deangold

I dreamed that one day you will be seated at your table and there is a taxi meter. You will click on the timer and you get charged by the time you sit and not by what you eat! That way there will be no problem with a aprty of 2 taking a table for 4 hours!

While the Weil is far from vile, you'd best be in soon as it will be gone is a short while .

Basically, many of the 2002 Rossi he mentions are not available at wholesale any longer. Most wineries have released their 2003 and the 2004 vintage was previewed in New York at the Benvenuto Brunello event. His warning people away from 2002 in general is contrary to my experience of 2002 Rosso. Because so much Brunello was declasified in this vintage, the 2002 Rosso were quite good. The 2003's are suffering from inconsistency as some are tight and failry ageable wines and some are massive fruit bombs and some are delightful and well balanced wines. While I am enjoying the 2003's, they are a widely varying and not typical lot.

We are going to pour the Kabinett by the glass starting next week, we have a case of Weil KLabinett to go thru first. Dang! The Kirchenstuck Spatlese is my kind of wine, tripical, lush, balanced, insanely good. And for the price its a steal!

MIchael was never kicked off by Don I simply asked him not to post as I felt he was being too defensive in where he was coming from.

We are adding a Friday night "BBB" happy hour at Dino. Arrive by 6:30 and you can have an appetizer plate designed to go along with one of our "BBB" selections: Brunello, Barolo or Barbaresco. The wine will always be off our list and not otherwise available by the glass. They will retail on the list for $75 and up. You get both the appetizer selection and the 3 oz ombra for $20.00. The wine and food selections will vary from week to week. This week's selection included 2 bruschette (mushroom & prosciutto, wild boar), 28 month old provolone (unless I get in something better this week) and some salame di Genoa. The wines available are either a Marcarini 2001 La Serra Barolo or a Moccagatta 01 Barbaresco. Hope to see you at Dino Friday between 5 and 6:30pm!

The last of a castlemagno, now loaded with blue. The last of an Ubriaco dell'amarone, still sweet yet a little tinge of sharpness Some runny rochetta Rosemary bread Ridge Mazzoni Home Ranch 1998 Marolo Grappa di Moscato

Based on the 2000 cab merlot Santa Cruz I thought the wines lacked the classical MB definition. Tasting the wine, while outstanding, it is not in a league with the other vintages surrounding it. Given the price, I passed and bought 99 Mayacamas cab for my cellar with the dollars that would have paid for the 2000 MB.

A negroni. And some grappa when I get home!

We have customers who do this all the time. When we can acommodate (in the sense that we have the ingredients prepped and ready) we do. Otherwise we say sorry we cannot.

Finished up the night with some Barbara d'Alba from Ca' Rome: 2001 Gamberaja which is drinking really well right now. Then, a bit, just a wee bit , of XO from G-R. I think I've gone a week without any grappa. Just to show I can do it!

My Montebello collection goes back to 1974. I have 76, 78, 80,81,84,85, 86, 87, 94, 97, 99, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and am now deciding on my order of the 05. Probably I will order a 3 ltr and a couple of mags. They are saying it may be one of the most unique MB's ever!

Ridge Montebello that has been sititng in a decanter for almost 24 hours! The 91 was soft and a little funky. The 90 is still firm and now a little silky, with no off odors or even any signs of acquired bottle bouquet. You could mistake this for a new release cab with a 20-30 year future ahead of it. The 92 is exotic with a touch of volatility coming out now, but silky and smooth finally. Either the 90 or 92, with 24 hours airtime are freaking amazing! Also... Paolo Bea San Valentino Rosso di Montefalco 2000. Yum!

Kay and I are coming this Suday to HEOB. Probably to Fortune on the 18th,

1991, 1990, 1992. After completing inventory at 3 am the 1992 had opened up and was incredible. The 1991 was pretty perfect, if young, from the start. The 1990 is a big and tannic babe... infanticide is ugly but in this case delicious. All three had the classic Montebello green olive tang, especially in the nose. The aromas ranged from plums to spice to chocolate. None were "ready" to drink, even the 1991.

Thanks to the incredible generostiy of Joe Riley.... Ridge Montebello 1990, 1991, 1992 Thanks to Daniel of Domaine Select; Movia Sauvignon (trying to explain this wine is like trying to explain sex to a virgin, until you taste it you will never know how good it actually is), Castel in Villa 1998 Riserva somethning or other (superb), a Val d'Aosta white that I hope to remember in a less drunken state. Now off to finish inventory.... I am glad I studied imaginary numbers in college

Last night... a little Murray McDavid Aushroisk (misspelled undoubtedly). Peat, iodine yet smooth. Nice stuff indeed. Also a spot of Marco deBartoli 10 year old Madiera

Many restaurants sell French goat cheeses from President or Le Coutourier or other large factories. Sometimes I even sell Jacquin, a company that has moved beyond tiny and yet still is artisan. But my heart lies with tiny producers, people who farm their own animals typically. At the time that cheese menu was posted (it is currently out of date) we were selling a cheese made by a small growers cooperative from the South of France. The Spanish goat cheese is also a small cooperative product from a particular breed of goat (whihch I forget right now). Our prosciutto is made in a small factory with wooden racks and gravel floors that only uses refrigeration to the extend necessary by EU law (approximately 2 hours a week). Otherwise they air cool their prosciutto as it ages. Our main salumi producer is a 4 man operation in New York that does everything is small batches. It is hard to put these stories on a menu and not overwealm the reader. I feel the proof is in the eating. There are other restaurants that use the same suppliers as we do, but they are very few and far between. But it is a fact that the cheeses and meats we buy are from some of the smallest scale operations available int he marketplace. Sunday thru Wednesday, minimum purchase $20.00 before discount. Good thru March 8. Open to all Rockerilers on the list or not. Just say "Don sent me!"

Just a traditional brakfast.... Peanut butter adn homemade jelly (tha latter from my sister in law in Indiana) on whole wheat... and a huge bowl of Pickled Raddish Kimchee (Katchugee I think??). Water and coffee, and then an hour on the treadmill. My sweat smells a little of garlic!

Count me in that boat! Its the main reason I am not operating a restaurant a couple of minutes from my home istead of a 30 to 40 minute drive!

For the best Rueben in DC go to Union Station, hop on board the Amtrak and go to NYC. Then subway down to Katz's. After Katz's, walk down to Orchard and Rvington to wash it down with a glass of Paolo Bea Santa Chiara at 'inoteca. Sorry but Parkway is about as goyishe as a Rueben in Indiana! Mark, I'll give your recommendation a try and if its as good as a NYC Rueben I'll buy you one!

Nope!

Germain Robin XO

Im my days of living in the midst of two of LA's three Japanese communities (ie Western Avenue around Beverly and Japantown downtown), it was very common to have to "earn" your way up the ladder as a customer. It wasn't that you got less fresh fish, you just got a lesser selection. The best stuff was always kept out of sight and saved for special customers. On a first visit, the service would be brusque until they realized you knew something about sushi and the cuture. Then each succeeding visit another layer was revealed until you, if you were lucky, ate like the Japanese customers did. The more authentic the Sushi bar, the more aurduous the process.

After a long day, we were enjoying some Korean at home from Han An Ruem (Kalbi, spicy pork, several types of Kim Chee). We polished off the last of our Aperol. Aperol is owned by the company that brings in Campai but they refuse to import it to the US. It used to be here a while back but now no more. And with my next trip to Italy not being until October..... Any how... Aperol is a citrusy aperitif with a lightly bitter edge. Went great with our spicy stuff!