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I'm in Madison now and have been over to Milwaukee a handful of times. I've heard some good things about Roots lately and my wife and I are going to eat at Bacchus--a restaurant in the Bartolotta empire--for the first time next month. Last fall we had an excellent meal at Cempazuchi, a Mexican restaurant with Oaxacan leanings. One of the house specialities is fried grasshoppers, which we ate in tortillas with chocolate mole. Cempazuchi also has some terrific margaritas. For what it's worth, here are a few other Milwaukee resources: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel top restaurants Milwaukee Public Market

Don is Kasier Soze's cousin, but he has MUCH better taste in food.

Just drained our first bottle of Siduri, the 2004 Santa Rita Hills, that I picked up in San Francisco earlier this month. A wonderfuly balanced young wine, it's got a nice mossy, barnyard bouquet and a vibrant, sweet cherry palate. It's one of the best young California pinots I've had in some time.

I didn't know that B. Smith's was a destination, let alone a mood. I worked within a block of Union Station for 3 1/2 years and never gave this place a moment's notice. Catch a cab and go to Corduroy. Or, for steak, walk down Louisiana to Charlie Palmer's.

There is a Legal Seafoods in the neighborhood. At the high end, L'Espalier is located in a nearby Back Bay townhouse. It offers a three course prix fixe tasting menu for $75. http://www.lespalier.com

My idea of 'roughing it' is when they cut off room service at 3 in the morning

Indeed. Sara and I ate dinner at Longbranch--located in Abita Springs, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain--in mid-March. It was the best meal of our trip to NOLA, although we also ate very well at August, Jacques-Imo's, Drago's, Felix's Uptown, and Herbsaint. Allison and Slade are doing something special at Longbranch, bringing it home from appetizer to dessert. Longbranch's wine list is also reasonably priced and well thought, with a heavy nod toward Europe. I rarely get excited by a salad, but Longbranch's current one is beautifully done. The foie gras appetizer may be the best one I've ever eaten. And the flavors in the perfectly cooked beef filet were in perfect unison. Here is Longbranch's current menu--not including desserts which should not be overlooked. Appetizers Oyster Rockefeller "Deconstructed" -14- Pan Roasted Sweetbreads, Truffle Grits, Glazed Bacon Lardons -13- Covington Market Lettuces, Organic Sprouts, Louisiana Meyer Lemonette -8- Salt Cured Foie Gras, Louisiana Strawberry Jam, Warm Country Biscuit -18- White Asparagus Soup, Asparagus Marmalade, Louisiana Crawfish -12- Blue Crab Stuffed Tomato, Creole Remoulade, Avocado Mousse -15- Entrees Smoked Pepper Dusted Filet of Beef, Parsley Potato Confit, Shallot Sauce -30- Filo Crusted Dover Sole, Fondue of Carrots and Leeks, Sweet Red Pepper Jus -32- Wild Striped Bass, Caramelized Artichokes, Tomato Confit, Spicy Lobster Sauce -26- Poached Foie Gras Stuffed Duck Breast, Scallions, Toasted Quinoa, Hibiscus Syrup -29- Rabbit Saddle "AU Boudin", Cabbage Choucroute, Creole Mustard Jus -28- Here's a link to a recent Times-Picayune review. And here's a photo of the restaurant:

Harp Lager. We were in New Orleans over St. Patty's Day weekend so I didn't have a fair chance to finish it all.

The Tasting Room in Carlton is supposed to be fantastic, according to my wife. This is where she was turned onto Jay MacDonald's EIEIO wines several years ago.

Beckmen and Melville were my two favorite stops when my wife and I spent the day there in the spring of '04. Beckman is producing some excellent grenache and Melville some fine pinot. It's sad to hear that Los Olivos closed. Edited to add links

I just relocated to the Midwest from DC last fall. Palena was one of my favorite places there. I'd suggest North Pond in Chicago's Lincoln Park. My wife and I had a fabulous dinner there last New Year's. Stellar wine list as well. Shawn McClain's Spring and Green Zebra would be worth considering as well.

The Blue Benn diner, just north of the heart of downtown Bennington is a classic American diner and definitely worth a visit.

Now, that is funny. Someone should start a website featuring a "customer wall of shame". If catcalls.com is taken, perhaps duckcalls.com is available! But, seriously, kudos to the restauranteur who stands up to such heathens. I recognize the potential word-of-mouth risk that a restauranteur faces if these louts tell all their friends or post on a web site not to visit Establishment X. The recent Corduroy experience is telling. However, I'll do whatever I can to recognize an owner or manager who draws a line in the sand about behavior like this.

While in town to visit my wife's family for Thanksgiving, we stopped in at Oyamel for a delicious dinner on Friday evening. First of all, the special Mezcal margaritas were awesome. The chili salt on the rims of the glasses gave the drinks a zip that accompanied the tequila splendidly. With another couple, Sara and I shared about 10 different dishes, including the guacamole made table-side. Highlights of the meal were definitely Ceviche de Huachinango - Red snapper "ceviche" served "Veracruz style" - and the Carnitas "Cristina la Guera" . I also really enjoyed the Nopalitos - Young cactus leaves with tomatoes, prickly pear dressing and micro cilantro. Also excellent were the Papas al mole - José Andrés' favorite fried potatoes with almonds, spices, Mexican chile sauce and cotija cheese - and the plaintain fritters. There really were no misses as part of this meal, and Steve Klc's fabulous desserts capped it off. Among the four of us, we shared three -- the warm chocolate cake, the tres leches cake, and the milk chocolate flan. The cake was very good but the latter two desserts stole the cake! Fabulous! I'll be back.

This is great stuff, Joe. Thanks much! I've always done well in the $20-40 range with German rieslings. It's nice to have a few suggestions for more everyday drinking.

Joe, The 2001 and 2002 German riesling vintages certainly were spectacular. Fortunately, we've squirreled several bottles away in our basement, including a few picked up at a recent end of bin sale here in Madison, WI. I'd be interested to hear your opinion about the 2003 and 2004 German vintages, particularly in Mosel and Pfalz. Any great values out there that folks in the DC area should pounce on?

Greetings from Madison, Weeez-consin After a year away from DC, I have to say that I miss the mild DC winters, I think cheese curds are OK, but the custard here is amazing. Culver's and Michael's are among the biggest names in custard in the Madison area. Kopp's is a big name over in the Milwaukee area. Michael's is my fav--and you can even buy pints in local grocery stores. A good thing about Culver's are its butter burgers. Here's a nice Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story from 2001 about That Custard Place in Del Rey (nee the Dreamery): http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/people/a...rd19081601a.asp Then there's that whole Wisconsin Friday fish fry thang... if you ever find yourself in Madison, stop by the Avenue Bar and you'll see what I mean. Happy custard-eating people!!!

I wouldn't write Django off just yet. Greg Salisbury and Ross Essner bought the restaurant and will retain the name. Greg has done some wonderful things at Rx restaurant in West Philly which he owns. Essner is executive chef at Rx.

Edible Vancouver recently changed its name to Edible British Columbia. They did a really terrific job for us--planned everything including hotel/b&b accomodations, restaurant (including chef's table) reservations, rental car, and ferry reservations. And they provided us with a customized itinerary, including a private tour of Richmond--a huge Chinese community outside of Vancouver--with a local food writer.

I'm unsure if you need to be a subscriber to Wine Spectator or not to access older articles. Nonetheless, WS featured "the great cork debate" in its March 31, 2005 issue. According to one of the WS articles in this issue, the culprit is the chemical trichloroanisole (TCA) which can taint cork. "At low levels, the chemical, one of the most powerful odorants in nature, mutes a wine’s fruit flavors; in higher concentrations, it imparts offensive mustiness. Depending on the taster, TCA can detract from wine quality at concentrations as low as 1 part per trillion." WS says estimates "vary widely." Between 1 and 15 percent of corks are tainted with TCA, according to WS.

Scratch n Sniff labels ... hmmm

I second the Vij's recommendation. I was in Vancouver and Vancouver Island for my honeymoon in June. We ate at Vij's our first night in town. We waited over two hours for a table on a Saturday night, but make great friends with some locals in the bar area in the back. They ended up buying our dinner & drinks. Incredible - but the people of British Columbia were wonderfully nice our entire trip, even when we didn't tell folks we were on our honeymoon. Another stellar meal we had was at West. Now, we did sit at the Chef's Table and eat a seven-course dinner complete with wine pairings and a most amazing cheese course. But we'd return in an instant. The restaurant has a very modern, cool design scheme, a high ceiling, complete with deep colors and replete with wooden wine racks along one wall. Vancouver Magazine just named West its "restaurant of the year." For a real coffee-shop style sushi restaurant (and a gorgeous view back to downtown and the mountains to the city's north), you must also consider Tojo's. Richmond, a bustling city just to Vancouver's south, near the airport, is heavily populated by Canadians of Chinese ancestry, and is replete with many restaurants. We took a tour of the city with a local food critic and sample some dim-sum and other delicacies from a variety of food vendors and small cafes. Richmond also hosts a Hong Kong-style night market on Saturday evenings which is an experience undo itself. Finally, I must pay kudos to Eric Pateman's outfit called Edible Vancouver, soon to be renamed Edible British Columbia, which planned our entire honeymoon for us. It caters to culinary travelers who want a unique food experience while visiting British Columbia. If I get around to it, I'll try to post a few photos from our trip.

VANCOUVER. Went there on my honeymoon in June. Edible Vancouverplanned it all. Unbelievably wonderful.

Here's a medium-bodied, smooth, if not overly complex red for you: Quinta do Crasto 2002 Douro. I believe MacArthur's has it for $14.99, but I found it in Madison, Wisconsin for $10.

The September edition of Bob Appetit includes Bouchon's mussels recipe. It also includes a heart-renching feature on New Orleans restaurants. God, I hope those places survive. The September articles are not online yet, but here's a link to that issue's table of contents--Bon Appetit: http://www.epicurious.com/bonappetit/toc/toc