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Caitlin Cutler, co-owner of Ronan, is very fond of Malvasia. (Photo by Liam Brown)

Ronan’s Caitlin Cutler on Malvasia, Skin-Contact Sauvignon Blanc, and Country Music

June 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

From the moment I perused the wine list I knew I wanted to feature its creator in Wine Talk. It (and they) had me at the Claus Preisinger Zweigelt and the Martha Stouman Nero d’Avola, not to mention the Alfredo Maestro “Amanda.” This small, concise list was put together by someone who cares about what her guests drink with their food.

This was in May, and it was my first visit to Ronan, a restaurant in Los Angeles that is now high on my “Brockhaus Approved” list. The meal was something to write home about — read the review here — and I’ve been back once more since then, and plan to be a frequent guest.

Asking around, I was told that Caitlin Cutler was the woman behind Ronan’s wine program. She also co-owns the restaurant with Daniel Cutler, her husband and Ronan’s chef. They have a good thing going on Melrose Avenue.

Caitlin runs the front of the house, and her presence is one of calm and confidence. She’s a welcoming person. Her past work experience includes stints in the corporate finance and real estate development worlds, and then she entered the restaurant industry, serving as general manager at two Los Angeles Italian restaurants: Sotto (now closed, it’s where the couple met and fell in love) and Alimento, Zach Pollack’s Italian restaurant in Silver Lake.

The pair opened Ronan in September 2018. During the first year of Ronan’s existence Caitlin was pregnant — they now have two children — and the couple faced the challenges familiar to all mom-and-pop restaurant owners. Reviews were favorable; Bill Addison, of the Los Angeles Times, loved the French Dip-inspired calzone, and Eric Wareheim’s endorsement of the pies brought scores of people in asking for the “Instagram pizza.”

The inevitable dip in traffic came, as the “see and be seen” crowd came and went, but the restaurant’s team labored on and word about the food at Ronan spread. Then came COVID-19. (Jenn Harris has written a wonderful piece on Caitlin and Daniel’s life the day after Los Angeles ordered all restaurants to cease service; you can read it here — LA Times subscription required.)

It’s been, needless to say, a rough, harrowing time, the days and nights since March 31, 2020, for restaurants and the rest of the world. The National Restaurant Association, in a study published in September 2020, reported that nearly one in six restaurants (representing nearly 100,000 establishments in the United States) “is either closed permanently or long-term,” resulting in the unemployment of nearly 3 million individuals. It added that the industry “is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year.”

Some meatballs: Ronan’s pork polpettini are things of beauty. (Photo by The Brockhaus)

Ronan survived, about which I am glad, and if you’ve never been to the restaurant, I urge you to book a table. Order the focaccia and the burrata. If you go on Wednesday, all wines made by women are offered at 30 percent off. Try the meatballs, and if the calzone is on the menu, go for it.

Meanwhile, here’s Caitlin Cutler in Wine Talk.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Caitlin Cutler: I am able to spend a lot more time at home with my kids. My husband and I co-own Ronan, and prior to COVID, we both worked five to six nights a week. When safer-at-home orders came out, we had to alternate who would come into work, because one of us had to stay home with the kids (no childcare!). It really gave me the personal and professional balance that I was craving, but couldn’t quite allow myself to have, and now I work at the restaurant three nights a week. 

Caitlin Cutler and her husband, Daniel Cutler, are the couple behind Ronan, a great restaurant in Los Angeles. (Photo by Liam Brown)

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one? 

CC: “Bon Jus” Sauvignon Blanc is our skin contact BTG right now, and it just slaps for summertime. I had never had a skin-contact Sauvignon Blanc before this wine, and I’m not particularly partial to the grape in general, but leave it on the skins for 15 days and we’re in business. The wine is unfiltered, no additives, and you can almost taste the coastal Santa Barbara laidback vibes in the glass. Pairing: Sea bass Zarandeado at Ronan.

The “chilled red” is really having a moment, and I am fully behind it. We have three chilled options on the list at Ronan right now, but the one that has my heart is “Soul Love” from Tessier Winery out of Healdsburg. It’s a blend of Riesling (50 percent), Trousseau (20 percent) and Mourvedre (30 percent), and it just sparkles behind its psychedelic label. Don’t let the playful nature of the label fool you, this is a fantastic, nuanced bottle. Tessier is run by a husband-and-wife team, and is 30 percent off on “Women in Wine Wednesdays” at Ronan. Pair with the classic Margherita pizza, do or don’t add anchovies (do).

From Austria, courtesy Claus Preisinger. (Image courtesy Midfield Wine Bar)

I just have to close out this list with the “Puszta Libre!,” a biodynamic Zweigelt from Austrian wine producer Claus Preisinger. This wine never sells unless I suggest it to a table, and it is such a missed opportunity for so many guests who want a bold red, but don’t know how to get out of their comfort zone. I promise you all there are sophisticated reds outside of France, Spain and Italy! Pairing: The pork meatballs at Ronan with a side of some thick focaccia piping hot and dripping in good Sicilian olive oil over the toasted rosemary garnish. 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

CC: I like collecting wines from significant years. My husband and I were both born in 1985, and for our wedding we got two magnums of Emidio Pepe 1985 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. I would probably get two more from my daughters birth years (2015 and 2019) now, while I can still afford them.  

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

CC: Hands down, Malvasia. This was the first grape that taught me how much depth there was to discovering wine. I have had bottles that are light and floral, I have had bottles that are earthy and, dare I say, masculine. I have had it still and I have had it sparkling. I have loved it every which way and I can’t wait to try many more iterations. 

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

CC: I wish I had a good suggestion for this, but I tend to focus on lower cost, newer production on my list. I would say find something sentimental to you and cellar that. Maybe a bottle you had on your first date, or a producer you love from a significant year. Nostalgia can add a lot to your experience years down the road. 

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

CC: I adore Esters Wine Bar in Santa Monica. The service, the vibe — it’s all so welcoming and yet special at the same time, and you can find really fabulous wines by the glass that you don’t see everywhere else around town.  

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

CC: It’s not about what the restaurant wants you to drink or what will impress the table next to you.  It’s about you. This is your experience, and we are just here to facilitate it. Talk to your server or the person who does the wine list, ask questions and they will lead you to the hidden gems that fit your needs, but make sure you listen to your gut and drink what you want to drink that night. Sometimes it’s what they suggest, but sometimes it’s a dirty martini or your go-to bottle of Chianti, and that’s A-OK too. 

This bottle makes a wonderful gift.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

CC: In 2014, it was my boss’s birthday and I went to Silver Lake Wine to buy him a bottle of wine. He was a chef with many years of wine knowledge under his belt, and I was a novice restaurant worker just beginning to scratch the service of my wine studies. I went into Silver Lake Wine and bought him a bottle of Rojac “Royaz” sparkling Refošk. He opened it for us to share and it knocked his socks off. He put it on the opening list of his trendy new restaurant in Silver Lake and I had never been prouder. 

Ronan’s dining room features communal tables, booths, and bar seating. (Photo Courtesy Ronan)

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?

CC: I had a friend of a friend (who I didn’t know and had never even met briefly) email me multiple times and repeatedly ask me to waive corkage for his upcoming reservation for a party of six. Ronan was three months old at the time, and we were still paying off our contractors from the years of construction leading up to our recent opening, never mind tackling paying back our investors. I was so insulted that a stranger thought it was appropriate to bring their own wine in and not expect to pay a fee (mind you, our corkage is VERY reasonable). I am so happy that the pandemic brought to light how hard the financials are from a restaurant perspective, and moments like that seem to be a distant memory. 

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

CC: Country music is my guilty pleasure, and any time a female musician talks about drinking red wine and plotting revenge on an ex, I can’t help but smile. 

Want more wine? Read on:

Dan Petroski on Soil and J. Alfred Prufrock
A Canadian Makes Good in Mendocino
Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

A Corkycue weekend in Texas Hill Country

August 5, 2013 / / 1 Comment

Texas Hill Country. Beef and pork, brisket and ribs. Undulating landscape, green and brown, and blue skies full of cotton-white clouds. A van full of people hailing mostly from Texas, with some Canadians, a Colombian, and me thrown in. Political leanings vary, though Democrats (Liberals) outnumber those of less lofty persuasion, and when the conversation turns to the Trayvon Martin/Zimmerman trial and women’s reproductive rights the van suddenly becomes a rolling (and roiling) marketplace of ideas.

But we are here for barbecue, not debate. (Unless it’s debate about the meat.) Texas barbecue. It’s Colby’s birthday weekend, and a dozen or so of his friends have gathered in Austin for a Man Up Barbecue tour, which will also take in a few wineries.

A room fit for barbecue aficionados. ( (Photo courtesy of Hotel San Jose)

A room fit for barbecue aficionados. (Photo courtesy of Hotel San José)

Muted colors and tranquil paths welcome guests to the hotel. (Photo courtesy of Hotel San Jose)

Muted colors and tranquil paths welcome guests to the hotel. (Photo courtesy of Hotel San José)

A walkway at Hotel San Jose is bathed in sunlight. (Photo courtesy of Hotel San Jose)

A walkway at Hotel San José is bathed in sunlight. (Photo courtesy of Hotel San José)

We gather on Friday afternoon at the Hotel San José, a great little place to stay on Congress Avenue, complete with a small concrete swimming pool, excellent music (Gram Parsons, Buck Owens, Emmylou Harris, Jimi Hendrix) and comfortable rooms. Some might find it a bit pretentious, and the average guest does try diligently to exhibit the proper sense of cool, but the beer and cocktail list is more than ample and the customer service friendly and professional.

Colby had arranged a dinner that evening at Parkside Restaurant, so we get two cabs to take us to the location, a few miles away. Sweetbreads, heirloom tomato salad with compressed watermelon, seared sea scallops, great cocktails. I differed with the sweetbreads: They were too chewy, and I will venture to say that the cook had not prepared too many sweetbreads before he plated mine, but it was not a wasted evening, because the rest of the food, including oysters, was more than passable.

All was well on this first night of the weekend Birthday Bash, but that was soon to change. We left the restaurant and hailed cabs, and as I slid into the back seat I heard a yell and turned to see Angela fall with a thud: She had stepped off of the curb and had not counted on a gutter with a long and steep downward grade. Sprained ankle was the diagnosis. We sped back to the hotel and bandaged and iced her ankle, which was swelling rapidly. (Thanks to the ministrations of Dr. Catalina Sanchez Hanson, Angela was well on the way to recovery later that evening.)

Angela sits at the tasting bar after an unfortunate fall in Austin.

Angela sits at the tasting bar after an unfortunate fall in Austin.

The next morning we assembled outside the hotel, coffee (and in some cases, beer) in hand, ready for the van and the ride to  barbecue. I carried Angela piggyback-style down the stairs of the hotel and we were on our way. (That was the first stage of Angela’s assisted tour … a few of us took turns conveying her to and from the venues, which included a fairgrounds, where we wagered on some horses, and where one of us turned a $15 bet into $198, a peach store run by a family of farmers, and a general store/liquor emporium where we sampled some tequila, wine and beer.)

A few hours at the races: Cal's lucky ticket. (Photo courtesy of Cal Lacasse)

A few hours at the races: Cal’s lucky ticket. (Photo courtesy of Cal Lacasse)

A historic spot, full of beer, wine and tequila and bourbon. (Photo courtesy of Colby Walton)

A historic spot, full of beer, wine and tequila and bourbon. (Photo courtesy of Colby Walton)

To the barbecue, the main reason for the weekend. For lunch we stopped at Cranky Frank’s, which is in Fredericksburg. It serves up brisket and ribs and chicken in a small restaurant with eight tables in the dining room and a long picnic table outside. The pit is in an adjacent building, and the smoke that greeted us as we exited the van was a great introduction to the day’s dining. Drew Thornley, one of the men behind Man Up Barbecue, arranged our orders, so all we had to do was wait patiently outside at the table for our meat. (Some of us had already procured beer from Cranky’s, so the wait was more than satisfying.) The brisket here was the highlight, at least to my taste, but a few of my fellow travelers loved the sausage. Sunny day, a crowd gathered around a picnic table, and smoky meat … nothing else is necessary.

Colby brings the brisket.

Colby brings the brisket.

Our meat awaits, and it was good.

Our meat awaits, and it was good.

Slicing the brisket at Cranky Frank's: Great things come to those who wait.

Slicing the brisket at Cranky Frank’s: Great things come to those who wait.

The birthday boy shows his appreciation of Cranky Frank's ribs. (Photo courtesy of Ronnie Packard)

The birthday boy shows the rest of us how to eat ribs at Cranky Frank’s. (Photo courtesy of Ronnie Packard)

We loaded ourselves back into the van and headed for our next stop, the Stone House Vineyard. It was the second winery, and the best one … mainly because we had a rather unfortunate and rude encounter with the owner of the first winery we visited. Seems that she expected those of our party who were responsibly imbibing beer to see the invisible sign stating that beer was not permitted on the premises. Instead of politely asking her guests (and prospective customers) to finish our beer in the van, she demonstrated considerable ire, in the process transforming our visit to her establishment into something odious and uncomfortable. Needles to say, I purchased none of her wines.

Back at Stone House Vineyard, we gathered at a long table in the elegant yet rustic tasting room and sampled five or six bottles of wines made in South Africa. All decent, all certainly drinkable, if unremarkable. Stone House does does produce one wine made from Norton grapes grown on its property, and it was certainly worth the taste.

Bottles, friends, sunny afternoon, all at the Stone House Winery. (Photo courtesy Colby Walton)

Bottles, friends, sunny afternoon, all at the Stone House tasting room. (Photo courtesy Colby Walton)

We had before us the highlight of the day, though those of us who had never darkened the doors of Opie’s Barbecue were blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead. As dinner time approached we rolled into the parking lot of Opie’s, having been told what was expected of us, which was to walk through the doors and immediately turn our attentions to the giant black metal container into which meats of all sorts were being loaded, including sausages containing cheese and jalapeño peppers, beef ribs (both spare and short), chicken, and brisket. Oh, that brisket … Kristin and Todd Ashmore have their hands on one talented pit master.

Drew had arranged Opie’s feast, and all we had to do was tell the meat attendant what we wanted and watch him arrange our selections in a tray. That, and graciously accept the cans of Fireman’s #4 and Tecate that were offered. Angela and I chose a little of everything except the chicken, and our barbecue then disappeared into the kitchen, where it was trimmed and wrapped in butcher paper. We walked over to the long counter and waited for our dinner, all the while admiring the desserts – banana pudding, carrot cake, peach cobbler – and taking in the crowd. The place is huge, and it was full of hungry people.

Look at that char: Brisket at Opie's.

Look at that char: Brisket at Opie’s.

Food with a built-in handle: Ribs at Opie's.

Food with a built-in handle: Ribs at Opie’s.

We again found ourselves at a long table, and set to unwrapping our bounty. The brisket was my first choice, and it was nearly perfect: beautiful char, a slight spicy undertone, wonderful bouquet – think espresso and very faint vinegar. My only criticism was that it was a bit too moist, the tendrils of the meat approached something I could term “soft,” as opposed to tender. Minor quibble, however. This brisket was beautiful, and as I chewed I looked around the table at my happy companions and we silently agreed that all was well. Drew was high on the sweet-and-spicy baby back ribs, which were quite good, and I was enjoying the tater tot casserole and spicy creamed corn. We ate well, had some leftovers, which I wrapped anew and the next morning gave to the room attendant at the hotel, who said he had not been to Opie’s recently and would look forward to a great lunch. The carrot cake and banana pudding ended the meal, and we paraded out to the van, ready for the ride back to Austin and the comfort of the San José.

Colby is lucky to have such good friends, and his friends are fortunate that Colby likes to eat good food and is an enthusiastic party planner. As for me, I am planning to take another Man Up Barbecue tour, and If you like good food and good people, you could do much worse than doing the same.

My kind of third party.

My kind of third party.

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