Remembering Windows on the World

Twenty-five years ago today, I was living on 33rd Street on the east side getting ready to leave for work when the first plane flew into the World Trade Center. My thoughts immediately went to the people and friends I had working in the building and in the area, and to the job I had at Windows on the World.

For the past 20 years I have been training FOH teams on all aspects of beverage, and for 20 years I have been telling them that almost everything I think about beverage and hospitality comes from my time at Windows.

I was just finishing up culinary school at the CIA and my sommelier stage at Le Cirque was almost over when I went to an interview to be a cellar master at Windows on the World. I was incredibly nervous walking into that huge, marbled lobby, and then going up the multiple elevators.

I still remember my interview with Andrea Immer, MS, now Andrea Robinson, MS. We were sitting in one of the banquet rooms facing Brooklyn on the east side and Andrea made me feel incredibly comfortable. She went out of her way to not use her incredible wine knowledge to intimidate me at all and make me feel welcome; this was a sign to come. She encouraged me to ask questions and told me something I’ll never forget. She said that she couldn’t make me learn anything, or make me work hard, but only promised to give me the environment to do so. I learned soo much from her during my time there, but those two core concepts I have tried to utilize every day and pass on to the next generation.

She talked quite a bit about the team, and I was excited to have the opportunity to work with Kevin Zraly, as the Windows of the World Wine Course was the first one I had ever read. I was privileged to be able to assist Kevin when he taught the class, and he would constantly say when people would ask him the best wine he had ever had, “the best wine is the one you like”. That line has done more for my teaching than any textbook I have read since. Wine is about pleasure and the people you share it with, and Kevin never let a room forget it.

I worked there for a little under two years and the lead sommelier at the time was Gillian Ballance. Gillian had already started her journey for the Master Sommelier pin (earned in 2012), and I will always remember her warmth and humor, and her almost encyclopedic memory. I remember doing inventory with her for my first time in the sub-basement, and I saw a few cases of 1992 Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche, Drouhin. I guess she had made a mental note of our conversation and opened it for a table a few weeks later. It was my first grand cru Burgundy, and it was it was everything I had hoped for and more.

I was also fortunate to be in the room at the forefront of the cocktail revolution working with Dale DeGroff. He would discuss spirits the same way Kevin, Andrea and Gillian would talk about wine. He was excited about the stories behind them and made everyone excited about the history of the cocktails he and his team put on the list. He would explain why we used fresh juice and why it was important to look to history and the classics for inspiration. However, the most important lesson he would ever teach would be that a bartender is a host and entertainer first. He would say that it didn’t matter if you served a complex drink or a fuzzy navel. Make it with the best ingredients you can, make it correctly, balanced, serve it with a smile, and always say thank you.

It was an amazing time in the restaurant business and I know I was privileged to learn from some of the best, but none of that would have been possible had it not been two crazy guys who decided to put a restaurant on the top two floors of the north tower, Joseph Baum and Michael Whiteman. Their vision was simple. Hire incredible people, let them do their thing, and wonderful things can and usually do happen.

I will always cherish and remember my time there. That the 25th anniversary falls on the eve of Rosh Hashanah is not lost on me. My thoughts go to the men and women who perished, to their families, and to the first responders who helped us all. May their memory be a blessing.

If you want more of a full story about this incredible program from an amazing woman who lived it, I encourage you to read Life After Windows by Inez Ribustello. She came up through the cellar and became beverage director, and was away at her sister’s wedding on September 11th.