our staff is called on to be wine experts every day,” Haskel said. “With a wine list as large and diverse as ours, you need to know your stuff,” he added. “A great glass of wine can make or break a customer’s dining experience.”
Since then such notables as Rhone Valley winemaker Marc Perrin, respected New York City wine educator Harriet Lembeck and co-owner of The Little Wine Company Danny D’Ancona have pressed on to Queens to conduct the bi-weekly tastings.
Mid-September saw respected California winemaker Peter Franus imparting wine wisdom and asking the rhetorical question, “What came first, the cooking or the wine?”
Franus explained that his early love of cooking sparked his talent for winemaking. “The two go hand in hand,” he said. “If you are a good cook, you’d probably make a good winemaker, too.”
He and his wife Deanna share insights into five wines from their portfolio including Sauvignon Blanc Carneros 2008, Zinfandel Brandlin Vineyards 2006, and Cabernet Franc Napa Valley 2005, all reasonably priced.
London Lennies’ more than 130 wine selections are from all over the world – of the 110 offered by the bottle, 84 are $50 or less and of those, 32 are between $20 and $30. They also offer 18 wines by the glass –16 are under $10.
Franus shares London Lennies philosophy that great wines need not to be expensive, saying that great wines should baseline at about $50.
Deanna had her own lesson to impart.
After tasting Franus’ Zinfandel Brandlin on the advice of a restaurant staffer, she couldn’t resist paying a visit to the winemaker. “Do you see the responsibility you have when you recommend a wine?” she asked the staff.
Early October brought a virtual wine tour of central and southern Italy, by Giuseppe LoCascio, district sales manager and nephew of highly respected importer and Winebow, Inc. founder, Leonardo LoCascio.
He presented whites such as Leone de Castris Verdeca from Puglia, reds including Tasca d’Almerita “Lamuri” from Sicily and even a dessert wine, Librandi Le Passule Passito from Calabria.
“As a member of the LoCascio family and a Sicilian myself, I am very pleased and honored to represent these family wineries from Southern Italy,” LoCascio said.
London Lennies is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. and for dinner, Saturdays from 4 to 11 p.m., Sundays from 2 to 9 p.m., and the staff is ready and waiting to help.
For more information or to make a reservation, call 718-894-8084 or visit www.londonlennies.com.
