Tom Meek writes:
Post LM
led to unfruitful years in college that had me wondering what’s next. I
spent a year working in Pittsburgh then my father’s career had them leaving
Ardmore for Los Angeles. It was an opportunity I couldn’t resist.
LA was a
good place to reinvent myself. It was also a great place to be in my 20’s.
Playing lacrosse 10 months of the year (until I was 35), hanging
out with friends at Hermosa Beach, hiking in the San Gabriel mountains,
enjoying the 80’s LA music scene and working, though not yet hitting my
stride career wise.
After ten
years I moved with a girlfriend to San Francisco, where she was from and
starting law school. Living in The City was great fun too. Living life
without needing a car was novel. Great markets and restaurants, hiking the
Golden Gate and Marin Headlands, cocktails on the Larkspur ferry.
A marriage
and divorce had me longing to leave the field of business management which
was unfulfilling in every way imaginable. It wasn’t scratching my creative
itch.
That’s
when I made the bold decision to go back to school - in my 40’s, no less -
to enter the California Culinary Academy in SF. It turned out to be the best
decision of my life. Finally pursuing a career track that had me jazzed.
After
getting my degree, I cooked at a highly regarded Cal-Provençal bistro for a
year to gain “back of the house” experience and to further refine my palate.
By this point I had become determined to enter the wine business.
Working in
SF at one of the nation’s best wine shops gave me the chance to taste
through hundreds of wines and expand my palate. It was a great experience.
The year
2000 had me moving back to Philly where I had previously set up my widowed
Mom on Rittenhouse Square. It was there that I decided to take the challenge
of becoming a sommelier. After a short stint at a fine dining restaurant I
was hired as sommelier at Brassiere Perrier then promoted as same at Le Bec
Fin.
Working
with the professionals at Le Bec Fin was an invaluable experience. While
there, I had the privilege of being nominated by the James Beard Foundation
as one of the top five sommeliers in America in 2002.
However, I
wanted to get back to retail where the hours were more normal and the
setting more conducive to spending time with customers and product. It also
provided more liberty to travel frequently to trade tasting events in New
York where I could find the variety of small producers and natural wines I
desired.
Because of
PA’s archaic laws I finished my wine career working as a wine director at a
couple retail markets in NJ. Working in this arena was so much fun,
enormously fulfilling, providing numerous travel opportunities to Europe to
visit wine producing regions. It never felt like I worked a day in my life.
I loved
living in Center City and my old home on Wynnewood Rd is now owned by my
childhood friend which gave me the chance to “go back home” repeatedly, but
in 2013 I moved to Buffalo, NY. This beautiful, recovering rust belt city
has been a blast to retire to as real estate costs then were so advantageous
that I found an awesome Arts & Crafts home on a great street and
neighborhood.
My
passions have moved on from lacrosse to wine to gardening now. Eighty indoor
plants and a front and rear garden loaded with thriving spring bulbs and
native plants. I also keep busy with occasional restoration projects.
Otherwise,
I love to take road-trips which involve visiting cities with interesting art
museums and worthy dining destinations. My life is shared with my beautiful
and brilliant girlfriend Felicia (an Oklahoma native) and the cutest rescue
tabby, Twiggy.
My 9th grade ID photo from ArdmoreJr High:
Me
today:
My girlfriend Felicia:
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