jpschust

quad soy latte from starbucks. it ain't good but it's been a long few days already.

if you all were to go out some night, even though i don't live out here, i often work late out in reston- could i join?

Thank you for your responses. I'll be providing a full response in the next day or so- I've just been gathering my thoughts.

not to be a grammar nerd, but what you mean to say, I think, is: If a restaurant owner allowed a consumer to take a partially consumed bottle of wine home in a tamper-proof, one time use, sealed, plastic bag, would that comply with the law There is a slight and subtle meaning change if you put the comma in after sealed. Ignore me if I'm too big of a nerd to have noticed that

As the woman should be away on trial that week, I'm a tentative yes.

I actually had a carbonated pommegranate (sp?) at Moto in Chicago, and it was good, but certainly different.

A mini review and also a comment on the previous post: First the comment- Let's not get Seitsma to review our favorite local place as then the masses are going to get there and I'm not going to be able to get a seat at the last minute Setting that aside, let me talk about Saturday night. As some of you know, this week has been quite the rough one for me. Mentally I'm in a tough spot and my spirits were low. Robyn (the girlfriend) and I had spent Friday night together, and while relaxing and pleasant, my mind was still a touch a mess. Saturday she needed to do work and so I went home to make stock (wanted to make duck stock, but couldn't find the time to drive into MD to get the duck parts I needed, so I settled on making good chicken stock). At the end of the day I decided to just go for a meal by myself, a favorite pasttime. There's something special about taking a good book and getting lost in a good meal by oneself. It allows you to listen in on others conversations, watch the flow of the restaurant, see who is ordering what, and get a feel for your space. It's something I reccomend everyone do at least once in a while. I sat at the bar next to Chris (a master mixologist) and while he and I chatted here and there for a bit, mainly I was left to myself, which was exactly what I wanted. After a glass of a cab I ended up ordering the Crispelle and the Blu salad. I wasn't terribly hungry, so I figured these two would fill me up, and they did. Two comments about the food- first, the Crispelle is a little heavy on the oil. I know it's supposed to be very rich, but it's also very very heavy, Additionally, I'm not sure the description on the menu of the Blu salad really depicts just how much blu cheese is on this thing. Both are very good, though. I decided I still wasn't completely full and hadn't really had my share of cheese for this meal, and thus I ordered a glass of Moscati and the Guffanti Reggiano 7 year with Balsalmic vinegar. This was exactly what I needed. Rich, smooth, clean texture, sweet, savory and so traditional. This was it. My spirits were lifted. Mentally I was simply in a better place. This begs the question as to why. I've been pondering why I keep coming back to the places I frequent- Dino, The Reef (for beer, not for the food), and Bourbon. The other day I finally put my finger on it. Each of these places, and especially Dino and The Reef for their beer are examples of individuals' life work come together for their job. They do their work with a firey passion that comes out in their food and beer respectively. With Dean I can sense his love for his food, how much he cares about it, and how much it brings him back to Italy. For Brian at The Reef, with the ritual line cleanings, the frequency of Belgian Beers, an absolute obsession with DeKonick, these things transport him home. It is this passion, and being a part of this passion if even for a moment that makes the meal for me, and Dean's food shows it. Cheers to you, Dean, for all the work you do and for the sustenance you bring to the table.

Just a clarification, I'm not planning on walking in tomorrow and resigining, but I am thinking about trying to get in somewhere to do even the most base level of prep for an evening, just so I can get a better feel. I've already owned my own business before and worked the 100 hour weeks, and remember how hard it was. I also remember how much I loved it. I think I'd focus on working for a restaurant rather than catering I'm contemplating cooking school in the next year or two. I was going to pay for business school anyways, just seems like I'd get more out of cooking school

i love going home and not needing to shower at the end of the night. just crawling up into bed and crashing out.

black maple hill 16 year. rocks.

So feel free to move this if you think this is more appropriate in another forum. Today I came home from work just a few minutes ago and suddenly all my cares fall to the wayside. As some of you know I'm a mid level manager at a company, handling all sorts of complex risk analysis. Not to be arrogant, but I'm extremely good at what I do and I know it. That said, I'm finding more and more the only times I am truly happy is when I'm cooking for others (regularly doing 5-10 course meals once to twice a week), writing about food, reading about food and researching food. It's weeks like this where nothing has gone overwhelmingly wrong, but I realize that my heart isn't in my job as much as it should be, that I want to just quit my job and go be a line cook somewhere. I'd be happy makine mire poix and stocks for people for a long time to come. Sorry, just a venting of a frustration. Thanks for the bandwidth. Jonny

glass carboys were the best investment i ever made when moving away from plastic. SOOOO much easier to sanitize and clean.

I'll be glad to, though I'm going to guess just from your post that we had completely opposite experiences at each place. I'll post it later tonight or tomorrow night. I also have a copy of Moto's GTM at home so I can more accurately go course by course with that. As a reference we ate at Moto on 12/30/06 for the GTM and at Minibar on or about 10/28/06.

Nick, I love your version of the soy latte (the key to a good one is using plain soy milk, not vanilla flavored. you can always add vanilla later), but that said, your employees could learn a touch from $tarbucks. I am echoing what a lot of folks have said on here- the service at your shops is slower than dirt. That said, I'll go back to your shops for espresso any day.

I've eaten at Moto twice (the 9 course and the GTM), Minibar once, and have reservations in February at WD-50. I think it's all a lot of fun and often the food can be excellent (in the case of Moto, not so much Minibar). I think the whole concept reminds us of a few things- first, food can be more than just a meal, but a full experience. It also reminds us that it's fun to play with your food. Success or failure on each dish isn't as important to me as the fact that here are a bunch of chefs truly doing something highly unique and different, and for that I applaud them. By the way, by course 17 of Moto's GTM I think you could have rolled me out of there. If people want I'm happy to provide a comparative review of Moto vs. Minibar (and I'll even leave out the reasons I don't like Chef Andres).

what did you have?

i dont keep screwtops, just corks.

I've just never understood why. my better solution is I just grab it and hang on to it. I keep all my corks.

It's really a combination of the two. The new menu is poor at best- twice I've received meals that have been terrible (once the octopus, and once venison if memory serves me correct. These experiences were both a few months ago, thus my memory isn't fully in place. That said, this restaurant was a favorite of mine for a long time and I wish they'd just go back to that which they do best- upscale comfort food in a great setting.

I won't ever understand why Firefly changed off the old menu to the tapas style menu. The new menu has been nothing but awful. Used to eat there at least once a month and now I won't even go back in.

By the way- what's with servers stealing my cork back? I ordered the bottle of wine I want the cork. Leave it on the table- it isn't taking up any room and the bottle won't need to be recorked until the end of dinner if at all. If you are at dinner with me and the bottle needs to be recorked it's only because we are on bottle 3-4 between 2 of us.

Looks like that expired 12/30/06, but that said they are close. Very close.

dekonick. It's one of the best beers ever. I highly suggest going over to the Reef to try it- it will taste different. The main difference is that the Reef cleans its tap lines with great frequency, leading to a cleaner pour. They also have the Dekonick Winter which no other bar in the United States has.

I'll give the final bottle list for those that are interested. Jim Beam White Label Maker's Mark Knob Creek Woodford Reserve Sazerac Rye Van Winkle 12 yr Lot B Pappy 20 Year Redhook Rye - brought by Ol'Ironstomach Blanton's Booker's (for the love of god people, drink this so we can get it off my shelf. don't make me start serving shots of this to you all) Black Maple Hill 16 Hirsch 16 Elmer T. Lee I know there were 2 more bottles but they escape me at the moment.

Thanks for the kind words and to all those who showed up. It was a nice time. I'm going to do a similar event in another 6 months or so when we can be outside on my patio and be able to smoke cigars at the same time. I only wish that this hadn't gotten folded in with the "on a whim" stuff as it would have had a bit more exposure, but sobeit.