About me
Amy Racine is Beverage Director and Partner of JF Restaurants (JFR), Michelin-starred Chef John Fraser’s New York City-based, full-service hospitality group that operates creative F&B concepts across America. She is responsible for leading cocktail creation, curating unique wine lists, and working with the teams at each restaurant to preserve beverage programs of excellence.
Amy spearheads over a dozen unique national programs throughout JFR; Four programs at The Times Square EDITION – The Terrace & Outdoor Gardens, 701 West, The Lobby Bar and Paradise Club; a program that celebrates local Long Island wineries and distilleries at North Fork Table & Inn; a large selection of Greek and a definitive array of Turkish wines and cocktails at IRIS; three concepts at The Wall Street Hotel – including a premier French wine list and a vermouth-focused cocktail program at La Marchande; and is wine consultant at Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s Tatiana at Lincoln Center – named best restaurant of 2023 by The New York Times. Beyond the tristate area, Amy is behind the beverage programs at four concepts inside the Tampa EDITION – including the Michelin-starred Lilac, and JFR’s newest concepts at The Winthrop Center in Boston inclusive of The Lineup, a curated food hall and The Vermilion Club, a new modernized chophouse and bar.
Amy’s has earned Wine Spectator's “Award of Excellence” for Lilac at Tampa EDITION, Tatiana, POPULAR at The Public Hotel, IRIS, The Terrace & Outdoor Gardens, 701West, Ardor at West Hollywood EDITION, and North Fork Table & Inn and Wine Spectator's “Best Of” award for Dovetail and 701 West. Additional accolades include Esquire’s “Best Bars in America” at 701West, as well as Ardor’s nomination for “Best Cocktails” at Tales of the Cocktail (2022, 2023). Amy alone was named Esquire's “Beverage Director of the Year” (2021) and was nominated for “Sommelier/Beverage Director of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast (2023, 2024). She was listed in Quintessentially’s “Women to Know” (2023) and has been featured in The New York Times (2024), VinePair’s The Cocktail College (2024), Cheddar News (2023,) PIX 11 (2024,) along with several live streams including Esquire Takeover, Dine Around Downtown with Rocco DiSpirito.
Before embarking on a hospitality career that has taken her to restaurants, hotels, and resorts from coast to coast, Amy’s childhood was built around the dinner table in Cleveland, Ohio. Amy attended the Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park) for her Bachelor’s in Culinary Arts, followed by a year in the Accelerated Wine and Beverage Program at the Culinary Institute of America (Greystone) in Napa Valley, becoming immersed in winemaking culture. In 2011, she went on to be Wine Director of AMANGIRI resort in Utah before moving to San Francisco in 2012 as Beverage Director for Michelin-starred Sons & Daughters. Amy honed her pairing expertise, executing at a Michelin-star level, and progressed in her formal wine training to Level 3 of 4 (Advanced Sommelier) with The Court of Master Sommeliers as one of the youngest females to pass at the age of 24. In 2014, Amy was named one of the “Best New Sommeliers” by Wine & Spirits Magazine and a Zagat’s “30 Under 30” for San Francisco.
Craving the New York hustle and bustle, Amy became Wine Director at Chef John Fraser’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Dovetail, in 2016 – little did she know the extent of the 8-year journey she was about to embark on with the company.
