You Can Pair Good Blanco Tequila With Food Like Wine

Passion fruit scallop crudo from Chef Sal Marino

Last night I hosted an intimate dinner at Marino Ristorante in Hollywood as an experiment for how I think blanco Tequila dinners could (or should) be hosted moving forward.

We did two Chardonnays from Liquid Farm, paired with a spring vegetable fettuccine and pan-seared halibut—very traditional for most wine dinners. But, in addition, we paired two glasses of Fuenteseca Cosecha blanco, the 2018 and 2020 vintages, with a passion fruit scallop crudo and an incredible lobster thermidor, that was also deglazed with the Fuenteseca in the pan.

Lobster thermidor prepared and paired with 2018 Fuenteseca Cosecha blanco

My favorite reaction of the night was from the gentleman sitting to the left (named Alex) who looked at me with a huge smile on his face and said: “I would never even think to sip blanco Tequila, let alone pair it with food. This absolutely works!”

I agreed.

Everything we did at Marino last night followed the standard practices you would experience at a wine pairing dinner. We just swapped in two Tequilas for two of the wines. And it absolutely worked.

-David Driscoll