How to Make Posh Nosh at Home

Caviar and nuggets is not exactly a new idea. Rihanna has been openly, loudly devoted to McNuggets for years, name-checking them in interviews and on red carpets long before the internet caught up. She asked for a Rihanna Meal before the Super Bowl and has been photographed clutching the little cardboard box like it was couture. Martha Stewart, for her part, has never been shy about her own McDonald's habit, ordering it straight from the drive-thru with the same ease she brings to a twelve-course dinner party. Some of the most glamorous people on the planet keep telling us the same thing in their own language: luxury and comfort belong on the same plate.

And last Valentine's Day, McDonald's finally leaned fully into the joke with a limited-run nugget-and-caviar kit in collaboration with Caviar Russe, which sold out in hours and broke the internet in the way only a truly absurd, truly delicious idea can.

We watched the whole thing unfold and thought: yes, but with sparkling wine. And with caviar we believe in. And at the Château, where the flowers are blooming in the vineyard rows and the patio is calling your name.

Come see us Monday through Friday for the full experience, or pour yourself a glass of Ultra Brut at home and make a gourmet version in your own kitchen.

Part of what we love about this dish is how flexible it is. Make the nuggets from scratch if you are in the mood to fry (see our recipe below), grab a bag of frozen nuggets from the freezer section, or pick up an order from your favorite comfort spot on the way home. It all works. And honestly, this is the kind of meal that practically begs to be made for the kids in your life, with their plain nuggets and tots on one side of the table and your caviar-crowned, crème-fraîche-dolloped, Ultra Brut-paired grown-up version on the other. Everyone wins.

• 1 lb ground chicken
• Garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, celery salt
• Cornstarch (about 1½ cups) and all-purpose flour (about 1¼ cups)
• 1 egg and 1½ cups cold soda water
• Neutral oil, for frying
• 1 bag frozen tater tots
• ½ cup crème fraîche
• 1 lemon
• Fresh dill and green onion
• Flaky salt and pepper
• 1 jar Tsar Nicoulai Classic Caviar
• Domaine Carneros Ultra Brut

Everything you need for your own Monday-night Rihanna moment:

• Shape the nuggets.Combine 1 pound ground chicken with 1 tablespoon each garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and celery salt, plus salt and pepper. Mix gently, scoop into nugget-size portions on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze for 20 minutes so they hold their shape.
• Mix the dry dredge. Whisk ½ cup cornstarch with ½ cup flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl.
• Mix the wet batter. Whisk 1 cup cornstarch, ¾ cup flour, and 1 tablespoon each onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika with salt and pepper. Whisk in 1½ cups cold soda water and 1 egg until smooth, adding up to ¼ cup more soda water until the batter coats a spoon but still drips in a ribbon.
• Bread them. Roll each chilled nugget through the dry mix, then the wet batter, letting the excess slip off.
• Double-fry. Heat neutral oil to 325°F in a heavy-bottomed pot. Fry in batches for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden, rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then bring the oil up to 375°F and fry again for 1 to 2 minutes until deeply crisp. Drain and season with flaky salt.
• Handle the tots. Make them from scratch if you are feeling ambitious, or crisp a bag of good frozen tots in a hot oven or air fryer until the edges are deep brown and the centers are creamy. This is not the moment for kitchen snobbery.
• Whip the house sauce. Stir ½ cup crème fraîche with 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon finely chopped dill, 1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onion, and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust until it is bright, herbaceous, and cool.
• Crown the plate. Pile the nuggets and tots onto a platter, spoon the sauce into a small bowl alongside, and open your jar of Tsar Nicoulai Classic Caviar. Top each bite with a little sauce and a little caviar, and a splash of lemon if you desire. Finish with extra green onion if you are feeling generous.
• Pour the Ultra Brut. Chill and pour into two glasses. This wine sings with green apple, citrus pith, wet-stone minerality, and a long finish built to pair with salt and fat and brine. Sip first, then bite, then sip again. The wine tastes rounder on the second pass, fuller somehow, the caviar and the sparkling wine doubling down on each other in the most flattering possible way.
• Set the mood. Pour a second glass. Queue up Rihanna. Invite one friend who will fully appreciate the absurdity and delight of eating nuggets and caviar on the same fork.

The caviar deserves its own moment. Tsar Nicoulai is a California-based producer and one of the pioneers of sustainable farm-raised caviar in the United States, working out of the Sacramento Valley for decades. Their Classic tin is clean, briny, and buttery in all the right ways, with the kind of pure, oceanic finish that makes you understand why caviar has been a luxury worth obsessing over for centuries. We are proud to pour alongside it. Tsar Nicoulai tins are also available online and for purchase at the winery, so you can take the experience home with you.