I'm Levy Dalton and this is all drink to that where we get behind the scenes of the wine business. Oh, Michelle Smith of Brooklyn Fair Restaurant joins us today. Hello, how are you?

I'm fantastic. How are you? Great to see you.

Good to be here. Thank you.

So you have a pretty exciting role.

You're the Wine and Service Director for a three-star Michelin restaurant

that a lot of people consider to be one of the greats in America.

And let's talk a little bit about how you got there.

I when I started there it was in the second year that the restaurant was open

so I had already been opened in running a little bit differently, but I came on in say June of 2010.

And at the time it was growing, so it was previously a 12 seat restaurant and then it was it was going to grow into a

18 seat restaurant so that small expansion but but in that case they needed they being

the owners Cesar Ramirez, the chef and Mo, they needed somebody

to help with service because previous to that, Cesar was doing everything.

So he would cook, he put the food down, he had somebody to do the markings, but it was a really simple operation.

It was three people.

Sezar, one chef to party, one guy would help him cook and do the markings, and then

the dishwasher, and that's how they rolled for a year.

Because it is essentially just a kitchen space with a little bit of counter seating.

You're in the kitchen, there's no barrier, you're sitting at a table and the chefs are right in front of you.

And originally they hired you with the idea that you would build a wine list kind of right away and then

how did that all work out? Well, I, the idea was, yes, that I would start the wine program right away.

They had applied for a liquor license at the same time that they were planning this expansion.

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