jpschust

Grotte Del Sole “Gragnano” (Aglianico & Local Reds ) Campagnia ???

I seriously love this wine. We've got a case of it as our "house" red right now. I find it to be a perfect party red and very versatile come meal time.

I'm going to guess at $80 a bottle it isn't your house wine

Anyone doing happy hour downtown?

I am tomorrow before my hockey game. No, I don't go to games in my jersey. I've been to enough games to figure out they probably aren't going to play the skinny jewish dude sitting in the second row.

Our new Winter Menu is up on our website. Especially of note is our Antipasti di Maccelleria which includes home cured lightly smoked pancetta, tongue & cotecchino.

Ate at Dino again last night- I think that makes 15 or so times for me at this point. Took the girlfriend there- it's where we had our first date 4 months ago last night. Anywho, the food report:

Drinks at the bar with Chris- she had some sweet fizzy drink (sorry Chris, I can't remember what it was- I don't drink super sweet stuff like that) and I drank a glass of the La Selva. I adore this wine. It's the perfect dryness, flavor of tobacco and punch of berries all at once for me. I keep reminding myself to go pick up a case of this to keep at home. We both had the artichokes which as always were phoenomenal.

Dinner:

Ordered a bottle of wine I'd never had before. If Dean reads this he might remind me what it was, but I've got the cork at home. Basically a red from Tuscany with a little bit of CO2 to it, but these wonderful fruit flavors. The taste of blackberries is still lingering on my tongue.

She had the gorgonzola salad which is always great, and then she had the 3 cheese polenta with sausage. I'd never had that before and I stole a bite. I was then jealous of my girlfriend as she ordered what I should have ordered.

I had the Lasagnette- nothing out on a limb for me, but I was craving it all day and thus I wolfed it down as though it was my job. The ragu on this is simply incredible. That beautiful mix of veal and pork is so rich and tasty. I'm getting hungry thinking about it again.

No dessert, but I had what might be the best cup of espresso I've ever had.

Cheers to Dean and thanks for making a place in my area that I can go to time and time again!

I had this at the winter beer tasting at RFD last week when it was unveiled. Out of ~11 beers we tasted that night, it stole the show. It's got a hop character that is more aggressive than the belgian versions (they used american hops) while still retaining the grassy, earthy hop character of the belgians. It's definitely around 8-9%, though I'd have to check my notes from that night to be sure. It's fantastic, and I'm hoping to get to the downtown location to grab some more before it runs out.

That's so bizarre. I've never had a single beer at any of the Cap City locations that I thought was drinkable let alone good. I'm going to be down at RFD on Friday so I'll try it. Beyond their beer being terrible, their food is even worse.

Cider question but I thought this was the right place, Anyone know where to find Wyder's cider. I got the last 6 pack at Chevy Chase and they said that was the last one they will be getting. Beth loves this stuff so I want to find a new supplier.

Tomorrow when I'm not running from work to a hockey game let me look in DeVino's as they may very well have it- they have a startlingly good cider and beer selection for being a wine store.

Besides the wonderful food at Vidalia, make sure to have the mint juleps there. I am known to frequent the bar even without dinner to get one. Positively the best in town.

You can start your own "1789's Bread Pudding Project" like Al did with Palena's chicken. It might catch on.

I've never tried there bread pudding, but I've never been known to turn a bread pudding down (especially the chocolate bread pudding from The Tomato Palace - which, coincidentally, is also part of the Clyde's Restaurant Group)

if in your searches you find a white chocolate bread pudding please let me know!

Wow, I'm exhausted from this past weekend of cooking. I owed my girlfriend dinner as part of a scrabble bet in which I lost (she challenged me on one of my last moves and I ended up giving up a triple word score for those who are into the game). Sunday night I always host a gathering at my place for friends. I tried to think like a chef and make things that could be served again.

Saturday night menu:

Appetizers:

Steamed artichoke with homemade champagne vinegar mayonaise and clarified butter for dipping

Smoked salmon with Ossetra caviar and avocado

Middle course: Blue cheese potato gratin

Main: Asian style flank steak along with steamed baby carrots

Dessert: neither of us are huge sweet fans, so a cheese plate with robiola, stilton, hudson camembert, and chevre with ash

Sunday night:

Appetizers:

Chips with guacamole & chile con queso & spinach crab dip (ok I cheated here and bought that one prepared)

Smoked salmon with ossetra caviar and avocado (had more salmon and caviar left)

Pita with hummus

Mains:

2.5 lb planked salmon with rosemary, lemon, salt & pepper

Asian style flank steak

Dessert: Charcuterie plate with the same cheeses plus genoa salami and a domestic proscuito.

I'm tired and need to figure out a menu for next Saturday and Sunday That said, I love this game.

I actually use a combination of whole wheat flour and semolina to make my pastas from scratch- it works well- its about 2/3 whole wheat to 1/3 semolina. It's a great flavor.

He said tounge firmly in cheek. However, as others said, shipping fresh ale is a chancy thing. RFD certainly has plenty of choices that even the most jaded beer drinker can find something they will like.

I know he was being tongue in cheek I was being equally dry.

British Ale sucks. Drink wine.

That said, RFD carries a ton of Stone beers and each of their ales is simply amazing. I suggest the 10th anniversary ale or the Vertical.

i have been a regular, some might say uber-regular, at bedrock for more years than i care to share. if there is any interest, i would be happy to work with bedrock management (translation: do nothing out of the ordinary and have a few beers and converse with some people at my favorite hang in the 'hood) and organize a dr.com pool tournament.

just thinking that before the trash talk about the respective pool games of the members here gets out of hand, we should work to preemptively settle the matter of who is the best pool player on the board.

i would further suggest that, this become a charitable affair; all proceeds to benefit a worthy organization.

who's willing to put their game, money and trash talk in the same place?

can we add a darts component? btw- pm me- i'd love to meet up- i'm a reef regular and often at bedrock- i've probably seen or met you before.

for those interested in doing a top shelf bourbon tasting at my house in Adams Morgan please sent me an e-mail at jpschust@gmail.com to coordinate.

This is what we will have to pull from for the tastings:

Maker's Mark (ok,not top shelf, but good for comparison)

Knob Creek (see Maker's note)

Bulleit

Hirsch 16 year

Black Maple Hill 16 (I believe this is the vintage offhand, but I'm going off memory here)

Vintage 23

Bookers

Bakers

Woodford Reserve

There will be some others as well (I've got to leave more than a few surprises!)

Cheers,

Jonny

For those that have contacted me, you all are getting in at this point- we are just working on setting a date. I've got a few more spaces to give, though. When I have a date I will let you all know.

I'm more scared that Andres didn't say anything. He must have done something worse. Hmm... makes you think twice about eating anything not prepared in the open or by oneself.

From a bad personal experience I think it might have been better for Andres not to open his mouth.

I had alba white truffles last week at nine-ten in San Diego. My first time ever having them. Simply incredible. I used to think foie gras was the most amazing thing ever, now my mind is changed.

Does anyone know when the Capitol Hill Harris Teeter will open?

The one in Adams Morgan seems to be moving along but I know that there are a few neighbors bent on attempting to derail the project, even though the project is going to happen. Ultimately they are just slowing up the inevitable.

for those interested in doing a top shelf bourbon tasting at my house in Adams Morgan please sent me an e-mail at jpschust@gmail.com to coordinate.

This is what we will have to pull from for the tastings:

Maker's Mark (ok,not top shelf, but good for comparison)

Knob Creek (see Maker's note)

Bulleit

Hirsch 16 year

Black Maple Hill 16 (I believe this is the vintage offhand, but I'm going off memory here)

Vintage 23

Bookers

Bakers

Woodford Reserve

There will be some others as well (I've got to leave more than a few surprises!)

Cheers,

Jonny

I would very potentially be willing to do a tasting out of my small collection for some of the folks on here. I've got about a 15-20 tops helf bottle collection.

There is only one place in Adams Morgan to go for draft beer and that's easily the Reef. Monthly changing selections with a lot of uniqueness and on Thursday nights there is always a unique keg of beer snob beer

The Diner in Adams Morgan comes to mind.

Well my first post, but I figure it might as well be about someplace I eat at a lot and hang out a lot.

I live in Adams Morgan, and I understand the feeling about the bridge and tunnel crowd, but before I disparage them (and believe me, my friends do all the time) let me offer up this tidbit of information: While they often annoy me and pack the bars I like, it's their business that allows my local bars, like the Reef, my favorite local bar, to serve such wonderful beer and to stay open the other 4-5 nights a week. There aren't many other bars in DC with such a unique selection of beers and without any pretentousness whatsoever.

That said, let's talk about the food. I'll be honest- it's very hit and miss at the reef, and frequently it seems that the owner is working with the kitchen to fine tune the menu. The menu changes every season, and every season it has its hits and misses. Even so, I think the Reef is probably tied with Bourbon for the best food/bar combination in the Adams Morgan area. Generally my burgers have been great, as have the appetizers (I highly reccomend the stuffed mushrooms, spanakopita dip, and pretzl's with mustard so hot it will set you on fire). I've never been a fan of the pizzas, but then again I'm one of the ones that still believes that DC just doesn't have good pizza to begin with.

So as far as food goes, it's probably 2/4. As far as service goes, I'm biased because I'm a regular. I always get good service. Most of the time everyone gets good service, but it's like any other bar- sometimes the service stinks. That said, I don't know that you will find a bar where the servers know quite so much about the beer on tap. If you want to find out how much they know- go ask them to tell you about the histories behind the beers without looking at a menu. Brian, the owner, has a special talent for being able to identify the brand of hops and whether the beer was wet hopped or dry hopped.

Sunday through Wednesday or Thursday, it's a favorite of mine. Friday and Saturday I go elsewhere.