Goin’ To California!

Not only is this the title of one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs, but it is what the chef team and I are doing! It is time for our Annual Red Lobster meeting where our restaurants leaders discuss this year’s menu ideas, share our accomplishments from the past year, and spend time learning about food and wine.

This year is very exciting, as we have an opportunity to meet in Sonoma County CA, with its unbelievable backdrop of great wineries, farmers markets and one of the country’s best destinations for fresh, seasonal products. This year, our chef team has been asked to host a dinner for our leaders. It is a very exciting opportunity. We will fly out to Sonoma, visit with the host winery, tour their gardens, and decide on some of the fresh menu items for that week’s dinner. It will be a unique chance for our team to take fresh products right from the field to the fork. Each chef will host/cook at a station and pair a Red Lobster favorite (Shrimp, Salmon, Maine Lobster) with whatever great items they find out in California. Chef Darryl Mickler and I will work with the winery to pair some of their best varietals with some of our best food. (One advantage of being the boss is that you get to pick your assignment. Therefore, I get to sample and pick the wine!)


While in Sonoma, we will also film some Chef’s Blog videos featuring cooking tips and great ideas for pairing wine with seafood. So, in this space I’ll soon recap our dinner and let you know what great dishes the chefs created. So stay tuned. And as the summer winds down, please stop by Red Lobster and see what’s fresh today. Michael LaDuke