jiveturk21

Most people dislike Scott Boras, but he's damn good at his job. His media friends hint at the fact that the Yankees offered Gerrit Cole 7 years, $245M (which isn't true). Magically a few days later his other client (Stephen Strasburg) signs for 7 years, $245M because the market had been set by that other fake offer. And now Boras can use Strasburg's offer as a starting point for any offer to Cole. Cole will get $300M, you can book it.

I was at games 3 and 4. It was awesome! But, to be clear, I'm a Yankees fan from birth. And, the primary reason why I bought tickets, and went to the games, was so I could more easily buy World Series tickets if the Yankees (hopefully) make it. And, even though I'm a Yankees fan, I love baseball and commonly will find myself watching random Mariners vs. A's games deep into the night for no reason at all. So, being at games 3 and 4 was satisfying for a lot of reasons.

My friend recently purchased four bottles of Pappy Van Winkle. Instead of us just sitting around the house and drinking it (and eating cheez-its), we would like the ability to bring our bottles to a restaurant and eat some great food while drinking our bourbon. I have reached out to some restaurants and got a quick "no" because of "laws" or something silly like that. So, I was hoping that someone on this board would see my post, take pity on us, and invite us to your fine establishment. There are 8 of us (4 couples). The husbands will be drinking the bourbon, our wives will drink copious amounts of wine (we won't bring that). We are open to any type of food, no allergies, no dislikes. We are flexible on dates and times, but likely want to stick to a Friday or Saturday night. We don't need a private table or room, but aren't opposed to it if you think it would be better than having us drinking out in the open. Please PM me if you can help us out. Thanks Tony

Completely true story. The first time that I went to Santini's (many years ago in Oakton), the guy at the counter in front of me order a "hot Jersey boy." While it likely only took me a split second to figure out what was happening, when I look back on it, I feel as though it played in slow motion in my head for several minutes before I understood what the hell was going on. I like Santini's. I have been to three locations (Oakton, Herndon, Chantilly). It has always been solid, although there is inconsistency from location to location, day to day (sometimes it is great, sometimes it isn't). They have those spicy curly fries too, takes me back to my high school cafeteria.

Went with a large group on Monday night. We got there early (5:30 PM) and it was President's Day and there was snow on the ground, so we had the run of the restaurant for a while. Service was great, I would say it was nearly perfect. Food was close to that level as well, particularly the sweetbreads, duck confit and pecan shortbread. Bar was limited, but had good choices. Limited selection on the wine list as well, but again, pretty good choices (although I always want a larger wine list). When it comes down to it, this is the best restaurant that I have been to all year at this point. I won't say that it is at the top level of restaurants in the area, but it isn't trying to be that either. Almost perfect for what it is.

I don't like Nina or Nick, as I stated earlier, but I think that this decision clearly came down to which judge has the most pull (in this case, Tom Collicchio). When it comes down to a close decision, someone is going to get their way, and Tom got his way. I don't think this is particularly good or bad, that is the way it is when the vote is that close.

Man, people really hate on Pinotage! I know that I've had it, likely several times, but I have no opinion of it one way or another.

My life is pretty much an open book (not just on this forum where no one knows me, but in my real life as well). I am able to do this, for the most part, because I have pretty much done very little in my life that would be considered "wrong." I'm a goodie-two-shoes, not sure where the hell that came from in my family tree.

I am probably the most judgmental person in the world and I simply cannot get past some of the comments that Nina made early in the season. I am likely exaggerating the exact amount of times she said this, but I swear that three or four episodes in a row she blurted out "suck a d*ck" or suck my d*ck" or some version of that. While I am shocked that they didn't bleep it out on TV, I am just personally freaked out hearing that from someone on TV (particularly a woman). And, yes, call me sexist from saying that it is worse hearing that from a woman as opposed to a man, but it just is (according to me).

The commercials were a particularly bad crop this year because I don't remember many of the ones that you have mentioned upthread. The one that I liked the most was the Carmax slow clap commerical (mostly because the guy's kid fell off his bike because he started to slow clap). My friends loved the Radio Shack commerical, I was less impressed. From an advertisers point of view, and I am not one, I think that the Sodastream commerical was good because they showed how easy the product is to use. Finally, lots of people raved about the Esurance commercial that was on right after the game ended, thankfully I was fast asleep by then.

The chefs this season, for the most part, seem pretty good, but two of my least favorite contestants are in the finale. It's like if the Red Sux and the Patriots somehow ended up in the NBA Finals against each other. I would say that if I were a chef, this season would have been a good one to be on because I feel like they had a lot more "social time" than in past seasons.

I never stole anything from a restaurant, but I had a friend that did it a lot when we were in college and for a bit once we graduated. The crap he stole was terrible and, if I were him, I would have been embarassed to open my kitchen cabinet and have 50 random glasses from random restaurants. Once I seriously considered stealing a sign from Denny's that said "Mom's Cherry Pie." It was a big sign that stood on it's own (pop-out style). I decided against it because I couldn't deal with the thought of my mother wacking me upside the head if I got arrested for doing it.

My dry cleaner of choice used to be $1.75 DryClean. When they changed their pricess to $1.99, and didn't change their name accordingly, I stopped going there. They did a pretty crappy job on the clothes (which is why I really left), but I couldn't get over the fact that the name no longer corresponded to the price. I would be wary with the name of this restaurant if it does, in fact, coincide with the price point.

Of the big three - Papa John's, Domino's, Pizza Hut - I like Papa John's the most. I also like it better than the wide variety of other pizza delivery that I have gotten over the years at my house - Vocelli, Angelico, Pizza Boli's, Paisano's, etc. That isn't saying much though, as evidenced by the fact that we last ordered pizza to our house, I think, five years ago.

That's too bad. There are other Thai places that we go to close to our house, but if we ever wanted to eat outside, we often went to Cee (maybe four or five times a year). Their food and service have always been good and, for a while, their wine list was light years ahead of most suburban Asian restaurants. The wine list got worse every time I went there, but it was still much better than other competitors.

I am not a cocktail aficionado (I like to drink them, but don't know a lot about them), but I have often wondered what I can reasonably expect a bartender to make. As you mention, this is definitely dependent on the place you are at, as I would never expect a bartender at Ruby Tuesday to know how to make a Sazerac. However, I would say that in the limited amount of times I have ordered a classic cocktail that is not on the menu (say a Martinez), I have more often than not either received a reply that they cannot make it (don't know how, don't have the ingredients) or a terrible rendition of it.

Went there for lunch today. I had the Original Fuzu (small entrée) and Chicken Kapow (appetizer). The total cost was $15+ with tax, which I think was a fair value for the amount of food that I got. I also appreciate the freshness of the food and the fact that it wasn't heavy/greasy. Other than that, not much else good to say about it though. It was fine, but as many have said, lacked flavor, which seems almost impossible with all the ingredients they have in that bowl. My work at this client ends next week, so I likely wouldn't have been back anyway since I am not in that part of town anymore. But, if I was, I probably wouldn't be back anyway.

This is where I met my in-laws for the first time (back in 2006). Perfect restaurant for that occasion.

I cannot say that I am an unbiased diner when it comes to Volt. Up until this past Saturday, I have been their three times - once the night I got engaged, once when we ate at Table 21, and once when we had a few bites at the bar and even more cocktails. All of those experiences were, in a word, pretty much perfect. And, after going to Volt a fourth time on Saturday, for a wedding, my opinion hasn't changed at all. Not much more to add other than, if you get married, Volt is a great place to do it (and, invite me, I give good gifts!).

So, I think that the title of this article is misleading. Cohen hired Fieri to "come to Connecticut and reenact an episode of his hit show with Cohen riding shotgun." While we can discuss the merits of doing something like that, Cohen got something out of it (experience of filming a food show, video of him doing so), he simply didn't hire Fieri to hang out with him all day. With all of that being said, I am pretty sure that I would take the $100,000 if I was Fieri. It may seem ridiculous, but $100,000 is still a lot of money.

The food is great (the bucatini and lamb chops were exceptional). The wine list is full of wonderful values ($28 bottle list especially). The cocktail that I had at the bar (Il Palio) was well crafted. The setting is refined (enough) and fun, but not stuffy. For all of these reasons, I will go back to Casa Luca. But, they have been open long enough for service to not be an issue, and this is something that they seriously have to assess and fix going forward. I sat down at the bar at 5:05 PM. I ordered my cocktail almost 15 minutes later. There were five other people at the bar at that time, so it was not crowded. The bartender was simply aloof, playing around with her cell phone and trying to figure out how to change the channel on one of the TVs. I finally got her attention and ordered my drink. After that, she was perfectly pleasant and made a great cocktail for me, but that wait cost them another cocktail from being ordered. When our entire party of six got there, we asked for our table (we had 5:30 PM reservations). They were able to seat us right away, as the restaurant was essentially empty, but they tried to squeeze us into a table for five even though we had six people (I determined that it was a table for five since there were five place settings on it). We asked for another table, but they were insistent that we could fit at this table. One of the people seating us even said, "We always seat SEVEN people at this table, you can EASILY sit here with six people." Whatever, please seat us at another table. "Well, we have to check if there are any tables available, we are very busy tonight." Whatever, please seat us at another table. They did, our new table was perfectly pleasant, and surrounded by other empty tables, I'm just not sure why we had to fight to get it. Once we sat down, our server, for the most part, was great. She was very knowledgeable about the menu and the wine list. Awesome. But, we had one person at our table that is allergic to nuts. We told her this at the beginning of the night and simply asked her to point out any dishes that have nuts in it and, if possible, to please omit nuts from any dish. OK, we are good to go. Luca Antipasto Misto comes to the table, there is a dish of pesto on the plate. Question, "Does this pesto have nuts in it?" Answer, "No, it is a traditional pesto and that doesn't have nuts." Question, "Can you please go check on that?" Answer (once she checks), "Yes, there are nuts in that." Ravioli San Leo comes to the table, we ordered it without almonds. I take a bite, there are definitely nuts in it. Question, "Can you please bring us an order of the ravioli without nuts in it." Answer, "There aren't any nuts in that dish." Statement, "Yes there are." Statement, "Sorry, I will get you another order." Another order came out, it was damn good. Overall, we had a great night. Good food, good drinks, good company. But, Casa Luca, please get your stuff together and fix the service issues that seem to be relatively common at your otherwise wonderful restaurant.

I don't 100% agree with these sentiments. I do agree that in these more touristy areas that very high-end/conceptual food wouldn't work well. But, Virtue Feed and Grain is not an example of that, they simply produced terrible food and provided awful service both times we were there. The location is not why they suck(ed), them sucking is why the suck(ed). Now, I would agree that often when restaurants get prime locations that they take the easy way out and don't try to be great because below average is good enough.

Back in 2003, I stayed at the Ritz in Buckhead for work. We were able to take advantage of the federal government rate ($109 per night) even though I was a consultant. Some fun things about that Ritz. If you put your shoes outside your door at night, they shined them for you free of charge. Late at night in the bar, every 50 year old man was accompanied by a 20 something beautiful woman. It took me about 15 minutes to figure that one out. One night while at the bar, my boss ordered a glass of port. When he got the bill, it cost $39. I laughed. The Feds that we worked with stayed across the street at the Embassy Suites. It was the same price as the Ritz, so I never understood it. I asked one day why they stayed there and one of them told me that they have away free food at happy hour. He was psyched that it was nacho night. People never cease to amaze me.

My friend and I will be traveling to Dallas in early November for a Cowboys game. We will be arriving on Saturday afternoon and flying back on Monday morning. I'm not worried much about restaurants now, but I am interested in what people have to say about good areas in Dallas to stay. As I said, we will be staying there on Saturday and Sunday night. Both of those nights we will likely stick close to the hotel for some drinks, so having nice bars close by would be nice. Any suggestions? Hotel suggestions would be nice, but if I just got some ideas of nice areas of town that would be good too.

I walked in there yesterday (Monday) during lunch time and the lady told me that they were shooting to open on Thursday (at the earliest).