Jan. 11--Oriole (661 W. Walnut St.) is at least a few months from opening (early spring is the fingers-crossed target), but the restaurant's personnel lineup is shaping up nicely.
To refresh: The chef is Noah Sandoval (formerly of Senza), working with pastry chef Genie Kwon while Cara Sandoval, Noah's wife, heads up the front room. And now the restaurant has snagged a solid sommelier in Aaron McManus, who ran the beverage program at L2O its last two years and has been with Intro (the restaurant that took over the L2O space) since its inception.
"It's a great opportunity to work with (the Sandovals and Kwon)," McManus said. "They're ridiculously creative; this was meant to be."
McManus isn't offering much details on his program -- doing so before the menus are finalized would be madness -- but he said to look for classic cocktails ("fewer ingredients, well-executed" he said), and pairing options to Sandoval's multi-course menus: a standard pairing that would include wines, cocktails, juices and more; and a reserve pairing of perhaps 9 or 10 wines.
As for the wines themselves, McManus said that Sandoval's food will dictate a list that's heavy on white wines. "More Old-World than anything else," he said. "Lower alcohol, higher-acidity wines will work better, stylistically, with the menu."
One more reason to look forward to spring.
Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic.
pvettel@tribpub.com
Twitter @philvettel
