California Caviar A New Taste of Jordan Hospitality
Caviar’s journey from Russia to Paris to California is as fascinating as its cultivation. Here’s how the luxurious delicacy found its wine country flair.
W
hen Otto Szilagyi talks about sturgeon, he speaks not just of fish, but of magical creatures gifted with one of the world’s finest treasures. The American white sturgeon,
he insists, is a marvel, capable of producing the glistening orbs in such nuances of textures and flavors that it’s edible poetry.
“The differences can be subtle, but excellent caviar tastes like butter,” says Szilagyi, vice president of sales for Northern California-based Tsar Nicoulai Caviar. “It’s firm, with larger eggs, and is creamy and rich, yet with a clean finish, like a breath of fresh ocean air.”
Born in Transylvania, Romania with its Black Sea and Beluga sturgeon, Szilagyi is an expert in the boutique delicacy that costs up to $400 an ounce. And his is a familiar face at Jordan special events, as he has personally served Tsar Nicoulai caviars and gourmet roes at Spring at Jordan and Christmas at Jordan for many years. In his charmingly thick accent, he often recounts to our guests how, in early history, Beluga caviar was reserved strictly for Russian Czars, with sturgeon fishermen risking death if discovered to have kept any of the precious eggs. After the Czars fled Russia during the 1917 revolution, they smuggled caviar to Paris, shared the treasure with the wealthy, and began a tradition.
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