deangold

We stopped by Hanks last night at about 8pm. Got seated inside pretty quickly. Loved the vibe. Kay loved the decor, I thought it a little drab/unbalanced. We sat right by the service bar area. If any of my waiters ever complain about the lack of space in our service stations.....

I had a Red Seal, one of my favorite microbrews. Kay had a lovely Albarino. We had a long wait for our oysters: Kumamoto (Creamy and rich), Watch Point (Briney and quite good) and Sunset Beach Good but paled in comparison to the other two). All in all, the best oysters I have had in DC. We also ordered the popcorn shrimp and calamari which did not arrive.

Next up was a sauteed skate. Two pieces but they were a tad undercooked and a bit on the mushy side. The sautee pan also could have been a little cleaner as there was a bit of debris on the bottom. The greem beans we ordered along side were only OK. Although their perfume of sesame was delightful, the flavors were a little dull and the beans themselves a little tough.

We ordered another round of oysters and pointed out our calamari and shrimp never came. SO next up was the fried fish. Great fried batter. In my opinion, there was way too much batter to shrimp. And another complaint is that serving them in that cute bucket means they are stacked very high instead of spread out. That makes the bottom pieces get more soggy. The aioli was rich and needed more spike. The second round of oysters was as good as the first. Almost led to a third round but then restraint took over. Hate it when that happend! $116 for a lighter meal but mostly oysters.

Dino will be donating 25% of our total sales on Tuesday September 13. Our wait staff is going to donate 25% of their gratuities (on a voluntary basis) as well.

Make sure to let us know the second you get the La Tur in!  

Ah, La Tur. I recall it's a very creamy, innocuous, accommodating cheese. Tastes like virgin's thighs.

I am althogether too old to recall that flavor... Luckily I can just order a case of La Tur from my vendor... don't have a reliable source for virgins at an affordable price...

Also had the chance to say hello to Dean, although he was celebrating his birthday and was focusing on more important things than me.

Night-night. 

I was hearing the siren call of the wines we drank tonight......

Collosorbo Rosso di Montalcino 2002

Fieldstone Petite Sirah 90

Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1984 Jimsomare Vineyard

Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1986 Montebello Vineyard

Kistler 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon Kistler Vineyard (the wine Kay and I drank at the alter at our wedding ceremony!).

I'm terrible at remembering the cheeses--I know we had the cheddar and two other mild ones.  I'm very much a girl who doesn't want her to cheese to taste much like cheese so I'm a fan of the milder stuff.... Mr. BLB liked the cheddar and the others, I only really liked the mildest and softest one we had.  (The first step is admitting I have a problem, right???)

The stewed fruits and the pickled veggies are a wonderful new addition.

I think you had the Pecorino Fresco Putzulu and the La Tur of I recall correctly. The La Tur is a soft and creamy cheese that is a litttle pungent when ripe. The ppecorino fresco is really tender like a monterey jack but with a ot of flavor and a touch of tang. Arthur, our sous chef, is the force behind the stewed fruit and the pickles.

Two words I don't believe I've ever seen used together before now... and wish I hadn't!  --  much like "Kobe hotdog" or "mojito martini"

Or Mc DOnalds Crab Cake?

many merchants will charge a "non-use" fee each month after a certain amount of time if the card is not used.

We don't. Guess I am missing oout on the opportunity to rip off my customers for giving me their hard earned money before they actually eat my food. Sheesh!

And Off topic to be sure as I have not seen Mondovino. But you posters got me started. Why the hell should we be expected to drink a single style of wine just because Laube or Suking or Parkjer like that style? And now we have Leo Mcloskey (who never was a great winemaker when he actually made stuff and didnt regress spectrgraphic data against reviewers' scores) making a fortune telling Sonoma Cabernet Growers to make their wines taste like Napa. Sorry Patrick Campbell (Laurel Glan) you've been a dumbshit idfdiot all these years making a Sonoma cabernet that actually tastes freaking different! Where did you get the farking nerve????????????

Wine is meant to be fun and a process of discovery. If you want something that tastes the same every day (and probably tastes like swill everyday) drink a farking bottle of Johnny Walker scotch. Of course it has nothing to do with real scotch any more than Yellowtail has to do with real chardonnay! What Yellowtail does have is marketing dollars, coupons and timid wine buyers willing to shill for the big money guys. Do you think the owner of Yellowtail actually drinks that bloody kangaroo piss when he dines out at fine restaurants?

I just put a wine on the list, a Carema from Luigi Ferrando. It is funky, earthy, tannic. The tanniins aren't any of this "fine soft tannin" because that would be BS in Carema, a cool growing area. Hes not trying to make a Barolo. The wine is kick ass and guess what? It tastes different than Barolo. Its really good. I wouldn't drink it every night but it is wonderful with rich and fatty meats. Thanks to Neal Rosenthal for marching to his own drummer!

I don't read the Spectator/Parker/Tanzer. I never let a sales person tell me any scores. I actually throw out sales people who quote scores. I don't look for international styled wines, but wines that have something to say about WHERE THEY WERE MADE!

That doesn't mean I don't have cabernets or merlots from Tuscany on my list (I do). But I also have a malavasia nera & colorino blend made by an 18th century production process. And funky as hell tasting Carema. And 20 Brunello's: not one from Banfi! And every day I have 19 people telling me they love our wines for every one person who has a complaint about the obscurity or weirdness of our program.

Once upon a time, a winery named Bonny Doon made quirky and wonderful wines. There were hard to get. They were amazing. Then they started using wine press to sell their wines. I railed against it. I told them that if they resorted to hype instead of just pouring out the farking wine, we were in for trouble. WHile they still make some fun wies, they are no longer what they were. Now they are more known for fun lables than for amazing wines. Yes, they are still at the higher end of the commercial, but they are a box mover these days. Too bad.

'02 Jo Pithon Anjou "Les Pepinieres"

I just put the 2003 Anjou from Jo Pithon on the list and its pretty dandy too. Hot year so loads of melon, but still great acidity.

Also the Tripoz Bougogne Aligote is wonderful. Both are from Elite wines.

Tom S gave them a very nice writeup. I iwll try them when opera season resumes at the KC

Washington Post review of Notte Bianchi

We use gift cards without an expiration date. Its pretty easy to track in the accounting process.

News on the Dino front!

We are starting to roll out or reserve list. You can ask for it starting Saturday night. We will have the red wines in place starting then. Whites to follow shortly. The list follows our pricing policy of list retail plus $10.00 for any wine I can call the distributor and re-order. If its sold out, the wine will be priced to reflect market pricing but I bet it will still be reasonable compared to any restaurant in the area. Right now between the reserve list and the "focus list" we ahve about 250 wines available. Some are fairly limited. There are wines from $20 a bottle to over $500 (retail plus $10 on Dal Forno Amarone is really expensive!)

Some wineries represented:

Valpolicella and Amarone:

Dal Forno

Quintarelli

Le Salette (amazingly good and well priced)

Bussola

Sangiovese:

Cerbaiona (especilly good is the Rosso 2000)

Collemattone (Brunello and Rosso- major wonderful producer, good on value)

Pertimali

Ciacci Piccolomini

Piemonte:

Marcarini

Cantina del Pino

Bartolo Mascarello

L Pira

Mocagatta

Paolo Cordero

Friuli

Jerman Pignacolusse

Ronco del Gnemiz

Zamo

Oddities

Gravner

Lispida

Due Terre

Poggio Gagliardo

California

Ridge (Lots)

Corrison

Ramey

More coming as soon as we can figure out where to put it all!!!

Thank you, Dean.  I hope YOU are there so I can say hello!

I will be there for dinner with a group of friends. We will be the drunk ones int he private dining room making fools of ourselves..... oooops I mean we will be in the private dining room having a sober evaluation of new and old vintages. Yeah! Right!!!

Let Michael know and I will stop by and visit!

6pm on a Monday has historically be wide open.

I am pretty imressed with the Mount Eden West slope 2003 Chardonnay. It is edna Valley juice, barrel fermented with great acidity and not too much oak. You can get it for $18 or so. Circle had an older vintage so they might have this one.

Begali Valpolicella, Tomasso Busola BG Valpolicella are both availble fromt heir distributors and pretty fabulous.

Coming into town shortly are the 2003 Rosso di Montalcinos. They are pretty amazing. I have had Argiano, Ciacci Piccolomini, Pertimali, Agostina Pieri and all are fantastic buys and all should be available for about 30 or less.

So far...

PandaHugga

Heather

Mrs. B

Alan 7147

John B

Stephen B

Daniel K

Dean and Kay

I spoke with Audrey today, she has been out of town and she is back now and going to work up a menu for a banquet style meal. I am shooting for a Tuesday or Wednesday night in Spetember. Let me know how many you will be. I bet the price will be in the $30 a person range. We will not go hungry!

Another wondeful Chablis producer is Moreau Naudet which is still available from the distributor (Bacchus).

When do you expect to have mnore Castelmagno on-hand?

If I order it this week, it will arrive about October 1. I ordered heavy last week so it may wind up being October 15 before we have it back. Then I will have to decide when to cut into it!

A Couple of notes....

We have sold through 5 more cases of the Costanti so it may be out of stock for a few days. I will try to get more Monday but it might not be till the end of the week that we have it.

Cheeses- We have cut into a really nice old Asiago and are also offering a triple Creme mixed milk cheese, La Tur, from the Piemonte. We are running low on the Castelmagno and Erborinati (One of the strongest blue cheeses I have ever had) so if you have not had them, try them. Because I air freight these cheeses in, we will not have them again till October at the earliest.

By the way... We are back in the 1998 Costanti Brunello business. We have 5 cases right now and more is on the way.

Also on the wine front the reserve list is coming along. It will start either this weekend or next week.

Thay have loads of it at Empson USA so I can run with it for as long as it sells well!!!

Hint! Hint!

WoW! Keep Rocks away 'til some of us other guys get a chance. How big's the supply?

Now Dean, about that refund...

Talk to Rick Kuntzelman, head man at Bacchus!

New tonight at Dino:

Costanti Brunello di Montalcino 1998 at the insane price of $16.00 a quartin (1/3 of a bottle or 1/4 of a liter) and $48.00 a bottle!

Thanks to all the wine press and vintage geeks who have overlooked the 1998 vintage just because it comes between 97 and 99. Drinking either of those great vintages now is a shame, those wines need YEARS of aging before they are going to show their stuff. Meanwhile 1998 is showing early maturity and classic flavors. Andrea Costanti is a really good friend and his 1998 is one of the better wines of the vintage. It is soft, smoky/earthy on the nose and has the classic Costanti elegance. Not a full bodied monster, but a lovely, easy to drink and more importantlyu, ready to drink Brunello at an incredible price.

If ya don't believe me on how good it is, ask Don Rocks. He had a bottle at the old full price! Sorry Don, but it took me till yesterday to get the wine in at the new cost!

But if Don comes in and drinks a few more bottles, he can cost average it down to a better price!