by Ebony L. Morman 

Michele Clapsaddle, GM/wine director, Dogwood: A Southern Table. TM Petaccia/UP

If you’re dining at Dogwood, A Southern Table and you’re in the midst of perusing the wine selection, Michele Clapsaddle might pop by your table, ask about your preferences, and help lead the way. As wine director and general manager, she is passionate about people, food, and beverages. She’s specifically found enjoyment while learning about wine and offering her expertise to curate exceptional experiences for her patrons.

The Pennsylvania native, who previously spent more than ten years at 300 East, is planning our UP summer wine club selections. A member of Dogwood’s opening team in South Park, Clapsaddle started as a server in 2014 and has held various roles since then. She became general manager in 2021.

Unpretentious Palate: How did your career in hospitality begin?
Michele Clapsaddle: In high school, my very first job was to be the salad bar girl at this smorgasbord place that’s big in Pennsylvania and Maryland. I did deviate from it, but under the hospitality umbrella. When I came down here to go to college, I worked at a yogurt shop and I worked at the movie theater. Then, I worked at Olive Garden and met a lot of people. Some of them are still in my life, but people outgrew Olive Garden. They went out to other little independent restaurants. That’s how I got hooked up with 300 East. I started working at this really tiny little place called Palatable Pleasures in Atherton Mill. The owner got pushed out by other places which had greater volume because we only could seat25 people. Because I was in South End, I went across South Blvd and got a hosting job at 300 East. I met Catherine Coulter who owns 300 East. We learned a lot about wine there, we had a really great menu, and a fantastic clientele. It was really 12 great happy years.

UP: How does your prior experience influence your current work at Dogwood? 
MC: One thing I consider a very important tool to have in your manager’s toolbox is having worked the positions you are managing. I’ve been a bartender, I’ve been a server, I’ve been a host, and I’ve worked a line. Having that broad-based experience I think really helps you have empathy for what’s happening in all the other positions in the restaurant.

UP: What’s an important thing you learned from being on Dogwood’s opening team? 
MC: You think you know a lot then you are put into this variation of what you were doing and it’s different than you realize. I definitely had a lot to learn, especially about wine. Jon Dressler, owner of Rare Roots Hospitality, is very generous and he paid for us to attend wine classes. I soaked those up. Then I became the wine buyer. Reps would come  for wine tastings. I learned a lot that way. Being on an opening team helps you understand how they market the opening of a restaurant, how they staff and educate the opening of a restaurant. We had a very intense education period. We had classes every day for two weeks before we opened.

UP: How would you describe your approach to wine and wine selection? 
MC: I take a balanced approach. I’m in South Park where there are older people with very set palates, but we also want to appeal to a broader crowd. I have learned to buy things that are a little bit esoteric. When people have the wine menu and I’m walking by, I will stop and say I’m the wine director, can I help you pick anything out? I ask them, what do you normally drink? I give them options of what they are used to and I try to throw in something that is unique. Not everyone is going to drink Indian Chenin Blanc but I put that on the list by the glass and it’s my sweet option. If people come in and they want a Riesling, we can say ‘hey, we have this unique Indian Chenin Blanc. Let me taste you on that.’ That’s how you broaden people’s understanding of wine and appreciation of wine. I take a balanced approach to those traditions and forge ahead with some new stuff that’s a little bit outside of one’s comfort zone.

UP: What’s the most interesting wine you’ve come across this year? 
MC: I’d say Indian wines. I was introduced to Sula Chenin Blanc in 2021. A rep came to have me taste it, and it was delicious. I put it on the list by the bottle and it sold very little. Then, I had another rep from a different company bring in winemakers of Indian wine and I tasted the entire lineup. It was very educational, learning about wine production in India, which is very much off of the beaten path. Very educational for me. earning about Indian wines this past year has been a very interesting journey for me.

UP: Talk us through the experience and thought process of curating UP’s Summer 2023 UP Wine Club selections?
MC: I will have balance. My thought process is always to give something that offers broad appeal, give something that offers medium appeal, and then give something that offers a new adventure.

UP: What’s your favorite aspect of what you do? 
MC: Providing a really great experience where guests are happy and can’t wait to come back.