Meet The Team
Eugenio Jardim
Benjamin Lacey
Monique A McCambridge
And Our Brewer
Jessica Lehr
Eugenio Jardim
A native of Brazil, Jardim moved to San Francisco in 1988. He worked at several of the top restaurants in the city and while continuing his education in food and wine, he passed the Court of Master Sommeliers Introductory Course with a special commendation.
With the opening of Eos Restaurant and Wine Bar in San Francisco in 1995, he had the opportunity to co-create one of the most cutting-edge wine programs in the country. From 2001 to 2013, Jardim held the Wine Director position at one of San Francisco’s iconic restaurants Jardinière.
In 2010 Sunset Magazine named Eugenio Sommelier of The Year!
From 2001 until 2003 he taught an immensely popular class at the University of Berkeley Extension on the Wines of America and Europe.
In 2015, Jardim was selected to become the first Wines of Portugal US Ambassador overseeing and supporting Portugal’s education and marketing initiatives in the USA. He is also the Acting Director of Wine Studies at the San Francisco Cooking School and is Adjunct Professor at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) Greystone Napa Valley.
Apart from his work in restaurants, Jardim became a featured guest sommelier and speaker at many national and international wine competitions and conferences. He has also acted as a judge and panelist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Wine and Spirits Magazine, Dallas Morning News, Bon Appétit, Sunset Magazine, TEXSOM and the Portugal Challenge Wine Competition in Lisbon. He was also the wine expert of the popular PBS weekly television series Joanne Weir Cooking Class.
Benjamin Lacey
As the Operations hub of WiFi Wine Time, Ben Lacey is your day-to-day contact for all events. He moved to San Francisco in 2014 from Harrogate, North Yorkshire in his native England for adventure, and to explore more of the country he fell in love with on a road-trip vacation years before.
For the past 20 years, Ben has been working in the world of Brand Design, specifically focused on packaging, and running operations for creative studios, most recently here in the US for Sterling Brands. His career in design started straight out of college with a job in a studio producing vinyl graphics and large-format printed signage for museums, stage events and conferences. Following a 2-year stint gaining experience working client-side as a Brand Design Manager for a leading UK supermarket, Ben moved back to the agency life that he loves. Since then, Ben has overseen creative operations for agencies in Leeds, Hull, London, San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati and New York.
Having studied at Leeds College of Music, Ben always says that everything he learned playing Jazz serves him well in the fast-paced world: organization, leadership, the capacity to work well with others, great timing, and the ability to improvise!
Monique A McCambridge
Monique McCambridge was born a long, long time ago in New Orleans, Louisiana where she began her hospitality career working nights at the Intercontinental Hotel in Room Service as a high school senior. After graduation and college out of state, McCambridge made her way out west to San Francisco. Once in SF, Monique was part of the opening staff of a number of notable eateries including Rubicon where she ultimately became assistant general manager in charge of service - garnering a 3.5 star review that year in the SF Chronicle.
After Rubicon, Monique was hired by the legendary restaurateur, Ed Moose as the general manager of his flagship restaurant, Mooses’s in the city’s North Beach district which attracted mayors, senators, sports stars, musicians, writers, celebrities and artists.
Monique ventured back into fine dining as the general manager of Jardiniére where she oversaw busy nights of opera openings, ballet galas and service until the birth of her first child. After a short break, MAM (as by now, she is affectionately called by staff and friends) returned as the director of special event sales, growing the restaurant’s event capacity and annual revenue to record levels.
Most recently, MAM has transitioned into office administration, supported C-level executives, and hosted a multitude of corporate outings and employee parties.
When not organizing offices or planning events, you can find Monique enjoying wine and food with her social bubble or completing DIY projects with her two teenagers at home.
Jessica Lehr
When a family friend retired from his home-brewing journey and passed all of his equipment to 22 year old Jessica, she very quickly realized she had something here - something that she would want to do for the rest of her life.
Blessed with all of the tools to dive right in, Jessica began her journey by brewing copy-cat beers that she enjoyed drinking. Unlike many stories of people embarking into first attempts at brewing every batch that Lehr would make, even with learning from mistakes in the process, turned into delicious, drinkable beer. Instantly engulfed with passion, Lehr could be found constantly brewing, reading, crafting her own recipes and generally geeking-out on the golden fizzy beverage.
Bartending at the time, the bar owners expanded to a second location, Topsy’s in San Francisco. The new liquor license authorized brewing and sale of beer on the premises, and aware that Lehr had been home brewing for 3 years the owners gave her the opportunity of running the show. During construction, Lehr enrolled in the Business of Beer with the Food Craft Institute and became immersed in the business of brewing, even brewing commercially with some of the elites: Magnolia’s, Uncommon Brewers and Beach Chalet.
Lehr constructed the basement brewery from the ground up, everything from the tiling, electricity as well as all the new tank equipment, and in 2015 they opened to great success.
Always looking to put a fun twist on the styles of beer she was brewing, Lehr began harvesting the famous Bay Area fog as a partial water source for her creations! Built out on a farm by the coast nets resembling volley ball nets were set up, and as the fog would pass through them dew droplets could collect and fall into a filtered water collector she designed. Super inventive, super sustainable, unique and a great way to make the beer super local!
Customers loved the beer and style that she was brewing, and she was recognized as the first commercial female brewer in San Francisco.