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Keithstg

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Everything posted by Keithstg

  1. Keithstg
    Insurance for wine (which I have and highly recommend) will not cover "flawed bottles". Breakage, theft, cooling unit failure - yes. Heat Damage, TCA, etc - no. Standard whether through Chubb, Fireman's fund, or one of the online options. Reimbursements/ returns are much easier for new/ recent release wines like the 2012 Chards dinwiddie is talking about, but often not on older bottles.
  2. Keithstg
    I'm not in the industry. And, I'm not suggesting that corkage is something that one shouldn't "take advantage of", but rather that many in the wine community expect more out of corkage policies than is reasonable - and that reflects poorly on the hobby as a whole. Regarding "bad bottles", seems that as with many things, the risk increases with age. I was at Bern's in Tampa a few weeks ago and had a bad bottle - it was replaced without a second thought. Were I to have walked downstairs and pulled a similar bottle at my home (if I had the same bottle), it would have been a large, large, large bummer and I would be out my initial investment.
  3. Keithstg
    Fair enough, as this isn't really about proof, Per Se (which has either $95 or $150 corkage now). I completely agree that corkage is a privilege, as is your patronizing a business. What I react to is when folks (and this is absolutely more about wineberserkers than it is here) want corkage on their terms, with their parameters, and think that anything less is an insult. You mention risk briefly, but I don't think you are valuing it highly enough. As you note, If you open a corked or maderized bottle at a restaurant, they assume risk. If you take that same bottle from your home cellar, who assumes that risk? Sure, you can try and bring the bottle back through the supply chain and may well be able to do so with a recent release - but with a bottle bought at auction or on release and then aged for 15 years? Good luck, and good luck to the restaurant as well. Businesses have been charging premiums for absorbing risk for centuries - why should wine be any different (in addition to glassware, breakage, storage, and other costs that the restaurant absorbs)? I get that everyone has some sort of internal value system re: markups, but to complain about wine markups AND corkage fees? Just eat at home with that middling bottle of Cali pinot...
  4. Keithstg
    Please don't take this the wrong way Pool Boy, but not only is $40 corkage not usurious, it's a privilege. I'm not taking issue with your post, but with the attitude toward corkage in general (and certainly not your attitude in particular ). I understand it to some degree - I enjoy wine and have about 1k bottles sleeping in my home cellar. What I don't enjoy is the sense of entitlement that comes with many who enjoy our hobby that corkage is a right and that right should come cheaply. It's even worse on the wine board I follow, where some guy just took Corduroy to task for following their house policy on corkage and not allowing another bottle to be consumed. Apparently sticking to a corkage policy isn't "gracious" or something. The most frequent comments I see regarding wine and corkage relate to restaurant markups vs. retail - what astonishes me is that nobody seems to acknowledge that a restaurant isn't a retail setting in the sense that Schneider's is. I mean, what's next - am I going to walk into some steakhouse with either my local pastured beef from Martin's or with Bryan Flannery's excellent prime beef and demand it be cooked because it's superior to what I can purchase on-site? Anyway, rant over. Maybe I'll understand corkage one day... ETA: funny that this was my 666th post...
  5. Keithstg
    When was this? Could have been Michele's, or possibly Burning Tree.
  6. Keithstg
    The two are unrelated (also speculation, but informed rather than semi unless huge changes have occurred).
  7. Keithstg
    Do bar tabs count as covers? I doubt it, and think that's a significant portion of revenue that isn't showing up in their per check averages - potentially anyway. And sure, over 19 meals a week, I could see that.
  8. Keithstg
    Maybe at Old Ebbitt? That's the only place that I could think of...
  9. Keithstg
    Agreed. There is still wine to buy - if it's on the website, it should be available.
  10. Keithstg
    My source is the horse's mouth, sadly... http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=110257
  11. Keithstg
    You know that Match is closing, right? Anyway, I've consolidated my lists, so now just multiple case buys per year from the following: Copain Littorai Radio Coteau (solely Las Colinas and La Neblina - don't find their single vineyards to have the sense of place that, say, Wells's do) Realm RdV (though not technically an email list)
  12. Keithstg
    Was just coming here to post this link. Totally unsurprising. The numbers may (will?) drop as FF ages, but this was an obvious hit from the get-go.
  13. Keithstg
    Wow - infanticide on the 2011 Littorai. I still have half my '06 R-C's, need to taste through them soon. Very interested to know what you thought of the K-B. My impression of older K-B's ('04) was that they were hot, alcoholic messes and not made to age - kind of like a Martinelli or Brewer Clifton "pinot". How was your experience?
  14. Keithstg
    +600. After having a cheaper Revereware stockpot and waiting forever for it to heat up, I went to the 8 quart All Clad and have been happy ever since. I would highly recommend, although I would avoid the "ltd" line if you ever envision using induction in your kitchen as they are incompatible...
  15. Keithstg
    Yep, you are correct - Tenleytown it is. Sorry for the confusion.
  16. Keithstg
    I understand what you are saying - heck, I eat at least 8-10 restaurant meals a week so I feel your pain, or palate fatigue. That said, there is a fine line between "originality" and keeping the lights on and the staff paid - everything is a compromise.
  17. Keithstg
    Absolutely! Loved it there. Also, the independent cinema in Van Ness, next to where Le Chat Noir is now. Saw a great documentary on Hank Greenberg there...
  18. Keithstg
    Where Komi is now! Used to be a trattoria owned (or managed, but it was called Vivo! by Roberto Donna) by Roberto Donna back in his salad days. It closed in 2004.
  19. Keithstg
    Born in Hartford, CT. Split time in between the Hartford area and NYC growing up until I left for high school in Windsor, CT. Fun fact: both Jeremiah Tower and Frank Bruni are fellow Loomis alums. Next stop was four years in upstate NY for college (shout out to youngfood, who is also a Hamilton alum and DR.com member). Moved to Alexandria after graduation - lasted there about four months before I got the heck out of the 395 corridor and into the District proper. Spent four years in Dupont - the back door to my condo building opened basically across from Vivo! tratorria at the time (anybody know what restaurant is in that space now?). Left for a year in NYC due to work (back on weekends), came back and moved to Capitol Hill. Spent seven years in Capitol Hill at Lincoln Park and watched a near complete transformation of the neighborhood. Spent a year in Boston (back on weekends), then another year in NY (same deal). Now I split time between NYC (Tribeca) and Paris, VA, where we moved two and a half years ago. The one constant over the years - every summer (37 and counting) spent on a tiny island off of the coast of Maine.
  20. Keithstg
    I also enjoyed this feature (and am late in replying to the thread). I very surprised that not a single caterer came in on budget, and one exceeded the 1k budget by 30%?!?!
  21. Keithstg
    It's real. Vittorio Testa used to run another Italian restaurant in either Vienna or McLean prior to opening La Perla. The name of it escapes me (as does the location, apparently), but I did eat there once - it was fine. Food was in the style of upscale Italian restaurants in the 80s... Like nearly everyone else here, I haven't been to La Perla.
  22. Keithstg
    I also doubt Baltimore can support a Four Seasons long term. I have stayed at that property approx 10-15 nights a year since it opened and while nice, it's never more than 1/2 full, to say nothing of the goat rodeo that has been the condo project there. While I agree that Harbor East is affluent, it's what, a three/ four block radius? I also agree that the Four Seasons location was likely not a help versus a "neighborhood" location. Not to say that Baltimore can't/ won't get there, just that the dining scene there is in its infancy compared to Washington (apologies to Spike Gjerdje and Cindy Wolf).
  23. Keithstg
    I'm speculating just as much as you are, but Baltimore and DC are vastly different markets despite their proximity. Not super surprised that Baltimore couldn't support an izakaya.
  24. Keithstg
    Anyone know of a local source (DC or VA, no MD) for piment d'espelette?
  25. Keithstg
    Mine were as follows: New York - Carbone and Charlie Bird - Charlie Bird was good, but seriously: Batard. Go NOW. VA: Ashby Inn (multiple trips, but the first tasting menu we had with Chef Dunlap was the highlight of all of them - probably in Jan or Feb 2014) DC: Fiola Mare ME: Sweet Peas (sorry we didn't say hi again, Edan - see you next summer?) Of all locations, best meal was Batard.
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