Sheila C. Johnson, co-founder of BET/CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts/the first black American female billionaire, is ready to welcome you to dinner at her home, but you’ll need more than a hostess gift… This exclusive dinner comes with a $2500 price tag.
Johnson’s Salamander Resort is teaming up with Japanese Restaurateur Daisuke Utagawa to host the very first, non-exclusive Sushi & Red Burgundy Wine Dinner on April 13, 2015, at her home.
{Please note, this date has changed. The event was originally scheduled for February.}
Utagawa, a Tokyo native who now serves as the creative director of Sushiko Restaurant (Chevy Chase, MD), created his own genre — “Cuisine of Subtraction” — in the early 1990s. Subtraction involves removing extraneous ingredients from the most interesting produce Utagawa could find in order to express its essence, but — long story short — the most important aspect of the methodology became pairing sushi with prestigious Burgundies from the Becky Wasserman Selection.
Guests of this first-ever pairing dinner will experience “umami,” sometimes called the sixth flavor. This term used to describe a sweet and salty, somewhat textural flavor that lingers on the back palate, is found in raw seafood, and is the perfect accelerator for the tannins in Burgundy’s red wine.
Skeptical? Growers at the legendary Becky Wasserman’s Burgundy farmhouse were, too. That is, until they tasted his “truth.” Then his concept spread throughout France and Japan, available only through private experiences led by Utagawa.
Now more than ten years later, Utagawa will showcase his innovative approach to Japanese cuisine with Wasserman Burgundy wines to a public audience for the very first time at Johnson’s Salamander Farm (the architectural inspiration for her resort).
At $2500 a person, this seven-course culinary experience is a rare opportunity for the palate… as well as a special chance to hobnob with the hostess.
