jpschust

oh yah and my other piece of advice, after she's said yes and you're back at your table, don't let the following words fall out of your mouth "ok, my part's done, you take it from here"

as someone else who proposed in a restaurant, let me suggest this to all those out there reading this- you may be able to pack away the 9 course at Eve on any other night, but if you're the one doing the proposing you'll be too nervous to eat, thus if you want a full meal, do it early Congrats to you!

I'm curious what the Schramsburg folks told you about riddling. Do they still do it by hand? Almost none of the major Champagne producers do it by hand anymore. Bollinger riddles all their best wines except Speciale Cuvee by hand now. Not sure how many others. Machines can turn 4,000 bottles at a time now for major production stuff. RM Champagnes are different, I'm pretty sure.

They riddle basically only their reserve by hand, everything else (the great majority) is all machine driven. Apparently they've got a riddler there who's been there for like 35 years.

Yes, it's really only needed for sparkling wine, but in Port production a somewhat similar technique is used. Ever noticed the swipe of white paint on the bottoms of Vintage Porto bottles? That's where they are marked so that all bottles are turned uniformly.

Why is it only needed for sparkling? Does it have to do with the disgorgement process? Sorry I'm a bit clueless here.

We were at Schramsburg last week for a tour- I can describe the tour in great detail if anyone wants to know- but we got into a discussion about riddling. I was flipping through my wine books and didn't see any mention of riddling being used on other types of wine besides sparklings. Is riddling only used for sparklings or is it used in the production of other types of wine as well?

champagne is used in so many cocktails. Very classic mix is 6 parts champagne, 1 part cognac, 1 sugar cube and 2-3 dashes of angostura bitters. garnish with lemon twist. order in making this is important- sugar cube in the glass first, then bitters on the cube, then cognac then champagne.

I'll tell you, their CdP is freakin fantastic. I'm constantly astounded by the Costco pricing on wine. There's some pretty incredible deals to be had, especially in their own bottlings.

Congrats to chef for being on CBS Sunday Morning just a few weeks ago!

I can't tell if that is one hell of a condemnation of the service in Chicago or that you have just had much better experiences with servers in DC than I (and apparently many others).

It's a double edged sword- it's a bit of both.

Go to Cochon - 7 minute cab ride. A unique and wonderful restaurant.

Herbsaint is equally amazing. Cochon is one of my favorite places on earth. Try the lima beans. You can thank me later.

I would add to that, according to the WaPo article about two or three weeks ago, and an article that Tim Carman is planning to publish either this or next week, good help is EXTREMELY hard to find in this town, even at the finest restaurants. It's hardly a lucrative profession. And often not rewarding when jerks like us give them a hard time all the time =D. Like that diner's bill of rights in the LA Times.

You know what? I just don't buy that. Good help may be hard to find, but good help comes from training, not from out of nowhere. DC's service is leaps and bounds above where Chicago's service is and we've got tons more to draw from out here.

It looks like we'll be in this coming Saturday night I'll be calling to make a reservation in a day or two when we have a final headcount but we're gathering a group so anyone who wants to join us, drop us a line!

apologies to those who pm'd me- i'm pm'ing you now. due to a change in our arrival plans this won't work for us (we're going to be in town for less than 24 hrs now and can't include a real sit down dinner at the moment). We'll be back though!

You can find them refurbed from KA online and they're pretty close to that price IIRC.

Yum yum, placed a order today, will let you know the results. Now what should I drink with it ?

http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/bac...chocolate_chips

Deep, smooth red wine. Or did you want something non-alcoholic? PS- I've had this bar a few times now- it's great, but not as great as I would have hoped. The chorizo margarita at Moto last week was much better.

John Thorne's no-machine lemon ice cream

1 med lemon

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup cream

Juice and finely zest lemon, then combine with sugar on low heat until dissolved. Stir in cream and freeze in a metal pan without stirring.

You'll be surprised by how good this is.... it's like a magic trick. Try this out some time when you're over at someone's place in the summer.

A really nice alternative to this is the no machine fruit sorbet. Take whatever fruit you want, rasberries, strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, etc. throw them in a blender. Add some 2:3 ratio simple syrup to it, run it through a strainer or cheese cloth, freeze it into ice cube trays and then when you're ready to eat it again just throw them in a food processor or blender and voila- fresh sorbet.

as clever as this is, frankly making really quality scrambled eggs in the morning is pretty easy. a lot of people make them in a pan instead of a homemade double boiler (read small pot with water in it and glass bowl on top of the pot). Set up the double boiler the night before, throw a little bit of butter in there, crack the eggs and whisk for a few minutes on low heat until you're done.

Guess I'd better price it before I drink it next time. I agree $150pb is too much.

If you can find it for less than 150 a bottle retail let me know and I'm all over buying some. FYI, there are rumors going around that the kirkland branded scotch is really the same as this.

Charging $30 for a small pour of Macallan 18 as Central does is another way to keep customers sober. Highway robbery, IMO. Food and service (Brian) were good though.

Dunno where you're buying Macallan 18, but it's $150.00 retail out here, 30 a pour is expensive but not outrageous by far.

Opening date for the Adams Morgan Harris Teeter is now March 2008

That's what we're hearing from Wilson Reynolds as well, so we think it's gotta be true. For the love of god I need this place to open ASAP. My condo is sitting on the market right across the street from there. Part of the holdup has been these "friendly neighbors" at the dorchester who have thought they could hold up the HT beer/wine selling license to derail the entire project. These folks have protested at every step of the way even though the majority of the neighbors want HT to be there. In January the traffic pattern around that HT will change to all one ways flowing in from Kalorama at 16th I believe, north on 17th street and out at whatever that cross street is that I'm forgetting.

If anyone wants a 2 BR/2 BA condo with it's own parking space right across the street from the new Harris Teeter (and my windows don't look on to the harris teeter, they look on to my private patio) you just let me know.

J

A little more intrigue....according to someone in the know, the owner of the property that includes 2941 is a bit of a 'hands-on' sort of person. Whether or not that had anything to do with Jonathan's departure for greener pastures is unknown, but I still have very high expectations for the Boulud chefs coming to the area....

I have heard that more than a few times from those in the know.

I think this post on Chowhound might be the aformentioned threat come to fruition.

Reading their comments to which I responded on Chowhound just shows, some people are just never going to be happy no matter what. How much can a restaurant really do to satisfy people who didn't bother to specify their order at a bar, didn't get what they wanted and left in a huff while threatening the restaurant? I'm hardly a fan of Bebo based on our experience there, but that said, at least be fair if you're going to be negative on the place.

And they don't. Five hours of lunch, beautiful wine, and the Friday lunch floor show took up much of a perfect New Orleans day, starting with beignets, then oysters for elevensies, then lunch, a few afternoon drinks, and great music. Galatoire's is one of the few joints anywhere with the stunning, nervy Antoine Arena Patrimonio 2005 (Vermentino) from Corsica. Lively, insanely mineral, with classic vermentino waxiness to go well with all the yummy crabmeat and butter.

And, oh yeah, a bit of music. Paul Sanchez Thursday night, Bonerama (drum, guitar, tuba, four trombones!) Friday night, and Cowboy Mouth Saturday afternoon. Then a lot of driving. Of course, with Central Grocery muffalettas and Mother's baked ham po-boys for road food, not so bad. Not so bad indeed.

Just go, people.

Bonerama is a favorite of mine. So many great places to eat and drink in NOLA. Herbsaint, Cochon, August, Galatore's, even brunch at Commander's is still good.

Please let it go. I'm guessing this was ONE experience, and you've posted the same comment five or six times. I went and looked. Plus you two have had this conversation before.

It's in direct reference to a current quote, and additionally it references the wine list as a whole, thus it's relevant.

andy has a few Gems on the list for sure. Depends on your range of price, there are a few steals in the Grand Cru Burgundy area, with some age that look very tempting. He is pretty reasonable in his pricing, unless it is just some overly popular wine, that needs to be exploited in price just to get people to order something else. Went there for dinner last night and it was KILLER!!! Thanks to Andy and Chase (good luck man in CA), Michael and Eric. Great evening!!

Are you kidding me? This is far and away the most overpriced list in the DC area, along with being the biggest rip off for pairings I've ever had. This is based on my visit from about 2-3 months ago, but their wine list was overpriced even for being located in a top tier hotel. The only list more marked up than this might be the Everest list in Chicago.

the stone 11th anniversary is so far from ready to be drank, it's a damn shame it's being poured.