treznor

I just moved my collection from DC to NC. Mine was small enough (~60 bottles) that I just packed them in some moving boxes with copious amounts of paper wrapped around each bottle and bunched up in between the bottles. Luckily the weather was quite cold at the time (we were moving mid/late February when there was snow on the ground). From what I've tasted so far I haven't noticed any particular damage, but heat wasn't an issue for as because of the weather, only the shock of all the vibration. We did basically go on a moratorium on buying wine for a couple months prior to moving though. Since we drink 2-4 bottles between myself and my GF a week when I'm home that helped cut down the amount we needed to move as well.

Yes, Steingarten is always that big of an ass. I believe they added Sodium Alginate to the wine sauce to go with the yogurt. They mentioned sodium alginate earlier in the show and that's its purpose, though I don't think they discussed that on the show.

I did like that Majestic Cafe offered a couple Virginian wines (I believe they offered the Linden Cabernet Franc and possibly 1-2 others). No other reason than that I like to see Virginian wines gaining acceptance and that there are at least a couple that can cut it.

I may or may not know where a couple mason jars of old-timey apple brandy are located at. I do know that it has a kick that will put hair on a mule's chest.

I have one that no one else has brought up yet that I've seen: raw tomato. My parents have always had a vegetable garden and tomatoes are one of those things you always end up with too many of if you grow them, so it probably stems from that, but to this day I can't eat raw tomato. The taste itself just grosses me out. I've grown out of almost all of the foods that I wouldn't eat though tomato remains. Oddly though I'll eat tomato ketchup, tomato soup, salsa (even chunky salsa, though I don't like it nearly as much as salsa that isn't chunky), but not raw tomato and not tomato juice. My parents have always pointed out that tomato juice and tomato soup are not far apart from each other but I just can't explain it. The only other thing that I just won't eat is cucumbers/pickles, but it doesn't extend nearly as far as my hatred of the raw tomato. In recent years though I've gotten over my dislike of onions and non-spicy peppers (I've always liked spicy peppers). My technique was to just tell myself I liked them and to get over it. It's actually worked pretty well.

Last time (okay, only time) that I went to the DC Improv we ate at Famous Luigi's, on 19th St between L and M. I'm not saying it's great, but it's not bad. Didn't seem to have too much of a problem with our reservation for 10 so I'm guessing they can handle 15.

I think Reston Limo may do wine tours. Not sure, just something I think I remember seeing out at the wineries, haven't actually tried them.

Another thing that I like to think about when I'm buying something from someone (as opposed to a company who's sole purpose is to sell me things) is "Why are they selling this to me?" Is it something benign (owner moved away, owner retiring, (god forbid) owner death, etc.) or something malign (owner knows that the largest account just cancelled, owner knows that a panera (or some other competitor) is coming in which will eat into profits, etc.)? Knowing their motivation in selling the business can give alot of information about whether or not the price is fair (or whether any price at all would be fair). If a reason can't be determined, that could be a red flag.

Bilrus, nothing fancy, just what it sounds like... Valet service during lunch. Alot of restaurants that have valet for dinner do not have it for lunch.

When it gets warmer they have 4 tables outside as well... which would help lighten the load but I think the warmer temperature draws out more people so it may end up not helping after all. I don't think I've ever sat in the cafe (in 4 tries or so) without at least an hour wait. But if you go into it with that understanding then there won't be a problem :-) There's plenty to do in the area if you don't want to wait in the bar and the hosts have always been more than happy to take my cell number if I don't want to wait in the bar.

Scene: Last night, sitting at the bar having dinner Bartender A: What would you like tonight (after showing me the menu, etc)? Me: I'll have the risotto of the day. (wait for a bit) Server: Here's your risotto, sir. Me: Thanks. (wait for a bit while I'm eating) Bartender B: (bends down to get a good look at my plate) What's that? Me: Umm, the risotto of the day. Bartender B: Hmm, never seen that before. Seriously? You've worked in Bebo longer than 5 minutes and haven't seen anyone order the risotto? Now granted it was an oddish purple color (still not sure which of the cheeses in the 4-cheese risotto would do that so I surmise that the first bartender may have gotten the risotto of the day wrong, but it was good so I didn't care all that much), but still. And asking the customer what it is that they ordered from your restaurant? You'd think he'd at least ask one of the other bartenders or something. I thought it odd more than anything else. I'm pretty sure he was a trainee of some sort as basically the only job he had was to wash the barware and refill water while the other two bartenders helped the customers, but I did think it pretty funny. I learned from my mistakes in the past and only sit at the bar. The food is good enough that I do find myself craving it every now and then (especially since it's accesible to where we used to live and where I stay now when I'm in town) but not enough to subject myself to the service in the main seating area. Service in the bar has always been fine for the most part.

So the alternative is to what? Not eat lunch? I guess they should just all schlep over to Qdoba or something, eh? For many companies for a person to charge in an expense they need a receipt showing the amount of the expenditure. The IRS does as well. While it is extremely annoying for the server, the group asked ahead of time and evidently was told that it could be done. If this is the case I can see absolutely no reason for the server or manager to be upset when they were asked earlier to do something and they then agreed to do it. With the company I work for one person more than likely would have picked up the tab if it were being charged to the company but who knows what this company's policies are. While I do think it's somewhat reprehensible for a group of 13 to ask for separate checks and wouldn't do it myself, I also think it's somewhat reprehensible for a restaurant to state that they will do something (which they evidently did in this case) and then try and weasel out of doing it. It doesn't particularly look great on either party...

Just got back from Eve... to tipsy and full to really describe each course, but each course (and pairing...) that came out I kept saying "this is among the best I've had." Of particular note were the canapes (I loved the ham and cheese fritata-thing, PJASchultz loved the pork terrine), the sweetbreads (my first time... WOW! Though PJASchultz didn't particularly like them), the veal with 100 year-old balsamic, the gorgonzola dolce, and the goat cheese "creme brulee".

From the intro to the chat:

There is no such thing as a "partially opened restaurant". Either they should be open or not. If they allow you in the restaurant they should have someone to make sure things are going okay. If they were closing for the afternoon, the person on the phone could have easily said "We're currently open, but will be closing in 30 minutes (or 45 or whatever) until 5pm when we reopen for dinner". It's just not that hard.

The only two that I've been two are Edy's and ?? The Chicken House ?? that are right across from each other on 7 near Bailey's Crossroads. Edy's is our favorite and we go somewhat frequently, primarily because the choice of sides is a bit larger at Edy's compared to The Chicken House I believe. Edy's also has a large selection of deserts that all look delicious (and the few we've tried have all been delicious though I don't specifically remember what we've had).

Alladin's is the Middle East place. It's not bad, I pop in every now and then for lunch (I work at L'enfant so every now and then we'll hope in a car and hit up a place along 395). Not great, but not bad. I wouldn't bother with Extra Virgin. We've been once and everything was fairly bland and just generally not good. I'd rather eat at the Bungalow, which is saying alot considering it's the pool hall place down the road. And I don't remember their food being good. But hey, at least they aren't trying to make it look like they try, unlike Extra Virgin...

Good catch bilrus. I read it and didn't even notice.

I believe it was a take on Seoul sounding like soul :-) Very punny Jacques, very punny indeed!

Me neither, I've always liked it the few times I've been in. However, they seem to be out of the Bourbon Oatmeal Stout that they brew pretty frequently. I tried to get it a couple times I was in and they never had it. Has anyone had it? Is it worth checking for it?

Other than the very high prices in wine ($33 markup on a $9 bottle of wine is a bit much, regardless of storage costs, etc.), the short ribs that were both cold for one person as well as not cooked long enough, the tiny salmon tartare, and the evidently not all that friendly manager? If I really wanted to go it wouldn't make me not go, but it certainly doesn't make me rush to get back to Colvin Run. I went once a couple years ago and my experience was similar. The exact details have been long since forgotten (which is why I've never posted anything as it occured prior to my joining here) but I do remember what seemed like high wine prices and food that just didn't wow me at all.

I went to Vidalia on Monday this RW. We'd been to Vidalia in the past and neither of us thought it was quite as good as when it's not during RW, but we both still thought it quite good (and the mac and cheese friggin' ridiculously gooey and creamy cheesy goodness). Granted we were taking a little bit longer than normal to order and the server was pushing us along a bit, but other than that I didn't notice anything at all that was wrong service-wise. I know some people fault them for offering dishes at an upcharge but personally I like to see it. They have a good selection of dishes with no upcharge and they include a couple more with an upcharge so people can try them if they'd like. What I do not like to see is restaurants that only have 1 or 2 choices that don't have an upcharge, but I believe Vidalia probably had 4-5 apps and 5-6 entrees without an upcharge.

Just flew American this morning for this first time in months. After look at Benny's and the other options, I resigned myself to skipping breakfast and waiting until I landing in STL to pick something up. The "organic" freestanding kiosk in the USAir terminal has some decent stuff. I picked up some yogurt covered pretzels that were pretty good to snack on. I'm pretty sure that most of the stuff they sell isn't the mass-market stuff, whether or not that speaks to quality I'm not certain. DCA

I've been to Butterfield 9 twice now for lunch and both times wondered why it wasn't talked about more. My group at work always goes out for lunch on Friday for Restaurant Week and it usually falls to me to find a reservation. Getting a reservation for 8 to 16 on the Friday of Restaurant Week only a week or two in advance (because we tend to never plan properly) can be a bit tough. As DanielK noted, the Butterfield 9 dining room is quite roomy and thus they were able to accomodate us on fairly short notice (only a couple days) twice. We haven't been back in two years or so as we try and go to somewhere different each time. I don't remember the rest of the menu that we had either time we went, other than it was all very good, but the butternut squash soup I do remember, even two years later. It was lusciously creamy and yet still tasted very much of squash as opposed to the cream. I believe at that time there was a dollop of cream fraiche on the soup and underneath a few chips of applewood smoked bacon. Everyone at the table that got it loved it.

It's out of the blue as you have no way of determining if it's the restaurant or someone who got a hold of the restaurant's reservation book. I more than likely would say that I would call them back and do so in the next 5 minutes for the number that I have for them. One other thing that I do in situations like this is to create a limited-time credit card number. A number of credit cards have this feature I believe, mine from MBNA (CC is now owned by Bank of America I believe) does. Basically you go online and generate a CC number, an expiration, and a limit. When you use this CC number if goes directly to your actual CC but basically you are limiting the length of time the CC number can be used and the amount that can be put on it. My primary purpose to use it in the past was for trial memberships for whatever online. I'd put the limit at $1 or $5 or whatever the trial cost and then if I didn't want to continue using the service they couldn't "accidently" forget to cancel the service and charge me. At this point the CC number that the restaurant couldn't really be used to charge you if you don't show up... of course the very fact that you were willing to go through the couple extra minutes to do this means you'd probably show up anyway :-)