pdmarquardt

Sure, I know people who've consigned part of their collection to restaurants (hell, that's how Proof got started).  But I don't think saying "no corkage" really drives the locals who would be bringing bottles from home to say "okay, I'll pay a $500+ markup on a $150 bottle of 2001 Cos." (GTFOH.)  I'll bring the '82 from home and pay a solid corkage, but they're not losing much by way of profit; they're just making me drink worse.  I'd bet there's little overlap between "sure, I'll pay your list for a fancy bottle" people and "I've got a good cellar but I'm not stupid" people - and if you have, say, $60 corkage you're not likely to get people stopping off at Safeway on the way in.  This kind of policy makes me say that there are a lot of other good restaurants in DC.

On 5/22/2017 at 4:28 PM, peasoup said:

I'm not sure that their list has much higher mark-ups than most other places, and it at least has interesting options.

The worst part is they don't allow corkage. I almost always BYO.

We had a very good still pinot noir from Champagne. $125 before tax/tip. Winesearcher has the bottle at $40 in Chicago and $70 in NYC.

No corkage is a killer.  I don't (much) mind a substantial corkage fee in a high-end restaurant. But I'm never, ever going to pay a markup of hundreds of dollars.  Basically the restaurant is saying that's fine - we'll take our $60 markup on a nicely made wine off our list - but no drinking cellar treasures for you.  I don't get why that's good for anyone - they can't have much turnover at the top of the list anyway.

The one I didn't see here is Weygandt in Cleveland Park, which is well worth a visit. Others I use here are Bassins, Wide World, Arrowine, CW, and Ace, though I also do a lot of out-of-state and auction shopping.  I like Schneider's but we're in NW and are rarely on the Hill.

For those who are Blanton's fans and note that supply comes and goes, a batch seems to have hit the DC market recently.

That's a lot of short crops in a not-very-long stretch.  Some of the producers must really be feeling the cumulative effects at this point.

Going to Ace ASAP. Thanks for this - very useful.

2 hours ago, rbh said:

yes, basically, if you've enrolled in any of the CBP trusted traveler programs, you will get TSA PreCheck.  if i recall correctly, Global Entry expedites arriving in the U.S. via airplane.  SENTRI expedites land crossings on the southern border, and NEXUS expedites land crossings on the northern border.  One of the main things to remember is that PreCheck only applies to U.S. airports (i.e. those whose security are managed by TSA).  It generally won't help you with international airport security.

This is all correct.  Global Entry is absolutely worth it if you travel internationally pretty much at all.  Ten minutes customs hall to curb if you carry on.  Do NOT, however, do what I did and sign up for NEXUS because why not?  (I'm originally from Detroit and do pop over to Canada sometimes.)  NEXUS interviews can't be done here; they have to be done at a limited number of border stations so that both the Canadians and Americans can interview you.  It was a huge pain that set me back until my next trip to one of the border cities.  Don't know about SENTRI but suspect there may be similar issues.  

Also, remember to keep your personal data on their online system up to date.  They're not great about contacting you when they need something.

2 hours ago, Marty L. said:

"my theory as to why such a restaurant could only exist now thanks to Uber"

Lemme guess:  No parking within miles; no metro nearby; expensive cabs.  I'll bet you're right that upward of 75% of their customers are either locals on foot, or come and go via Uber.  Me, I've found a parking space every time . . . but sometimes I circle for 15-20 minutes.

I lived in that neighborhood for years, and parking is not great.  Best bet is probably to park on Harvard (there's usually parking near the Zoo) and walk - you'll spend more time walking but less time circling.

I haven't been back since it first opened (because we have a toddler, not because we had a bad experience), but I would go again.  I would, however, do some homework before I went - ordering well seemed important, at least in version 1.0 (maybe even beta 0.9.9) of the menu.

Carolina Wine was more a guy who got in over his head and started kiting checks.  The PC guy was stealing money from the get-go.  There's a reason he's going to jail.

On 1/21/2016 at 9:17 AM, Dr. Delicious said:

This is all well and good, but where should I eat?

More seriously, I will add that these places from earlier posts strike me as most promising:

Sola

Septime

Pirouette

Restaurant David Toutain

Frenchie

Le Bistro Paul Bert

Juveniles

Though, I'm concerned that I will not be able to get reservations at most of them, given their popularity. Also, it seems that most only accept reservations a few weeks out, which is unfortunate.

"‹ETA: Another thing that struck me as odd was that many of these places are closed on Saturday.

I'd add Kitchen Galerie Bis - bistro of Ze Kitchen Galerie, wonderful food, much easier to get into.

I liked Pirouette but didn't love it.

I know a bunch of people who have them.  Those who have them tend to love them but not actually to use them as much as they thought they would.  Dessert wines are a great use case, but other than that we tend to drink at least half a bottle (in which case a cheap and very effective solution is to take a small screwcapped bottle - we use old Perrier bottles - and fill it to the very top with no headspace before capping it).

By all accounts they work very well, though, so if the spend doesn't bother you go for it.  Only thing to be slightly careful about is old bottles - the bottle ends up pressurized, so there is some risk of breakage if there's a flaw in the glass.

Weird experience with Cibola Farms, where we're regulars - we bought a couple of pounds of bison ground chuck, and it was full of big chunks of gristle and even a couple of bone chips.  I picked it over before making patties and the burgers were still nearly inedible.

Hi there -

We're on the consuming rather than the producing side (okay, we like to cook too, but you get it). We believe in division of labor; I'm the wino, with the hugely overstuffed cellar to show for it, and my wife is the foodie (second disclaimer - we're both both, but I'm the one who will talk about Galician red wines and she's the one who will talk about new chefs in Chicago). We've been kicking around DC food and wine communities for years but are new to this board; I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Cheers, Paul