Celebrations at Chester’s Chophouse

A little back story to start this one. We started our sommelier adventures back in 2020. We studied for a year before taking our level 1 exam (a computerized theory exam). We then spent the next three years studying for our level 2 exam to go from introductory to certified sommeliers, and we took that exam in Chicago on March 25th of this year. This was a three part exam, with a more difficult computerized theory exam, a service exam where we had to serve a master sommelier (open Champagne properly, answer questions on cocktails and food pairings, etc), and a blind tasting exam where we had to try to identify four wines by smelling and tasting them. You must pass all 3 parts independently to pass the exam.

The wine tasting part used to be logged on a paper scoring grid, but starting earlier this year, this changed to a scoring grid you fill out on a computer.

Ok, so end-of-day March 25th, they gave us our exam scores. Bart passed! Katie did great on the theory exam and service exam, but she just missed passing the tasting exam. Ah well, this is a tough exam, and most of the people testing with us were on their 3rd or even 4th attempt at taking this exam. It really was a great experience, even without a pass!

Big twist this week, though—on Wednesday, the Court of Master Sommeliers called Katie out of the blue to inform her that one of the wines on her exam was scored wrong in the computer, and when they fixed it, she actually passed!!

Obviously, this called for a celebration. While we were studying for our service exam, Chester’s Chophouse was incredibly kind and allowed us to come work there as somm interns, so we went back to visit our friend, their manager, Ben. Chester’s is also one of the very best places to celebrate anything in Wichita.

We started with cocktails, and if you follow our reviews, you know how much Katie loves Old Fashioneds. Turns out, Chester’s makes one killer Old Fashioned!

We have to apologize. We usually attempt to take good photos of our food and wine. But we were having SUCH a good time celebrating and enjoying everything about our evening at Chester’s that we forgot to get good pictures. We got some… bear with us.

Guys, everything was so amazing at Chester’s. Katie’s husband makes excellent steak himself, and the steak he ordered at Chester’s was, by his own admission, perhaps the best steak he’s ever had. Katie and her mom both had almond-crusted trout with green beans and a citrus butter sauce, which is ALWAYS a fantastic, delicious choice. Bart had the lamb lollipops with crispy fried fingerling potatoes, fresh mint and lebna with jalapeño jelly, and he could hardly do anything else but eat it because it was so wonderful. It practically melted in his mouth.

We had two wines we’d like to tell you about!

First up, we have the Bodega Calle Necio Reserva Syrah from Uco Valley, Argentina.

As with most Syrah, this one has a slight meaty quality—in a good way! It also has some tendencies of red fruit, like tart cherries, as well as white pepper and maybe even a little leather. What we love about Argentinian wine is that you can get really great wine for great value. This is another example of that! We enjoyed this, and it was delicious with our food. We do wish we could give you a better description of how the wine paired with the food, but we were so busy devouring everything that we forgot to take notes.

We also had a bottle of the Silverado Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.

This was a delicious Cab. It wasn’t overoaked, as some Napa Cabs can be, and it had the smells and flavors of dark, ripe cherries and plums, and anise or black licorice, with a hint of sweet tobacco. It had the fruitiness you often get in a California Cab, but not overly fruity. This was such a good wine with our food. Bart could hardly put to words how much he enjoyed this wine with his lamb, because he could hardly stop eating long enough to say anything.

You can’t have dinner at Chester’s without finishing with Tumbleweeds, which we certainly did.

We were all having such a good time, listening to live music from Patz, that Bart and his wife even started dancing.

All in all, this was yet another enchanting evening at Chester’s Chophouse. Every single member of their staff is an incredible professional who does such a great job at providing top hospitality to every guest. It was such an honor to spend time there while we were training for our exam, and it was thanks to all the wonderful people we worked with that we did so well. They’re the best of the best.

Go have yourselves a magical evening at Chester’s!