ChefEd

Don, thanks for your very kind words. To all of your readers who have supported us over the past 15 years, a hearty thank you as well. I'm very sad to be moving on and very happy at the same time. I think I am at the top of my game and that is the perfect time to walk out the door. My best to all of you.

On 10/19/2013 at 7:43 PM, lggl said:

One Block West -

A wonderful dining experience.  While the service had some hiccups and the wine pairing pours were barely enough to scrape through the course, I would absolutely return and do the tasting menu again.  It was $65 plus $45 for the pairings. 

I rarely reply to posts here about the restaurant, but know that I lurk and I appreciate all the comments, even the negative ones. Sorry about the wine pours. We aren't trying to be cheap at all. We're trying to do about a four-ounce pour so that you get enough wine and yet aren't so blotto by the end of the meal that you don't remember what you ate! Plus we do worry about getting you where you need to be after you dine with us. That said, if you were getting low on your wine, the server should have poured a bit more for you. If you don't mind, drop me a private email here, so I can understand this and the service hiccups and get that dealt with. Thank you and everyone else on this thread for your support. The crew and I really appreciate it.

Maybe "puff piece" is the wrong phrase, but I agree that the post isn't terribly helpful because it omits the names of the producers. The only facts that are included are: (1) you tasted some Virginia Cabernet Francs, and (2) they sucked. By itself, this is not news: many of them suck, but some of them are quite good. The import of what you say depends entirely on what you were drinking.

If you're going to critique anything, you need to have the stones to name names. I don't think you protect anyone by failing to do so. Without telling us what was wrong with specific wines, or at least telling us some good ones, the only way for a reader to avoid your disappointment would be to avoid all Virginia Cabernet Franc. If it is your intention that we should avoid them -- and it seems to be -- that seems like an unfair judgment based on a handful of unnamed wines.

You missed my point entirely. My post was not a critique, but a message to a select few winemakers who follow my blog. It was never intended to be helpful to or even aimed at you. That DR picked up on it comes as a bit of surprise to me. My comments would have been very different if I had targeted a different audience. You are welcome to taste with us next time and if you feel so inclined, to publish all the notes you want. BTW, read through a few years of my blog--you will see stones aplenty. And you will also see that I am a huge supporter of the Virginia wine industry. Forty percent of our list is from Virginia and we have over 20 Virginia wines by the glass.

As much as I like a good natured scrap on a forum, I do have a restaurant to run. Cheers!

I would too. I drink a lot of Virginia wine and am very curious what they tasted. The blog seems like a bit of a puff to me, it lacks so many details.

Dan- I just drank a bottle of Paradise's Chardonnay that won the governor's cup, it was really good. Brunch at Trummer's then some wine from there is a very pleasant afternoon!

Sorry that you think my blog post is a puff piece, though I can see how you might infer that from an outsider's perspective. The details (extensive tasting notes) are omitted so as not to embarrass any of the winemakers, most of whom I know personally. I have talked to several already offline about our results. Just as I would prefer you not air dirty laundry about my restaurant in public without first giving me a chance to deal with it in private, so I prefer to treat my winemaker friends.