starfish

if one makes a reservation through the opentable website, it costs the restuarant $1. if one were to make a reservation though the idividual restaurant website, it costs the restaurnt $.025.

perhaps we could line up a homeless shelter or some other organization that might benefit from excess food. while i will not be driving, i am hoping that one among us will volunteer to share our excess with those less fortunate.

imho, the most considerate way is to send an email. while it is very flattering for a table to ask to "see the chef", during service is not a great time to speak with a chef.

04 soter north valley pinot noir. new release from the vineyard. it is a second label for fruit that is not quite good enough for the beacon hill or mineral springs pinot. it is a little young but is showing a great deal of promise. lush fruit, and velvety mouthfeel are my initial impressions.

i just voted. strangely enough it seems that one can vote mutliple times from the same computer. i wonder if they have software that will delete duplicates from the same i.p. address.

bump... my current agm has decided to go back to grad school. we were happy to have her while she was here, and wish her the best. but now i need another one. same stuff applies...

it would also be helpful to know your desired price per person. can we safely assume that you would like to be in the ray's ballpark? other questions to ask a potential host restaurant / things to be leary about: how far in advance do you need to give a firm number what is thier cancelation policy if anyone sends you a "banquet" wine list, run away - 90% of the time the are filled with really obscure, mediocre wines that have a felonious mark-up how many people will be staffing the event what is the service charge and is that limited to a straight percentage or is there a room set-up charge also (be leary of this as well; most room charges are just padding for the contract) how many similar events like yours does the restaurant do in a month, a year what type of seating configurations can they provide, one big table, several small ones, etc. just a few random thoughts. by the by, congratualtions to you and your bride. eta: the arts club of washington does this type of event and maybe very reasonable. i can't speak to the food these days, but a wedding i attanded there several years ago was great - and they have a lovely courtyard too.

mdt's advice is especially helpful if you are looking to build a wine collection. to develop a well rounded selection of bottles in one's home requires a strategy, good luck, or very good wine advice. a good shop can help you create the first, and provide the last. you are on your own with the luck part.

it has been some time since i have been, but capitol lounge had a bloody mary bar when that was my typical hangover cure. the pork chops and eggs is really good when you have that wavy feeling in the head too. while they don't have a bloody mary bar, tonic garnishes bloody mary's with a thick cut deep fried peice of bacon. pork makes everything better.

so for the very late posting about this - it has really been one of those days. we are set for a dr happy hour, featuring wines by the glass for $5, and selected legacy bourbons. don't know who will be making it out but, i hope to see some of you at notti tonight.

any industry types headed to either of the dueling wine tastings (henry wine group and country vintner) this afternoon?

actually, the offer was for a bottle that would retail for at least $100. i went through my cellar last night and i selected a magnum of 1995 corison cabernet. happy bidding.

i would love to stay open for an extra hour. it is something that i have wanted to change since the day i came aboard. however, it is just not feasible. without commenting about whether dc is or is not a late night dining city, it is about the "voluntary agreement" we signed with the anc to get them to go along with our liquor license application. the anc insisted upon the current closing hours as a condition of their approval. so if you would like to enjoy our spring menu (notti's new dinner menu)which debuted yesterday you need to dine before 9:45 sunday - thursday / 10:45 friday and saturday. p.s. if you give me a call and i still have people in the dining room, i hate letting people go hungry (or overdressed in nadya's case).

that is nothing new - well maybe the extended preview of the upcoming issue is new. mr. kliman's chats have always been a tad light on questions. this is not a criticism of the chat, just noting that i do not think that it has reached a critical mass of popularity required for it to be considered "lively". i wonder, what is the percentage of questions asked to questions posted.

friday and saturday only...occasionaly sundays of long weekends too. eta: the best clams casino anywhere in the country (at 4am).

so i am writing this as i am sitting at the roof bar of the reef - doing a bit of work, having a beer and a quick dinner (free wifi courtesy of tryst across the street). the reef has no pretensions of being haute cuisine; they are going for upscale bar food executed very well. ryan, the roof bartender, informed me that the menu is brand new. i tried the fish tacos - random white fish, ryan didn't know, diced peppers, and fresh gauc. very satisfying. the fish was crisply fried with a bit of heat to it that was balanced quite nicely by the cool of the guac. i will never say "i can't wait to have dinner at the reef tonight". but the next time i find myself in adams morgan and feeling peckish, the reef will be at the top of my list - especially if it is a nice night early in the week. bias disclosure: i was a manager at the reef when the place opened and the chef (sous chef when we worked together) remains a freind.

my favorite sunday night places... mendocino (i beleive they still do 1/2 price wine on sundays) cashion's montmarte - it is patio season the bar at cap grille (although, recent visits have been less than consistant - the service is always superb)

cracker's, i would like to add my thanks for your wonderful effort. the yearbook was a wonderful synopsis of the year.

some of the other the cost of a good wine program: countless hours of staff time evaluating wines, conducting general wine research, before selecting a bottle for the list preparing detailed tasting notes to be reviewed with every member of the service team opening each new bottle for the entire service team to taste good stemware, assume breakage of 10-15% per month decanters, assume breakage of 20% per year opportunity cost of all of the money tied up in inventory giant shrimp, you are correct in assuming that it costs more to make the food than it does to pour the wine, just not as much as most people think.

this is a topic that i have been loathe to approach, and against the advice of my better angels i wade in anyway... one of the problems with the trend toward chef-driven/owned restaurants is that talent in the kitchen has little relation to business acumen. many chefs that function in a dual role of owner are obviously quite successful at it. however, too often the role of the management is given short shrift. the primary reason that restaurants fail is bad management be it a poorly crafted business model, or operational misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance. as barbara noted, not many chefs have the wherewithal to handle the financial and staff issues of a restaurant. i would go one step further and suggest that not many people, regardless of profession, have the self-awareness and self-confidence to acknowledge that a task is beyond their abilities.

sf chronicle article on corkage

raisa, without knowing the full facts of the situation, i am not attempting to dispute your contention that they did not want your money. however, it is quite common for a restaurant to be empty and still not have a table available. it happens quite a bit at notti bianche, that a guest will walk in the door, see an empty dining room and find it completely incredulous that we are unable to seat them. if every table is reserved in the next 90 minutes, then we are unable to accomodate a walk-in without risking our ability to seat a guest with a reservation in a timely fashion. just another perspective.

anyone going to the paul hobbs wine dinner at cityzen on thursday?

rissa, thank you for starting this thread. i cannot count the number of calls i have taken on this subject. i feel your pain.

i have used all of the aforementioned products as well as aloha, & rms. by far the most cost effective and easiest to use, imho, is rms. it is very intuitive and requires minimal training, and has an excellent support and up-time percentage. if you are familar with the microsoft office products, you will learn rms very quickly. miamidanny, you can give me a call if you like and i would be happy to discuss further with you.