deangold

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

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!

New cheese tonight.... Erborinata, a sheep's milk cheese aged in a cave that develops slight blue and other molds. Very nice and a little sharp. Neal's Yard Mongomery Cheddar- a full mature cheddar from England. Pecorino di Pienza "Grand Old Man" 15 month old pecorino. Raw Milk Talleggio We still have the Bitto, 180 day gorgonola and 5 more offerings.

We jsut returned from an evening at Makoto. Spent upwards of $200 for dinner for 2 (plus tip!). We ate a lot of very expensive and very good if absolutely tiny servings of sushi. Was it worth it? From a strictly food point of view, I am not sure. I think that I could do better at Tako or Kaz, where Kay and I have more than once spent $150 or more on dinner. But eating at Tako has all the ceremony and charm of eating at, well, a commercial Japanese restaurant with much better food. Kaz never seems to me to be fun. Makoto was very pampering if a little heavy handed on the sales manship of the staff (Vantage water, $12 masu of Otokayama, nothing more intersting like Onikoroshi, Suishin, Bishones or some of the more new wave cold sake available. Again, Tako destroys them on sake service, and their sashimi is better. But Tako is not traditional and Makoto is. In all, given my exhaustion, my tiredness from having to be on stage nightly and a businessman all day long, Makoto was just what I needed. I needeed a place where the dinner was served on beautiful china. I needed a place where the staff wanted to make sure I know how to eat Ramen noodle even if I do and have been doing so happily for years. I needed cold sake out of a masu with coarse salt, even if they didn't fill the masu at my place. I come from LA. I used to live 2 freeway exits from Little Tokyo. I was a regular customre at numerous restaurants where I was the only non Japanese regular customer. I am used to havinig my choi8ce of places that pamper like Makoto does. And with the exception of Sibucho, whose food still astounds even 5 years after my last meal there, I have never paid these kinds of prices for this kind of food. Will I go back? Yes. When I need to be pampered. WOuld i rather spend the same money in LA at Shibucho or Omino Sushi? Yes!!! Would I rather spend the same at Esca or Lupa? Yes. But all those pampering experiences take a lot of travel and money just to get there. Makot is less than 30 minutes away from my house. In all, I am glad it is.

McTapas anyone? We had to go to Zayatina after just to get the corporate taste out of our mouth.

I did a quick search and found no listing for what I consider one of the more important restaurants in DC. Not since the glory days of Henry's Hunan and Brandy Ho's both in San Francisco have I found a restaurant that can have such a profound effect on me for days after eating there. I am not talking about any effects of food poisoning or any of that namby pamby stuff, but real fire from the extreme use of chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. Joe's, Joe's Noodle House, serves pretty down to earth and homespun Sezchuan cooking. Owner Audrey is there during the day. If you order one of the dishes with two chilies and a star, she will ask you if you want it "toned down". No matter what you say, it will be toned down for the first few trips if you don't answer back in Chinese. But even then, the heat will be on. I m actually at the stage where Audrey will comment that she can't eat food as hot as I like it. Joe's has far more than noodles but they are a great first introduction. There is a large selection of noodles and a few dumplings. I really like the unusual rice noodles in red sauce. No discernable flavor to the noodle itself, just a jelly like freshness that offsets the heat of the sauce. I also love the wonton or dumpling soup, with or without needles. To go with the noodles, I always have a plate or three of "cold dishes" such as pickled cabbage, sweet and sour cabbage, pickled cukes, stuffed bean curd etc. This is the same territory staked out by A & J. I like both places, with the style being more earthy and rustic at Joe's and much more restrained and slick at A & J. But A&J is not known for having a large traditional menu as Joe's has. Some of my fiery favorites on the large menu include the Spicy and Tasty Tofu (With or without pork)- I had with for lunch today!, three pepper chicken and dry and spicy beef. The greens with garlic are just that, great simple straightforward greens with loads of garlic. The selection is huge and I have probably only worked my way through a third of the menu. Rabbit, home made bacon, pork belly, pork with garlic chives and pressed bean curd, tripe with spicy sauce are all available. If there is enough interest, we can have a DR.com dinner there. I would be happy to arrange for it but no wimps allowed for my menu. It will be full of the fiery stuff!

re: Park Bench. The landlord is looking for a tenant to take the whole space, both the basement and the glass enclosed pub. At present, there is an operator interested in opening a tavern but no final deal has been reached. Re Bricks: As far as I know, there is a new owner of the space. I have not noticed a lot of action going on but the mail is picked up every once in a while. There was a liquor license renewal notice up but it was for the old wnership. I have not noticed any new license posting but I am not checking it out too closely. While we would love to have a bigger bar area, we first need to get up and on our feet financially before looking to expand in any way. And so far our bar is always quite available before 7:30 or so. In fact, dining early at Dino is really easy. Its at 8:30 that it can be a crush.

Hey... Good feedback is hard to come by. We retrained the grill guy to check the bords. We roast on the rotissery to a lower temperature than previously then finish it to order. This way the bord gets cooked properly and is still juicy. I had one tonight and it weas really a lot better than the last one I had. If not for your feedback, I might not have talked to chef and we mighjt have served slightly overcooked birds for far longer. By the way, local heirlooms are really in season starting next week. We are going to have a fantasia di pomodori... a simple plate of 6 or so varieties of heirlooms, grey salt, pepper, Carandini Balsamico Stavecchio. We are also trying to get a US made mozzarella di Bufala. Stay tuned!

We just changed chickens to a better quality bird. Sounds like we need to look into our cooking times, they may be cooking faster. Thanks for the feedback!

I refused to consider restaurant sites in Montgomery County specifically because of their wine laws!

DC has a large number of good stores. Of the ones mentioned, I shop Mcarthur's and occasionallySchneiders. Tony and Mike are neighbors in Cleveland Park and I love their eclectic approach. They champion small independent distributors which I love. I also like Circle and Mr. Kumar. He has a good palate and their selection is well balanced with the exception of Germany and Alsace. They also have some great spirits as well.

We have a new lamb as of last night. Actually Saturday the lamb switched over so you could have gotten either one. The new one is grass fed. The salt is very un-Italian sel gris from France. Spell check? Me? Got one in Italian? If ya want one in Silver Spring, send me a check for several million and lets talk...

Its from Peck in Milano. Not sure if I can get more till September 5 or so, August shutdown and all that.

Yep! We have had it here all week! Ours doesn't have a name tho... But our lion is names Nicky!

We have finally recieved our hand-cranked vertical prosciutto slicer (as far as we know, we are the first restaurant and the second business in the DC area to get one). "What is THAT?" you ask. It is the Ferrari of slicers, except it doesn't go fast. The blade is vertical and the prosciutto lies flat on a moving plate. The slicer (the person not the machine) cranks a fly wheel to get the blade moving. The blade itself is curved so the only point of the blade in contact with the meat is the cutting edge itself. This makes for very little heat transfer to the ham, and the point of prosciutto is that it is an uncooked meat. A traditional deli style slicer will heat and slightly cook the prosciutto. The flat position of the meat makes for very even, very thin slices. Again, in a deli slicer, the slices are affected by the weight of the ham pusing down at a 45 degree angle. Hand cranking and the flywheel allow for a slow moving blade and even slicing speed. While I have always loved our prosciutto, it is much better now that we have the slicer!

And I always thing of Dead Pig as its own major food group!

Tonight we are offering the following at Dino: Vento d'Estate- aged in summer grasses, herbs and hay Bitto- Raw milk cow's milk cheese from the Alpine Valtellina, aged 2-3 years Brunet- Soft ripened goat's milk cheese from Piemonte 4 year old Reggiano 180 day old gorgonzola piccante 5 more! Coming up soon are: Erborinata Cave Aged Asiago Vecchio Keen's CHeddar from Neal's Yard

Dino, a new Italian restaurant in Cleveland Park is hiring for kitchen positions. We need 2 good cooks to join out team. We will be opening for lunch soon. These positions could lead to advancement. Experience a must, hustle even more so. Passion a pre requisite! Send an e-mail to dean@dino-dc.com, fax resume to 202-686-3761 or come by 3435 Connecticut Avenue between 3 and 5 pm Mondays, or Wednesday thru Saturdays

If you know of a few good cooks who want to pick up some day hours....... We are hiring and need to gett hem trained before we can do lunch!

And we are bgininning to build our reserve list. The Brunello section is first to come. Give us about 2 weeks. Ohhh... and if you have a craving for Dal Forno Amarone or Quintarelli, we will have them for retail plus $10.00. Of course retail is over $500 for Dal Forno...

For all you cheese hounds.... here is some of our selection tonight: Robiola aged in cabbage leaves 4 year old Reggiano 3 year old provolone Cave aged castelmagno Peck Torta Basilico plus 5 more

Daruma in Bethesda is a great little find. Its off of Bradley and Arlington. Its a Japanese market with a little food counter featuring great Sushi and nice ramen. For $25 we had a quick and easy lunch for 2. They also have a superb sake selection featuring Oni Koroshi, Suishin, Bisohnen and lots of others. Yum!

Just wait till we add some of the Gravner, Due Terre, and Lispida wines as well.

I like the following: whites: Plozner Tocai Friulano (Bacchus), Maculan Pinot e Toi (Winebow), De Leonardo "Toh!" Tocai Friulano (does anyone notice a Tocai Friulano theme going on here?, Downey), Lockwood Sauvignon Blanc, William Roan Viognier (Both Bacchus), Cortese "Sentito" Maggiore (Potomac), Dal Maso Gambellara (DOwney), Marquise Phillips "Holly's Blend" (Henry) reds: Feudi d'Elimi Nero d'Avola (Grappoli), Il Palu Refosco (Also their chard and pinot grigio, Grappoli again), Villa Nanni Aglianico (Grappoli yet again), Old Vines Red from Marietta (Bacchus), Chianti Filicaija and Maggiori Croatina (both Potomac), Chianti San Fabiano Putto 2003 (Henry)