Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/869846
september 2017 / the tasting panel / 99 Paris, Fialip worked in the Caribbean, the Maldives and St. Petersburg over the course of about a decade. This experience has enabled him to recognize a good Champagne when he tastes one. The Belmond El Encanto's extensive by-the-glass program boasts four Taittinger wines. Fialip explains: "The Taittinger house, with its impressive history, fits perfectly into our overall wine program. We offer four labels by the glass including Brut La Française, Prestige Rosé, Les Folies de la Marquetterie and Brut Millésimé 2009. The overall collection is enhanced by the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs and Comtes de Champagne Rosé listed in our Champagne collection. The estate is still run by the Taittinger family; the father, son and daughter are real people who guarantee the quality and soul of the product that bears their family name . . . Taittinger is known as Champagne's 'Chardonnay house,' renowned for using a high percentage of Chardonnay in its blends, giving Taittinger its unique personality. I like the depth of the collection, allowing our guests to experience a variety of different labels. I have been collaborating with Taittinger with past properties in different part of the world and always received positive feedback from our guests." Fialip has paired the Taittinger 2009 Brut Millésimé with their black cod. "The Brut Millésime 2009 is a very fine Champagne with a mature, powerful, complex character," he says. "It also presents elegance and finesse. This is great Champagne for an apéritif, yet also goes particularly well with white meat dishes and sauce. It offers a great pairing to our roasted California black cod with passion fruit, yam and lacinato kale." Belmond El Encanto's remark- able by-the-glass program offers four Champagne Taittinger selec- tions by the glass: 2009 Brut Millésimé, Les Folies de la Marquetterie, Brut La Française and Prestige Rosé. Brut Millésimé 2009 with the Belmond El Encanto's roasted California black cod with passion fruit, yam and lacinato kale. Sami Kohen, Director of Operations, River Yacht Club, Miami, FL. photos by Libby Volgyes In Miami, there's dining on the waterfront, and there's din- ing on the waterfront at the River Yacht Club—more specifi- cally, Dashi, the River Yacht Club's upscale "Progressive Japanese" restaurant. Our photographer spoke with its highly-acclaimed chef, Shuji Hiyakawa (former Executive Sushi Chef at Morimoto in Philadelphia; there, he created a sushi menu that won Philadelphia's best sushi in 2010), about wasabi as a large yacht filled with dancing bikini- clad ladies cruised by. I asked Sami Kohen, Director of Operations, about the dining experience at Dashi (occasional yachting drive-by aside). "Dashi is never complicated or contrived," he says. "A purity of being is inherent in all elements of the Dashi experience. Respect is observed with each act of slicing, shaving and sprinkling. The food is prepared quickly and plated for guests as soon as possible to preserve the idea that each dish is still in a living state." In the mid-'90s, Kohen was responsible for 24 som- meliers and a 65,000-bottle cellar on a luxury transatlantic liner before eventually becoming VP of Hotel Operations at Renaissance Cruises from 1997 to 2001. Since then,