Rising Star Wine Director Brent Kroll of Neighborhood Restaurant Group - Biography

Brent Kroll’s restaurant experience has spanned the nation, thanks to time spent working for the Michael Mina Restaurant Group, which put him behind the corkscrew at Saltwater at the MGM Grand in Detroit, Bourbon Steak at the Fairmont Turnberry Country Club in Miami, and Casa Tua in South Beach, Miami. In 2008, this state-hopping somm and Michigan native then settled in Washington, D.C., and landed a position with renowned restaurateur Ashok Bajaj. Kroll oversaw the wine program at Ardeo/Bardeo and later at the Oval Room, where he met mentor Madeline Triffon, who instilled in him a deep-rooted sense of hospitality. In 2010, Kroll next accepted the position of wine director at Ardour at The St. Regis Hotel.

Today Kroll is the wine director for the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which includes nine distinctive chef-driven restaurants, a bakery, a butcher shop, and a retail wine shop. As wine director, Kroll oversees the wine programs at each of the groups concepts, creating compelling and distinctive beverage programs for restaurants such as Red Apron and Iron Gate, leading staff training, and creating singular beverage programming and events. He has been featured in The Washingtonian and DC Modern Luxury. Kroll competed like a champ in both 2010 and 2011 StarChefs.com Somm Slams at the International Chefs Congress.