Per Se Alums Open Claudine in Providence, Rhode Island
Love was on the line—the line in the kitchen—for chefs Josh Finger and Maggie McConnell, who met working at celebrated chef Thomas Keller’s Grand Award–winning Per Se in New York City. In late June, the now husband-and-wife team opened Claudine, a New England–accented tasting menu and wine destination in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, where McConnell grew up.
“We were coming to see her family over the summertime. We were sitting out on the beach one day and we were like, ‘This is perfect,’” Finger reminisced to Wine Spectator. “New England in the summertime is just unbelievable. We were both kind of at the end of our roads with Per Se and thinking of the next step. It all just kind of lined up and it felt really right to come here.”
To Finger, who grew up in Virginia, Providence’s culinary scene stands out because of its sense of community, in which people try to help each other out, and its dynamic talent, boosted by [the prominent culinary school] Johnson & Wales located in the city. The couple hopes to contribute with their philosophy of “maximum hospitality” learned at Per Se. “You change your perception on what you’re doing—you’re not just cooking, you’re inviting people into this space,” explains Finger. “You have to curate the whole entire experience. That’s when it really gets fun is when you start thinking, ‘How can I maximize this experience for these guests?’”
When it opened: June 26
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On the menu: At Claudine, “elevated New England dining” merges with McConnell and Finger’s French training and work at Per Se, which Finger likened to “getting your Masters degree in the kitchen.” The eight-course menu ($165) focuses on high quality ingredients—largely from New England fisheries, farmers and meat purveyors—prepared using French techniques. Picture a heap of Ossetra caviar accompanied by a sliver of a celeriac crème crêpe, served over a swirl of date puree, or sashimi of Rhode Island tuna laid over a pool of honeynut squash emulsion, accented with fennel and clementine.
McConnell—a pastry chef by training, who also worked at the French Laundry—prepares the suite of sweets, such as a pecan choux filled with chocolate cremeux and pecan praline crème; a strip of olive oil cake topped with yogurt panna cotta and vanilla crème diplomat, served with a medley of winter citrus; or a picture-perfect bowl of sugar-dusted madeleines.
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What’s on the wine list? The opening list of around 175 selections, primarily from France, was composed by Finger, who says people have told him that the wine list is clearly “chef-driven,” with its niche yet food-friendly “industry favorites” from the Loire, Jura, Alsace and Austria. “[We wanted] a wine list that is equivalent to the way that we cook food. We want it to be very intentional, with minimal intervention. Just like when we’re getting produce, we don’t want them to be heavily sprayed with pesticides and other things like that.”
Finger, who hopes to grow the wine list to around 350 bottlings in the next few years, points to the Champagne section as a highlight: “We only feature grower Champagnes. Another part of the wine list is that we want to be able to share stories. I find with grower Champagne, there’s tons of great producers who have wonderful stories, produce delicious wine and just make it easy to sell.”
He offers a $100 signature wine pairing for the tasting menu, which shifts day to day, just like the dishes on the menu, along with a non-alcoholic pairing option.
The design: Washington, D.C.–based firm Edit by Streetsense designed the cozy, 26-seat spot washed in soft, warm light, with sweeping curves of arches and banquettes accented with pink and white marble.
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Bobby Stuckey Becomes First Wine Professional to Win Julia Child Foundation Award
Colorado-based Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey was named in May as the 11th winner of the Julia Child Award, sponsored by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. Stuckey makes history as the first sommelier ever to win the prestigious award. Past winners include Danny Meyer, José Andrés, Alice Waters and Jacques Pépin.
“Bobby exemplifies Julia’s commitment to education, excellence and genuine hospitality,” Eric Spivey, chairman of the Julia Child Foundation, said in a statement. “His lifelong dedication as a ‘Hospitalian,’ his mentorship of countless hospitality professionals and his advocacy for independent restaurants perfectly align with Julia’s values. We are thrilled to honor his contributions to American culinary culture with this award.”
Stuckey is the owner and founder of Frasca Hospitality Group, based in the Denver metropolitan area. His restaurants include the flagship Best of Award of Excellence winner Frasca Food and Wine, as well as fellow Restaurant Award winners Sunday Vinyl and Tavernetta. Over nearly four decades, Stuckey built a reputation as a well-respected and devoted mentor in wine and hospitality while working the floor at destinations such as Grand Award winners the French Laundry in St. Helena, California, and the Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado.
The award was founded in 2015 to celebrate leaders who have “made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats and drinks,” according to the foundation’s website. Stuckey will put the award’s $50,000 grant toward the scholarship fund he founded with his wife, Danette Stuckey, that provides financial aid for first-generation students enrolled in the School of Hospitality and Management at Northern Arizona University, Stuckey’s alma mater.
Being the first sommelier to receive the award, Stuckey says, is a signal that wine professionals are no longer siloed in their roles and are leaders in hospitality at large. “When I started in the industry, you were a sommelier and that’s all you did,” says Stuckey. “Historically, sommeliers have not dipped their toes into all forms of management. We really ask that in our company, because if you can do everything on the floor, you’re a better sommelier.”
In the fall, the Foundation will present the award to Stuckey in Washington, D.C., at an event hosted in association with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (where the kitchen from Child’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, home is on display). The award is a bit of a full-circle moment for Stuckey, who served Child a few times early in his career. “As a guy who grew up with an incredible mom, who had a catering agency and was an incredible home chef, Julia Child was really important in my growing up and then in the beginning of my sommelier career,” says Stuckey. “She’s one of the rock stars that I’ve been able to take care of over the years.”
So what wine did Julia Child order?
“One time, she was having lunch with some people [at the French Laundry] and they drank some older vintages of Chalone, really exciting,” remembers Stuckey. “She proceeded to tell me she was friends with Dick Graff, the founder of Chalone. That was so cool as a young sommelier. I was going to Santa Barbara to visit wine country [around that time], and she proceeded to give me a great recommendation for tacos. I thought that was so hard rock.”
New Carbone Concept Will Debut at the Bellagio Las Vegas
This week, hospitality leader Major Food Group announced it will be launching a new concept inside the Bellagio MGM Resort on the Las Vegas Strip: Carbone Riviera. Opening in fall 2025, the restaurant will take over the space that housed Picasso—the longtime Grand Award winner that shuttered last summer—and overlooks the iconic Bellagio fountains.
“This is, without exaggeration, one of the most important, not to mention gorgeous, restaurant spaces in America. To say it is an honor to be its latest steward does not do this moment justice,” Major Food Group co-founder Mario Carbone said in a statement. “We at Major Food Group take tremendous pride in carrying forward storied culinary legacies. At Bellagio, we will have the chance to create a dazzling new sibling to our iconic Carbone, as well as a new chapter for the city’s dining culture, with a timeless yet thrilling concept. We intend for Carbone Riviera to be the culmination of the decades we have dedicated to our craft.”
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Carbone Riviera will not only be a new venture for Carbone and partners Jeff Zalaznick and Rich Torrisi, but “a thrilling evolution of [the] globally celebrated institution,” according to the announcement. Currently, there are four Restaurant Award–winning Carbone locations across the United States, including the flagship in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Miami, Dallas and Las Vegas. In 2024, Major Food Group opened a wine-focused spin-off, Carbone Vino, in Coconut Grove, Florida; it earned a Best of Award of Excellence this year. The team operates a dozen other restaurants across the United States, including Best of Award of Excellence winner Torrisi Bar & Restaurant and Grand Award winner the Grill, both in New York City.
The announcement indicates that Carbone Riviera will lean more into seafood, stating that the dining room will open “with a grand seafood display—an ice-laden centerpiece showcasing delicacies flown in daily from the world’s premier purveyors.” The menu itself will focus on a “whole fish program,” with dishes prepared tableside, a signature of Major Food Group’s service. Fans of Carbone can also expect signature pastas like spicy lobster meatballs and the spicy vodka rigatoni. No information is available yet on the wine program, overseen by Major Food Group corporate beverage director John Slover.
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