MEET CHEF RASHIDA HOLMES
August 29 – September 1
Kicking off our third year of Shifting the Lens, Chef Rashida Holmes brings her personal take on Afro-Caribbean cuisine to the Bubble Room, presenting a fully curated five-course tasting menu paired with small-lot sparkling and still wines created by Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock.
A 2024 James Beard Award Semifinalist for Outstanding Chef, Chef Holmes has made an indelible mark on the culinary world by putting the flavors of her Afro-Caribbean heritage in the spotlight. After starting her culinary journey in Baltimore, working at a James Beard-nominated restaurant in Pittsburgh, and finally settling in L.A. in 2013, she earned an abundance of media coverage and accolades for a pop-up concept she launched in 2019. Named Eater’s Best New Restaurant in Los Angeles and Pop-up of the Year by Esquire Magazine in 2021, her personal take on Caribbean classics has garnered dedicated fans and repeat customers.
“I want guests to feel like everything they try during Shifting the Lens is unlike anything they’ve had before, but also reminds them of home, of family, of grandma in the kitchen…I want to inspire guests to be adventurous eaters and seekers.”
During Shifting the Lens, Chef Holmes hopes to share her ethos with guests: “Taste, value and efficiency are the cornerstones of my food and approach to the restaurant business. If those are in place, the love will flow onto the plate.”
©JAMES BEARD AWARDS is a registered trademark and property of the James Beard Foundation and is not affiliated with J Vineyards & Winery.
©EATER is a registered trademark and property of Eater and is not affiliated with J Vineyards & Winery.
©ESQUIRE is a registered trademark and property of Esquire and is not affiliated with J Vineyards & Winery.
My first visit to J was eye-opening! I never knew how much soil impacted the wine we drink. Learning about J’s women-led history was a joy, and the team was so welcoming
and knowledgeable!
– Chef Rashida Holmes
Reserve Your Experience
August 29 – September 1
Daytime Experience
(approx. 2.5 hours)
Thursday and Friday | 12pm and 3pm
Saturday and Sunday | 12pm
Chef Holmes brings Afro-Caribbean cuisine inspired by her own cultural and experiential journey to the Bubble Room, presenting a fully curated five-course tasting menu paired with small-lot sparkling and still wines created by Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock. During both seating times, Chef Holmes will join diners in person to discuss her vision and inspiration for each dish.
Signature and Experience members $175 | General public $200
Luxe and Elegance members can use the Bubble Room tickets included in their memberships for the Daytime Shifting the Lens Experience.
Dinner & Dialogue
(approx. 3 hours)
Saturday and Sunday | 5pm
Discover a food and wine pairing unlike any other at this ultra-exclusive dinner with guest Chef Rashida Holmes. Your evening starts with a wine reception and passed hors d’oeuvres as you get the chance to mingle with Chef Holmes, Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock and J’s culinary team. For dinner, you’ll enjoy a five-course tasting menu — paired exquisitely with small-lot wines from Nicole Hitchcock — and you’ll be joined by Chef Holmes during every course as she explains more about her story, process and inspiration for every dish.
Signature and Experience members $225 | General public $250
Luxe members can use the two tickets included in their membership for Dinner & Dialogue.
GET TO KNOW CHEF RASHIDA
I’ve spent the last three years in a casual food space and actively rejecting fine dining. But I am really excited to jump back into a fine dining service, and bring everything about Caribbean cuisine I have learned over the last three years. I think the entire Sonoma Valley can benefit from expansion of what a fine dining meal looks like, smells like, tastes like, and how wine can be the perfect complement. I loved meeting the kitchen team and winemakers on our initial visit and adding them to my network of food friends. Their passion for the process of wine is palpable, and the amount I learned and will learn about wine and the Russian River Valley has already had an impact on my creativity.
It wasn’t until about three years after culinary school. I was living in Pittsburgh working for my first female head chef. For the first five years, cooking for me was a job, even though I went to school and had made the financial commitment to the profession — I hadn’t made the mental commitment. The combination of family expectations, self-doubt, and a couple of rough years had stifled any ambitions I had for a future in food. Then I worked at place that challenged all that (part of a JBF nominated restaurant group). I saw a future path. I saw a woman command the respect of a bunch of messed up misfit cooks, and got the best out of us every day. I was a part of a close-knit kitchen team, half of us lived together or around the corner, we cooked, we cleaned, we drank, we slept, and repeat. And the food was great, and innovative, and simple, inspiring. That place and those people inspired me to take my career seriously, motivated me to re-recreate that world with my own vision, and I’ve been working toward that ever since.
The Blanc de Blancs sparkling had stuck in my brain since the tasting in February. I’ve never been a fan of chardonnay as a varietal and this wine has changed my opinion of it completely, although I think this might be a singular occurrence. The creamy texture (didn’t know sparkling wine could have that kind of mouth feel) simultaneously rich and minerally, with acid and fruity notes. It blew my mind and gave me many ideas. I also want many bottles of it forever.
My mission to serve more goat to the masses will continue at J this summer. Can’t bring the goat without the curry as well. I am excited to incorporate local oysters, and the wonderful summer produce with a pairing of something like stone fruit, scotch bonnet, cilantro oil and lime mignonette. I think the Blanc de Blancs would be a great pairing. Summer is BBQ season and I have been working on the perfect potato salad, the unsung hero of BBQ sides and a staple at any proper Bajan fish grill. I think it would work well with the Annapolis Ridge Pinot Noir, but I can’t wait to see what Nicole and her team think.
I want guests to feel like everything they tried was unlike anything they have had before, but also reminds them of home, of family, of grandma in the kitchen, if they were lucky enough to have one. I want guests to feel the food in their soul, and know the love that went into it. I want to inspire guests to be adventurous eaters and seekers, bringing J wine to their local Jamaican restaurant with rice and peas and oxtail piled on a Styrofoam plate. I hope everyone has a really good time, that and we all have a Carib party together.
MORE ON SHIFTING THE LENS
Now in its third year, Shifting the Lens has made its mark on the wine culinary industry by spotlighting award-winning guest chefs, delivering unforgettable pairing experiences and amplifying the conversation around representation in wine and food space. Click below to take a look back at our previous years and learn more about this year’s program.
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