Robert Mondavi executives Anne Maryse Lopez-Conway and Richard Carras, just recently visited Aruba. While on the island they hosted a wine & food pairing dinner at the Wyndham Aruba Resort Casino & Spa, in conjunction with the Aruba Trading Company. The elegant event which unfolded in the 
resort’s 18th floor Buena Vista Skylight room was attended by general manager Rob Smith, his beautiful wife Diana, and food & beverage manager Franz Sydow the motor behind the successful evening. One of the motors. The second one is the resort’s executive chef, Gerard Coste, who created an unforgettable menu inspired by a 19th & 20th century legend - French chef, George-Aguste Escoffier, the father of modern gourmet cuisine, perhaps the first one to spell it out and write it down – recipes, I mean.
Other Petit Degustation dinner guests included various key personalities in wine and food on the island, the press and a handful of lucky tourists who heard about the pairing and signed up for the event. Aruba Trading Company who distributes the wines in Aruba proudly reported that while small, as a bastion of great restaurants, Aruba still pours around 3,000 cases of Mondavi each year. Mondavi offered its best wines on the 
occasion. A light and crisp Fume Blanc to accompany a Tuna Sashimi with Wasabi Tartar Sauce; a delectable Chardonnay Reserve 1999 to complement the Thin Sliced Dover Sole Espaniole; a 1998 ruby Merlot to escort the minimal stuffed Cornish Hen with a Poivarde Sauce – my favorite dish, I wish I could have it every day - and an amazing full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1998 to match the USDA Certified Black Angus Beef Tenderloin with a wild mushroom combination. Wild it was. The dessert was enhanced by a non-Mondavi offering, a perfect Dow’s Reserve 1932 – imagine - which tasted divine with Chef Gerard glazed crème brulee.
General manager Rob Smith should be credited for the considerable line-up of talent now available in the Food & Beverage department of his resort. Chef Coste, a Frech-born expert, is low on words and big on taste. Franz Sydow joined the Wyndham not so long ago. He is blessed with a small gourmet restaurant background, having opened and successfully managed some good success stories on the island before signing up with the big one, the Wyndham. After spending some time at the resort, it is clear to see that he brought a new awareness to the table, literally, a heightened boutique attitude, which was before only available at small privately available eateries.
The food at the Wyndham has acquired a refined and cultured taste and look, which Franz should be credited for.
