Balthazar
New York City
- Balthazar
- Pastis – New York City
- Schillers – New York City
- French Culinary Institute – New York City
Just five years ago, Rebecca Banks never would have imagined the career she has now. With a Bachelors degree in Fashion Design, she moved to New York City, working first in fashion design, then in wardrobe and prop styling for the film and print industries. After ten years in "the biz," Rebecca decided to make a drastic career change.
With a couple of introductory wine courses and catering jobs under her belt, Rebecca decided in 2004 to attend the French Culinary Institute in New York City, with the intent of segueing into food styling or catering. Something else happened completely. While attending a volunteer seminar on food and wine careers, she met the Assistant Wine Director for Balthazar and pursued an unpaid three-month wine internship. Three months turned into five, which turned into a part-time Assistant Cellar Master position until the opportunity arose to manage the wine programs at New York's famed Balthazar and Pastis.
Rebecca is a regular member on the tasting panel at Wine and Spirits Magazine. She is an active member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR), through which she is a volunteer sommelier for events and a scholarship winner. She also participates in various professional tasting groups throughout the city. She volunteers at the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Institute), teaching wine seminars and advising students interested in a career in wine. She also regularly recruits students of FCI and WSET to participate in Balthazar's internship program, which she manages, and is heavily modeled after the intensive internship program created by Kevin Zraly at Window's on the World. Rebecca holds the Advanced Certificate from the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust, the Introductory Sommelier course of the Court of Master Sommeliers, and Andrea Immer's Fundamentals of Wine. She holds the Grand Diploma in Culinary Arts from the French Culinary Institute in New York City where she was a James Beard Foundation 2004 Scholarship winner.
A challenging and rewarding aspect of her job is the constant tasting and intensive staff wine training at all of McNally's New York properties: Balthazar, but Pastis, Schillers Liquor Bar, Pravda, and Lucky Strike. Rebecca helps teach the four in-depth wine classes a year as well as leading voluntary staff tastings, daily pre-meal tastings, and creating and updating wine training manuals and tasting notes, as well as buying trips to France.