Bart

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/08/how_one_man_destroyed_the_food_network_guy_fieri_has_made_culinary_tv_into_a_viewers_hell/

And a local angle too. Jim Law of Linden Vineyards has ripped out all of his Seval vines and is replanting with something else. When he first planted them in the early 80s they would ripen well in the (then) climate and he'd get great wine. As things have warmed, that is no longer the case. So now, when the grapes are fully ripe (much earlier than before) the acid level is too high to produce good wine.

Jumping back a dozen or so posts in this thread we were talking about how Bob records, overdubs, separate tracks, etc. This is an excerpt from his webpage talking about the upcoming standards album. Seems nothing has changed. (and I love him for it!!) <<< Upon Columbia's announcement of the album's forthcoming release, Bob Dylan commented, "It was a real privilege to make this album. I've wanted to do something like this for a long time but was never brave enough to approach 30-piece complicated arrangements and refine them down for a 5-piece band. That's the key to all these performances. We knew these songs extremely well. It was all done live. Maybe one or two takes. No overdubbing. No vocal booths. No headphones. No separate tracking, and, for the most part, mixed as it was recorded. I don't see myself as covering these songs in any way. They've been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day." >>>

A bunch of great reviews from BobLinks.

Best thread ever. Don - package it up and send it to the Smithsonian immediately. (sort of joking, but not really) PF (above) - you write better than you cook"¦"¦"¦that sounds bad"¦"¦"¦.how about, you're writing is on par with your cooking which is tres magnifique

That's great! I remember that night fondly too, and as someone mentioned in the Fishnook thread...."we sat next to the coolest people" (or something like that).....I figure anyone who eats at minibar, Fishnook, Roberto's 4, etc must be pretty adventurous and interesting, and you're likely to have a good time with them. I'm so happy for David and (oddly) proud of him even though we only sat together for one meal. I really wish he stayed around here so I could eat his food and grow some for him! I was growing a lot of "weird" vegetables back then (that are now much more common and not that weird at all) that he hadn't seen and was interested in.

I've only been there once and it was nearly a year ago, but on twitter they gave a tip that if you show up late (like 9pm or so) you can often walk right in and get seated. Don't know if that hour will work for your Mom though

I tried and succeeded right at 11, but the server kept getting hung up. Somehow I made it all the way through and scored 2 seats at the kitchen counter at the rockin' time of 5:45. Which is fine with me - get in and get out early and get home to bed! I think this may be the Gods repaying me for all my failed attempts at eating on the roof this summer. It might not be a bad idea to keep trying. I know the scale is vastly different, but sometimes ticketmaster show all seats as sold within seconds of the on sale time, but you can occasionally get through 20 or 30 minutes later.

Is your brother in law's place, Lazy Bear? (it's mentioned in the French Laundry article above). Someone on this site knows him (David) - I remember having a small chat about it a few years ago in some thread. My wife and I sat next to him and his then GF at minibar years ago.

Shhh. Don't tell anyone. We'll have a better chance if you keep it quiet.

The last time we went the redid their menu to have a Thai side and a Lao side, so I'm sure it's still there. As far as it still being awesome goes, that's another story. The first time we went was right after Tom's review in the Post and it was fantastic. So different than anything I'd ever had and wonderful bright and spicy favors. We pretty much ordered everything that Tom raved about loved it all. The next time we went they didn't have the tapioca balls (I think that was it) which were so unique and a real highlight of our first meal. The rest of the food was good but not as spectacular as the first time. The third time we went they didn't have two of Tom's raves which were also two of our favorites and the rest was fine but nowhere near as special as the first meal. All of these meals were before the announcement of the new place too. Sad to say that this place went from a place that I couldn't wait to go back to, to a place I'm indifferent about.

Decent write up of the show from the Post. Some of it was silly like the bit about Ferguson and Blowin In The Wind, but I agreed with him on some of the blues numbers. I wouldn't call them punishing, just not as interesting as some of the other songs. I've felt that way about all of Bob's albums from Time Out Mind to Tempest - - about half the songs are generic blues progressions with good lyrics, but Bob could churn out stuff like that endlessly. I much more prefer the songs that have those great Bob-progressions (chord progressions) like Mississippi, Dignity, Pay In Blood, Roll On John. Anyhow, back to the show. It was fantastic. Easily the best show I've seen from him in the last 4 or 5 shows (which is only the last 4 or 5 years). His voice was loud and powerful and somehow both rough and smooth. It was rough because he's 73 and he's always had a bit of a rough voice, but it was also smooth and clear and it flowed over and on top of the music like warm honey"¦"¦.or something like that. This was no frail old man struggling to weakly squeak out a tune. This was Full-On-Bob, full of fire and brimstone and piss and vinegar. As he sang (roared) in Pay In Blood: This is how I spend my days I came to bury, not to praise I'll drink my fill and sleep alone I play in blood, but not my own. Pay In Blood was one of the highlights of the night. I've always love this song because the lyrics are great and it's a Bob-progrssion not a standard blues progression. Here's opening line: Well I'm grinding my life out, steady and sure Nothing more wretched than what I must endure And here's another line: How I made it back home, nobody knows Or how I survived so many blows And the final line from each verse: I pay in blood, but not my own. Classic Warrior Bob right there! He's a 73 year old bad ass! And to hear him sing it is so much more moving and powerful than just reading the lyrics. And to the guy in the Post lamenting that Bob didn't do any protest material or comment on Ferguson, here's another line from Pay In Blood that he could have cited: Another politician pumping out the piss Another angry beggar blowing you a kiss Moving on to other songs, highlights included She Belongs to Me and Simple Twist of Fate, two of the four oldies/greatest hits he did that night. The other 15 songs were "new" material - - from the last 5 albums. Another oldie but goodie was Tangled Up In Blue with 2 new and rewritten verses. I mean the song is only 40 years old, why not keep tinkering with it and rewriting it!! Newer highlights were: Things Have Changed - a song I'm usually not thrilled to hear, but this was a great version Working Man's Blues #2 - slow but good Duquesne Whistle - a great shuffle song from the 1940s that Bob just wrote a few years ago Love Sick - always dark and spooky High Water - always light and peppy Spirit On The Water - beautiful sound on this one. I could listen to that progression all night I went into this show not really expecting much based on the last few I've seen, but as usual, Bob proves he's never predictable and always worth seeing. It didn't hit the heights of some of the late 90s - early 2000s shows, but it was a great show and much better than the last few years.

My wife and I went here last night before the Dylan show at Constitution Hall. This was our first time here and we picked it because the menu looked so good. Seriously, there were only a couple items I didn't want to order. I'm usually a sucker for Tasting Menus for the variety, but this one didn't feature enough of the dishes that looked good to me so we skipped it and went the normal route. It's a beautiful place and since we were there so early (before 6) we got a great table at a window on the street. I was very surprised it wasn't more full. When we got there, there were a few people having drinks and (I thing) only one other table eating. When we leaf at 7:30 there were maybe 5 tables seated. Our waiter said it was quite because it was the week before Thanksgiving, but I'm guessing the new, hot 14th St places were all packed last night. Anyhow, we ordered 4 appetizers and split an entrée which they cut in half and served on two separate plates. A very nice gesture even though we weren't expecting it, but looking back I shouldn't be surprised since the service was top notch all night long. They had a nice wine list (no VA wines) with a nice range of prices (read: some were affordable) and we got a $45 bottle of Chablis to start. For apps we had: Yellowfin Tuna - 14 Bonito Ranch, Ginger Dressing, Spicy Tapioca - This was very good! It was a tartare that was so fine and soft(?) or smooth(?) that we wondered if they chopped it by hand or in a food processor. This was a major highlight. Espellette Crusted Scallops - 14 Winter Citrus, Smoked Trout Roe, Yuzu Emulsion - Another winner, but much more weird! The scallops were sliced thin, maybe 1/4 inch and somehow seared on one side, but somehow also raw. The seemingly bizarre inclusion of the citrus (grapefruit??) was somehow very fitting. Whole Wheat Chitarra - 16 Cauliflower, Uni, Spicy Bread Crumbs, Garlic confit - This was a pasta dish with little pieces of uni that was also very good and bigger/more filling than the first two Pan Seared Foie Gras - 16 Warm Carrot Cake, Carrot Relish, Carrot Ginger Reduction - I loved this one. There were two pieces of foie gras on top of carrot, carrot, carrot! You'll note that DIShGo had a similar but different dish last month. Hers had lychee instead of carrots and it must have just recently changed because when I first looked at the menu over the weekend, they were still listing foie with lychee. Would have like to have tried the lychee but this combo of carrots was very good. For our split entrée we had: Butter Roasted Beef Strip - 32 Cherry"‹ Mustard, Blue Cheese Gourgeres, Multigrain Risotta - I would have rather ordered something else, but we just watched a "Mind of a Chef" show where they cooked a piece of meat in an obscene amount of butter and my wife was inspired to try their version. I wish I had read Don's and DIShGo's reviews earlier, because I too was not in love with this dish. It was not particularly tender and not particularly flavorful, but it wasn't "bad". Out of everything we ordered this is the only one I wouldn't recommend or order again. We had it with a wonderful Syrah that our waiter picked out ($14 per glass) which was probably not very economical but it was very tasty and perfect for the dish, plus we knew we couldn't bring an opened, half full bottle into the Dylan show! For dessert we had doughnut holes (recommended by our waiter when we were on the fence about this dish or another one), which were tasty, a carafe of coffee which was great, and in honor of my home state we split a Finger Lakes ice wine which was perfect. We really loved this place and can't wait to go back. I think it will be our go-to stop for a pre-concert dinner. While it was slightly more expensive than a dinner we had a few months ago at The Partisan, the food, service and ambience were much better here. (Not really sure why I even mentioned that, other that Partisan has had a lot of recent buzz, and our meal there was just ok. I'm in no rush to go back there, but I could go back to the Oval room tonight and be thrilled to order completely different dishes than we got last night)

A few years back, maybe 10 or even 15, there was a point at the end of the shows where Bob's security would let people (mostly women, but some dudes too) get on stage to dance around Bob as he was playing Like A Rolling Stone or whatever the encore was. Most of women were young and hot and VERY MUCH into Bob. I have a distinct memory of a college aged woman doing a sexy seductive dance right in front of him. She was staring at him, he was staring at her, and I was staring at her! I remember seeing this happen at a bunch of shows in different places so it wasn't like they were hired dancers that were part of the show. They were just younger people totally into Bob.

Now I think you're being harsh, Mark. Jbag57 didn't get this guy fired, he just documented his experiences. RJ, the boss fired him, which may be harsh, but it's his place to do with what he chooses. Are we not to post bad reviews on this site? Yeah, Jbag could have flagged someone down, but I've been in his situation too"¦"¦.you're (nearly) the only one in the place, but suddenly you're invisible. The people who are supposed to help you become masters at not making eye contact, and you sit, and sit, and sit, getting madder and madder, and finally just leave. Often times you don't have that option (like the DMV), but you're not required by law to eat at a certain place.

Here's a blurb from Chef Tarver King (formerly Ashby Inn, now Potowmack Farm) from yesterdays "Free Range On Food" chat at the Washington Post. They were talking about making mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving: <<< Also, spend some money and get some really really good butter. Barrate beurre is insanely expensive. But it will send the potatoes over the moon. Theres also Plugra, etc.>>> He had a lot of great tips and interesting suggestions on all sorts of topics too, so it may be worth a read or a skim: http://live.washingtonpost.com/free-range-11-19-2014.html

I'm probably missing some point here, but no one expects a widget to cost 3 times more at Store X (the restaurant or Walmart) that it is at Store Y (a wine shop or a Mom and Pop store). There might be a difference in price between Walmart, Amazon and the local mom and pop store for the widget but it's not several orders of magnitude like you see with wines, and especially wines by the glass.

I thought there was a more recent thread on wine markups, but I couldn't find it. Anyhow, here's a write up from the Washingtonian restaurant chat from yesterday: WINE MARK-UPS, CONT. ..........: Todd, I'm a couple weeks late to this party... I have worked in restaurants for many years, concentrating on beverage programs for much of that time, and as a Certified Sommelier for the last few years. Per the conversation about wine by the glass prices: it is pretty standard in respectable restaurants that the price we pay for a bottle of by the glass wine is the price we charge per glass. So if I pay $13 per bottle for something I want to run by the glass, I will charge $13 per glass. That way, once the bottle is opened, it's essentially paid for in the event that we don't sell any more glasses from that bottle before it begins to oxidize. When wines that are featured by the glass are sold by the bottle, things get trickier. A normal target wine cost is around 30%, so to arrive at list price, we basically triple our cost. So, again, that $13/bottle wine we're serving by the glass, could go for $39 per bottle. But, a lot of places will charge for four glasses, i.e. charge $52 per bottle. That is pretty standard, even though there are roughly five glasses in a bottle. Essentially, it entices people to buy the whole bottle cause "it's a deal" that way (paying for four glasses instead of five). Why not charge just three times the bottle cost to get the by the bottle price? Most of the time, there are higher markups attached to less expensive wines on a list, and lower markups on more expensive things. On something I buy for $25, I might go to a 3.5 times markup (especially if I know it's something you won't find a lot of other places), rather than the usual 3 times markup. So, I might list that wine for $85 rather than $75...only $10 different. On a bottle I pay $70 for, I might list that at $175, or 2.5 times markup, rather than $210...$35 different in this case. Why do we do that? Two reasons...1. This way we're maximizing profit on higher velocity items (items we sell more frequently). and 2. We're able to make our more expensive, lower velocity items a little more attractive. This idea of subsidizing lower prices on more expensive items by charging more for less expensive items often plays into our by the glass program as well. It's not uncommon for a higher end restaurant to charge, say, $22 a glass for a really high end pour that they are buying for $28-30 per bottle. Sometimes it's fun give people the chance to try something higher end, without asking them to commit to a whole bottle. Often, those selections are the best "value" on the by the glass menu. We can offer a deal like that, because our lower end selections are carrying a slightly higher profit margin. Believe it or not, most reputable sommeliers aren't out for you last penny. Sometimes we want to get people to try something new cause we think you'll love it! Todd Kliman: This is wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. This is full of terrific insights that I think "” I hope "” will benefit everyone on here who reads this. And just for the record, I don't believe that sommeliers are money hungry at all. I do believe that restaurants look to wine programs (beverage programs, generally) to help out their bottom lines. Many sommeliers I've spoken to over the years are passionate people who know a lot about their chosen subject, and they seem to want nothing more than to introduce a diner to something new or unusual and see that person's eyes light up. http://www.washingtonian.com/chats/kliman/tuesday-november-18-at-11-am-1.php

As far as I can remember, it's true. I'm thinking on it really hard now and I can't come up with one. I don't travel all that much and when I do, I plan the trip and book a room for a specific reason"¦"¦.vacation, wedding, seeing the Grateful Dead, etc. Barring an emergency, I'm trying understand why you'd ever cancel a hotel room. Clearly there are entire universes out there that neither of us understand.

The other thing that's different about a hotel is even if you cancel at 5:59, they can book the room at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10pm"¦..etc and still get 100% of the room rate. The 6:00 pm canceled table at a restaurant can't be "rebooked" at 7, 8, 9, or 10pm (it can be booked later in the evening, but you can't get the money back for the lost time) And I'll agree with Pat, I don't think this attitude is commendable. It's just nice, polite, respectful behavior. And maybe that's Don's point - - doing once normal (polite) things is now a rarity and should be praised when seen. But count me as one who has never canceled a hotel and has never canceled a restaurant reservation

So I finally got around to looking up some info on the recording session for the first album. All of this comes from Clinton Heylin's book "Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions (1960 - 1994)". The book investigates every song and album Bob has ever made, how it was recorded, who was there, where it happened, how many takes, etc. Here's what he says: The album was recorded in two sessions, Nov 20 & 22 1961. Each session ran from 2 - 5 pm [Total recording time 6 hours!!!!!] Rumored cost: $402 The only musician was Bob About half the songs had 2 or 3 takes, the other half were done in one take (!!!!) The last 4 songs of the session were done in one take Talkin' New York had 2 takes There's no mention of overdubs Here's a quote from Bob talking about those sessions: "I just played the guitar and harmonica and sang those songs and that was it. Mr. Hammond [the producer] asked me if I wanted to sing any of them over again and I said no. I can't see myself singing the same song twice in a row" So I think it's safe to say that whatever you heard (Don), it all happened live with just Bob singing and playing. You are aware of those neck brace harmonica holder things, right? (just another invention from the amazing Les Paul) You can go from singing to playing harmonica and back to singing very quickly with those things.

You should read the rest, it's not that long. Well, for one he's technically not doing anything wrong, but I don't think he thinks about it at all. And this is not just Adam I'm talking about but the entire Me Generation (which has no upper or lower age limit, but skews younger!). I see this in every facet of life - eating, talking, driving, shopping, walking on the street, basically anywhere you come into contact with humans. Most people don't give any consideration how their actions affect those around them. Are they inconsiderate jerks or just have absolutely no self-awareness at all? I don't know. Think about every loud talker on a cell phone. Do you think they're being obnoxious and annoying on purpose? Probably not. They're just have no idea that there's a world around them that they are negatively impacting.

I disagree. To own it would be to come right out and say, "I don't care who I hurt or inconvenience or screw over. I'm more important than you Mr.s Restaurant owner and I'm certainly more important than you fellow diner" Instead he blame the behavior on the ease of using Open Table"¦.."two clicks and I'm done, when in the past I had to talk to a real person and therefore felt an obligation" (paraphrased) I'm grateful for his honesty too, and it also should be noted that he didn't actually violate any policies, but he's certainly violating the spirit and intent of the cancellation policies. Put another way, do you think these "24 hour cancellation policies" would still be in effect if 90% of the public were pulling these moves?

And this is why we can't have nice things. I'm glad you came in here and admitted these things because it's an interesting window on how "real people" act, but I've got to say, it makes me angry reading it. It's behavior like this that has caused and will continue to cause the rest of us to suffer. I can't wait for the day that every single place under the sun (not just restaurants) won't take a reservation without a credit card and also starts lengthening the cancelation period. Goodbye 24 hours and hello one week! We can probably also look forward to being charged just to make a reservation too. And to blame it on Open Table is a weak and silly justification If you want to practice jerky behavior, own it! Don't blame it on an app.

One week later and damn near the exact same thing happened. It was a cold, semi-rainy, crappy night which I'm sure had something to do with the lack of crowd"¦"¦but"¦"¦.we got there at about 6:30 right behind two guys who got seated immediately. Crap! 30 seconds too late!! But no, there was another table open and we were seated immediately!!! I'm sure it was total luck, and the stars aligning, and the bad weather, but at 6:30 tonight, 2 sets of couples could have walked right up and got seated quicker than you would have been seated in your own house! We were sitting right next to the hostess stand, and when we left at about 7:50, there was an hour and a half wait (in fact at some point during our meal we heard someone else being told that it would be an hour and a half). So the lesson here is"¦"¦"¦I'm not sure there is a lesson, but it seems like arriving about an hour after they open might be a good strategy. Picking a crappy-weather day might also help. The meal itself was great, as was the staff - - super friendly, super cool, super mellow, but always there the second you needed them. The food was wonderfully weird and different and tangy and spicy and bright. And to me, it was just as good as the first time we were there back in ????? (right before Tom reviewed it in the Post). It also held up a lot better than (and I hate to say this but) Bangkok Golden. The first time we went to BG (again, right after Tom's review), we were floored by the flavors, the textures and how different it was. The next time we went, it was good, but not as great. The third time we went it was good but nowhere near as good as our first time. Not even close. Then next time we went,"¦.. we didn't go. We went to Little Serow instead and loved it as much as the first time. The only downside is, it was too dark in there to appreciate the beauty of the dishes as they were presented. 3/4 of the way through the meal I started using my phone to illuminate the plates and what a difference it made! Wish I would have thought of that at the start. We paired the spicy food with a $40 rosé from Provence and it was the perfect accompaniment, even on a cold rainy night. I'm a firm believer in pairing rosé with anything and everything, but even my Chardonnay-loving wife agreed that this was the better choice for the meal.