Sommelier serves wine without the hauteur
By Monica Eng
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — On paper, Alpana Singh can be a very intimidating character.
At 21, she was the youngest American ever to pass the rigorous advanced sommelier exam, an internationally recognized credential of wine knowledge. Earlier this year, she became one of only 11 female master sommeliers in the nation. And today she presides over a 1,400-bottle cellar of Chicago's Everest, one of the nation's top restaurants.
But who is the California girl who shows up for lunch toting a backpack and who seems to melt into a fit of giggles every five minutes?
It's Alpana Singh in the flesh, a warm, friendly and engaging 26-year-old woman who displays no snootiness about her wine expertise, or about anything else.
She is digging into a plate of scrambled eggs, country ham, grits and a biscuit at Sweet Maple Cafe in Chicago during what she reported was her third research trip for her public television show. "I love going out and visiting these places in the neighborhoods," she says.
Singh's unaffected enjoyment of restaurants, food and wine and her rapport with people led David Manilow, creator of public television station WTTW's Everyman restaurant review show, "Check, Please," to hire her as the program's host for its third season.
"She is very smart and knowledgeable and not intimidating, as you might think from her level of achievement," he says of Singh. "Her on-camera presence is so good and natural. And as much as she likes to be serious, she can also be a real goofball too."
The goofballishness comes out in conversation about watching TV ("I was addicted to 'The Anna Nicole Show"'), recent movies ("I am a huge 'Mr. Bean' fan. Huge.") and recent concerts (in an impromptu parody of Cher, she sings "Do you belieeeeve in yet another farewell tour?").
But as the daughter of working-class Indians who came to the States from Fiji, Singh also is exceptionally driven. After eight years of intense wine studying and sampling, as well as practical work, she finally passed the notoriously difficult master sommelier exam (a test with a three percent pass rate requiring vast book knowledge and a finely tuned palate) in March. What followed was a void that left her with unexpected bouts of crying and depression that she later discovered were common post-exam maladies, curable only by pouring herself into a new challenge.
"I was at a master sommelier summit this summer, and my friend said, 'So have the crying fits started yet?' " she recalls. "And here I thought it was only me."
In July that challenge came from Manilow, who reached Singh at a food and wine festival in Hawai'i to ask if she would like to audition for "Check, Please."
The show features three regular Chicagoans and a host who sit around a table dishing on their experiences at three restaurants. The host serves as moderator, referee and narrator for segments with footage from the dining spot.
"If you would have told me at 21 that I would end up being a master sommelier, living in Chicago and working in one of the best restaurants in the country I would be like, 'Oh, right,' " she says. "I didn't believe that any of this would ever be possible. I was thinking about that this morning. I grew up watching Julia Child and 'Great Chefs of America,' and I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be on a show on PBS."
Indeed, even though Singh started working in restaurants at 15, by the time she was 18, she had no idea what she wanted to study. So after joining and being medically disqualified for the Air Force before boot camp, she enrolled in community college and got a job at a fine-dining restaurant in her hometown of Monterey, Calif. She found the wine-training program at the restaurant much more interesting than her college classes.
"I became completely engrossed in the study of wine because it was so fascinating. It wasn't the alcohol part of it, but the story of it," she remembers. "So I just found myself getting books and reading and studying and coming back to the wine classes and asking questions."
Singh's boss (who would also become a master sommelier) noted her enthusiasm and encouraged her to get involved with the nation's premiere wine-training program to get her accreditation as a master sommelier.
"So I thought this could be it," she says. " ... So I started working at a retail store and focused my effort on studying for the exam full-time."
Her parents were not pleased.
"I describe my life like 'Bend It Like Beckham,' " says Singh, whose foray into television will place her in the tiny sorority of South Asian women in American media.
"I am so glad that movie (in which an Indian girl decides to defy her parents to pursue her soccer dreams) came out, because I can say that now. My parents were appalled. They wanted me to be a doctor or an engineer."
But even after Singh passed the advanced exam, the second step in the three-step master sommelier program, she couldn't find a job as a sommelier. At the age of 23, still working in wine retailing, she attended the Masters of Food and Wine summit in Carmel, Calif., and made an acquaintance that would change her life.
While wandering around the convention one night, she spotted Claudine Pepin (TV hostess and daughter of noted chef Jacques Pepin) and introduced herself. Pepin encouraged her to introduce herself at a table of white coats that included chefs Jean Louis Palladin, Jacques Pepin and Jean Joho of Everest.
Singh immediately started with a big faux pas, complimenting the late Palladin on his lovely daughter who turned out to be his girlfriend. Palladin was furious. Fast on her feet, Singh recovered with, "Your girlfriend? Then chef Palladin, your foie gras must be reaaallly good."
Palladin was still affronted, but Joho liked her sense of humor and asked her to sit down. He heard her story and asked her to interview for a job the next day.
Three years later, Singh has been the subject of local and national media pieces. With this new TV gig, in addition to her duties at Everest, her profile can only rise.
"I think it is an honor. It's wonderful," says chef Joho of his protege/employee. "I am very proud of her."
Despite the new host's abilities, wine will not dominate the "Check, Please" discussion, nor will Singh choose the labels served to guests during tapings.
And intimidation, the young sommelier vows, won't be on the menu at all.
