Sthitch

Many of the current generation of hearing aids can modulate the sounds in such a way that they convert frequencies that you cannot hear into a range that you can hear - I am sure that it would sound distorted to people that have been able to hear those frequencies in the past, but it is better than the alternative. I am not sure that reading lips is a good solution for most people, I find that most people that have not been lip reading all of their lives try to use it in place of hearing instead of as a compliment to hearing. Lip reading it is really best used as one of many tools to provide clues that will help to fill the fragments of sound that are missed. I really requires a different way of hearing and one that I do not recommend becoming familiar with as it is utterly exhausting and you still end up asking people to repeat themselves – technology is a much better option.

Jason Hanson, one of the most clutch kickers in NFL history and the only player to ever play for the same team for 20 years - in all of those years he never walked off the field at Lambeau a winner.

Calling the sparkling wines at Domaine Carneros average is being far too generous even their top of the line sparkler is insipid. I agree with you about Paraduxx, but had the exact opposite take on Frank Family. The guy who was pouring did nothing but name drop and tell us all of the wonderful stars that enjoy the founder's wine (who was the founder of USA Network - or was that his son). Do people really base their wine purchases on the fact that Oprah is a fan of their wine? They must he told it to everyone that came in the door. To make matters worse he kept going on and on about how their sparkler is really a Champagne and that is why it is called that on the label, there was no point in arguing. The wines were fine, but really did not stand out as anything special. The highlight of the visit was giving a belly rub to the wine makers Labrador. I am very much a Francophile when it comes to wine, so my preferences will not generally correspond to those that are looking for big heavily extracted California reds or oaky Chardonnays, I found a few in that style that I liked, but for the most part I prefer complexity over fruit and a balance of fruit and acid over velvet. Two of the wineries that I really loved that make French style wines were Bremer Family Winery and Elizabeth Spencer. Bremer Family is hidden away on Howell Mountain on Deer Field Road just before you get to Angwin. They produce only a limited selection of wines and so the tasting also includes a number of their library wines. Reservations are required but easy to come by. The tasting room for Elizabeth Spencer is situated in an old pump house next door to BV (as a side note BV’s non-supermarket wines are quite good). The majority of the wines come from Napa, but they also have vineyards in Mendocino and grow some Syrah on the Sonoma Coast that they turn into a wonder rose. The tasting room at Heitz Family Vineyards is refreshing for its uniqueness in that the tasting is free and there are no wine clubs and by extension no pressure. Don’t think that by not charging a fee that they are only pouring the plunk, on my last visit they were pouring three vintages of their exquisite Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet (one of the vintages was the 2007 which sells for $250 a bottle). I was floored by the quality of the meal that we had at Redd, it was the best meal that I had in 2012 and outshone the meal we had the next day at the French Laundry. We discovered that if we ordered the tasting menu we got two completely different meals with two completely different wine pairings. Since we shared each plate and each wine, this worked out to a sixteen course meal without a clunker in the bunch. The best burger that I ate in 2012 was at Goose and Gander in St. Helena, my wife made the mistake of getting hers with a topping of bone marrow, it was just too much of a good thing. By contrast we had a dreadful meal at La Condesa also in St. Helena. The guacamole tasting started the meal at its high point and it went downhill from there. The ceviche was quite unique as it seems as though they were able to extract and dispose of all of the flavors from the various ingredients and render a dish that that was hot and sour, that is it just hot and sour, no discernible yuzu or lime flavor in the sour and no actual chile flavor in the heat. The other ingredients provided neither flavor nor texture. The tacos were nearly all misses, the one exception were the ones made with tri-tip, the meat was well seasoned and cooked to just medium rare. We were able to rescue the evening by heading back to Goose and Gander for some very well made cocktails.

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steaks, & Stone Crab (i.e. Chicago and Las Vegas) are owned by Lettuce Entertain You, the Miami location is independent.

Does this mean that you have changed your mind about wine scores?

Second location coming to 10120 Fairfax Blvd. in Fairfax (website says it should have opened at the end of January).

No.

The only way I ever bother with popcorn is when I have an open bottle of Champagne - this is why I never go to the cinema. But I hardly consider this to be junk food.

@Joe - My friend we are going to have to disagree on those two points. I thought that the risotto was far too rich for the 12th course of a meal - I did not mean to say that it should be replaced by the lobster risotto only that at that moment it looked more appealing than the overly rich dish that we were served. As for the shrimp, food as architecture has not wowed me since the 90's. I thought that it would have been more effective to serve it on a piece of paper – similar to how they serve tempura in Japan or Fritto Misto in Italy. @Darkstar – I greatly enjoyed the meal. Just because I have an issue with a dish does not mean that I do not like it, in this case I enjoyed all but one dish I was served.

There is not going to be a second location of Al Dente. According to Roberto and Hakan the restaurant that they are opening will be called Alba and will be a different concept. It should be opening in the fall.

This was only the third time that they had done Roberto’s 4 and I suspect that it will only get better with time. While there were a few missteps, I thought that with one exception each of the dishes were all well executed. This is basically a one man show and Roberto is not working with a brigade of highly trained cooks dedicated to producing just one or two tasting menus. When I think of the one dish that failed last night I put it into this context and remember that even with a cook dedicated to just cooking fish The French Laundry recently sent me out a piece of fish that would have been sent back at the Red Lobster, Roberto’s salmon did not fail on that level. This just being one man with the occasional help of his line cooks I think that the meal was spectacular, and is the best culinary bargain in the city. With that here is what I thought about the dishes: Pizzetta – The egg was superfluous to this dish, the reason is that the cheese not only overpowered its flavor, but also the texture of the melted Taleggio had the same texture of the slightly congealed yolk. As for the truffles they were visible but otherwise lent nothing to the dish. I did find the crust to be excellent. Gnocco Fritto – I am not sure what Roberto’s goals were with this dish, if it was to highlight the flavor of gnocco I think it failed because the lightly flavored gnocco was overpowered by the prosciutto and parmesan. If his goal was to highlight the texture I think he hit it out of the park, the chewiness of the gnocco meant that it took a while to chew and allowed the flavor of the prosciutto to fully develop in your mouth as you chewed and chewed. Black Cerignola Olives Croquette – I liked the texture of the dish and the croquette was nicely fried, however it had a very sharp olive brine flavor to it, I know some people love that flavor but I am not one of them. While this dish did not work for me, I know a number of people that would have loved it. Diver Sea Scallop Crudo – this was a simple dish that lives and dies on the flavor of the scallop, these were perfectly fresh. I would have liked a little less acid on as it masked the sweetness of the scallop; I also wished the scallops had been thinly sliced instead of just bisected. Quibbles aside, it was a very good dish. Salmon cured in house – this was the miss of the evening for me. The salmon was too salty and the texture too gummy. Once the smoke dissipated it was not present in the dish and the blood orange sauce did not convey much in the way of an orange flavor. I believe that the texture and the lack of smoke could be mitigated by slicing the salmon instead of keeping it as a solid piece. Oysters with Passion Fruit – this was a rather strange combination of flavors but I thought that the passion fruit’s exotic flavor and acid worked quite well with the brininess of the oyster. Fried head-on Shrimp and Shrimp Sauce – if this was on the menu I would make a regular drive from Arlington just to eat it. The batter was quite thick and on smaller shrimp I have a feeling that the batter would not have worked as well, but the extra cooking time that these mammoth shrimp needed made certain that the coating was fried through with only a hint of grease. The accompanying shrimp sauce was a bit too spicy for my taste, but was otherwise had a pleasing shrimp flavor. If there is one thing that I would change about this dish it was the plating, each shrimp is placed in a pronged contraption that was to hold the shrimp above the plate – mine was the only one that stayed in it. Frascatelli with Manila Clams – Both components were excellent, the pasta was less like couscous and more like a well-made spetzle and the clams were quite flavorful and perfectly cooked. The problem is that this was two very good dishes in one, I would have loved to open a meal with those clams and have the frascatelli as my pasta dish. The pasta sauce was dominated by olive oil and pancetta but if you removed the two manila clams you would not have known that they were part of the dish as there was nothing that tied the clams and pasta together. If there had also been chopped clams mixed with the pasta I think that it would have brought this together as a cohesive. Chitarra Spaghetti with squid ink – they did not have sea urchin last night so he made the dish with squid ink instead. This was by far the dish with the boldest flavor and was the dish of the night for me. The dough had obviously been abused enough to develop a good amount of glutton which produced the perfect amount of chew in the pasta – few restaurants work their dough enough and you end up with pasta that is too soft. I can see some people objecting to the sauce, it was an assault on the palette, but squid ink is generally the salt lick of the sea, Roberto did a nice job of balancing that saltiness and producing a wonderfully flavored sauce. The tender pieces of squid that were in the dish were superfluous as their flavor was overpowered by the sauce and the texture lost to the pasta – they were not bad, just not needed. Gnocchi with Lobster – the gnocchi was well executed and not a bit of gumminess and the lobster was perfectly cooked. I suspect that the sauce was made with lobster shells, and it had a great lobster and redpepper flavor, but it also had a gritty texture. Meat Stuffed Pappardelle – This was the least successful pasta dish. Like the spaghetti the pasta itself was perfect, but the fault was with the stuffing. I cannot remember what they said it was stuffed with, but it was a braised meat that was quite flavorful, but it was a bit dry and needed the help of the sauce. La Tur Risotto Cheese with Hazelnuts – Roberto is a master at making risotto and this was cooked perfectly, however, it was far too rich and the cheese was overpowering. I would have preferred some of the lobster risotto that we watched being prepared. Squab and Duck Liver – I really liked the non-fattened liver in this here, the gamier flavor and soft texture matched well with the squab and at his point in the meal the added richness of foie gras would have been too much. My only issue with the dish is that my squab was cold in the center. Venison with Sour Cherries and Sunchokes – I am not sure if I would call this dish a miss, the venison was a bit dry (though unless cooked very rare it always seems to be that way) and had the venison been a bit more gamey the cherries would have been a perfect foil for it, but farmed venison does not have the gaminess that is needed for such an aggressive sauce. I don’t like sunchokes in general so I will not comment on that component. Pecorino with Saba and Fig – Nice simple cheese course, the only issue is that staying with the red in the wine pairing was a mistake, it clashed with every component of this dish. Vanilla Gelato – The gelato suffered from a lack of sugar – my dining companion does not care much for sweets and even he mentioned that it needed a bit more. I think that more sugar would have also helped to eliminate the ice crystals in the gelato. Gianduia Jar – one glaring problem with this, the jar was way too small... We were served the Bicerin and Bombolini, these are served communally so we were talking to the other diners and did not pay all that much attention to them.

I thought that the appearance of Grand Marnier Cherry (known everywhere else in the world as Cherry Marnier) was the best spirit news I had heard of in the past year, but that is nothing compared to this. If it becomes available anywhere within three hour drive I might have to buy a case. I have tasting notes on 40+ gins (each alone, as a G&T, and a Martini), but as they are "devoid of warmth" (unlike many of those wonderfully tasty gins - like the fantastic sipworthy gin from Caorunn) they will need to find another home.

Reopening?

Would it be wrong to call the owner of the establishment a dick? I know personal attacks are frowned upon, but what if he pleads guilty to raping one of his employees... oops sorry admits to "assualt and battery" on his employee? Well it is closed.

Not exactly a new rumor.

Joe, there was a movie in which just such a dish was one of the stars. Personally I think that Eric is being far too generous in his description of the Timpano that was served to us last night. In addition to a unpleasant crust and over cooked pasta, the meatball was unappetizingly dry, the egg was a nonentity, and the sauce presented far more acidic notes than tomato. Maybe this is a dish that should only be ordered when Donna is cooking it (I did not notice him there last night - but I did not go out of my way to check), but I just cannot see it being something I would order again. Not all was bad, as Eric mentions the pizza and sausage (other than some undercooked potatoes) were quite enjoyable.

Gregg's Table

When it comes to long pastas, I am generally averse to fresh made pasta. Too many cooks take too delicate a hand with the dough and never form the proper amount of gluten to give it the wonderfully chewy texture that you can find with even grocery store pasta. With this in mind, I was not expecting much from the spaghetti dish. When it arrived it was not very attractive, other than the raw parsley glob on top of the noodles, the rest of the dish ranged from white to off white to grey. With the addition of the pasta water and mixing it became even less visually appealing. Thankfully this dish is not about visual appeal, it is about showing off the pasta. The simple sauce highlighted the wonderful texture of the perfectly made pasta as opposed to being a delivery device for the sauce. I cannot think of another pasta dish that that I have ever eaten that surpassed this one. Texturally the angolotti was on par with what I have had at Flour + Water; but every element of Elisier’s was far more complex. Service was professional while at the same time not detached – you will be very well served if you end up with the young Korean gentleman as your waiter.

My point was that for everything else the place strikes me as way overpriced - I work just down the street and when I have stopped to look at the lunch menu I balk at the prices for what is listed, they strike me as consistent with an overpriced hotel restaurant model, not something that will draw local workerbees in for lunch.

This whole thread is beginning to take on a stench of a narcissistic attempt by one member to get all everyone else to weep for him.

Call Au Domaine in Old Town (703-836-9463) to find out if they have Foie Gras Terrine, buy some bread, ask Rick what wine to get to go with it, and you will have the best foie night of your life.

If you do not pay, the District sells your debt to a collection agency that will then report it to the credit reporting agencies - happened to me earlier this year.

If you have the time, I would suggest that you drive to Racine and grab a pizza at Well's Brothers.

That was the problem with the linked recipe: bag waffle fries - to make Irish use boiled potatoes EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil - this should be mutton drippings deli-sliced corned beef, chopped - shutter 1 small onion, thinly sliced - whatever 1/green cabbage, thinly sliced - corned beef and cabbage, the spaghetti and meatballs of Irish food Salt and ground black pepper butter - mutton drippings light beer - really? chicken stock - mutton stock shredded white cheddar cheese - an English cheese? Why not just call these Black and Tan nachos!

Have you thought about your own backyard? I find mine particularly relaxing, and the wine list is generally better and cheaper (well always cheaper) than any other place I know of.