On a hot June afternoon, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Lori Mason, sommelier and co-owner of Klee Brasserie. Located in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, it is a four year old, European-American restaurant with an emphasis on Austrian flavors. The Austrian notes are courtesy of the other co-owner, Daniel Angerer, who also is the chef and Lori’s fiancé.
Lori brings a rich and diverse background to Klee. With a master’s degree in philosophy, Lori contemplated pursuing a Ph.D. but switched to the world of law instead. After earning her law degree, she practiced at a New York City firm for eight years, at which point she took a 2-week leave to help open Klee. With the restaurant’s opening, she pondered her future career and decided that while working at Klee may have been more stressful than the world of corporate litigation, the rewards were greater.
Initially, Lori was not sure of what her role would be at Klee. She served as the maître d’ and got to know the clients. Klee is a very personal restaurant, which is evidenced in the large amount of regulars. As maître d’, customers would ask Lori about the food and wine. In order to serve her patrons better, she studied wines and fell in love with that work. She took more control of the wine list (which had been created by a consultant initially) and paired the wines with the chef’s principles of cooking. Since the opening of Klee, Lori has worked on her sommelier certification. She has held the certification of master sommelier since 2008. She continues her studies in order to earn advanced sommelier certifications, which are based both on experience and learning.
Visiting the restaurant, I discovered that Klee Brasserie has an amazing wine list. With so many wines, I decided to find out what the sommelier preferred. For whites, Lori prefers Austrian Rieslings. As she explained, so many people think of Rieslings as overly sweet wines, which is far from the truth. Austrian Rieslings have very little sugar and are bone dry. For reds, she prefers wines from the South of France, such as Grenache.
In addition to having any amazing list that includes European and American, organic and biodynamic wines, their wines are priced quite reasonably. With some of the lowest markups on wine in New York City, it is quite reasonable to order a bottle of wine to accompany your meal.
Although the food menu looked absolutely divine, the purpose of my visit was to learn more about their wine program, and thus I scheduled my interview for a time at which the restaurant was closed. What I did learn is that Klee Brasserie’s menu is the sort that I love, as the foods are made without an excess of butter or cream. Rather the foods are allowed to display their own delicious flavors through the use of quality ingredients and technique.
With a chef who allows food to speak through its own flavors and a sommelier with a true passion for wine, Klee is a restaurant in which you know that your entire meal will be a pleasure to your senses.
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