Mulcahy

I would recommend the following wineries: Mondavi for the very educational tour (I would start there). Miner, for the tasty wines, very friendly staff, and beautiful views. Chateau Lapotelle, not so much for the wines, which are OK, but for the drive. Storybook Mountain, for Zinfandel worth killing for, and a tour of a tiny facility. I would not recommend Jarvis or Rudd. Although they make very good wine I felt the wineries lacked any kind of character. Also at Jarvis (not Rudd) the tour guide knows nothing about wine. I would also recommend the Flora Springs Tasting Room, just a tasting room, but they make very good wines. I have heard that Paloma is well worth the visit, although it may be impossible because their wine was just rated #1 by W.S. Casa Nuestra is off the beaten path. Rombauer makes everyone's (except mine) favorite Chardonnay and the memorabilia in the winery is cool. Schramsberg for sparkling would be my choice, but Domaine Chandon is also interesting. That's it, I think.

This subject is near and dear to my heart, as my husband and I go to a decent number of restaurants and drink a lot of wine. (The drinking of a lot of wine is not meant to connote we know all that much about it). I actually know more about the subject than my husband but we both really like to look at the wine list and invariably almost always are offered just one. This makes sense at a place like Veritas which has a tome as a wine list, but at a place with a two or three page list that is no larger than the menu? Doesn't seem like much of an effort for the restaurant to supply us with two lists. We almost always ask for reccomendations as long as the restaurant has either a sommelier or a server that knows what they're talking about. If not, I usually choose the bottle and on more than one occasion my husband has been poured the taste. On occassions when the sommelier chooses the bottle my husband is almost always poured the taste. A recent very notable exception took place at Casa Mono where the wine director poured all three people at the table a taste of her reccomendations. It was unusual enough that I thanked her for it. I absolutely hate it when it is assumed that my husband is responsible for the wine (so does he). I mean for heaven's sake it's 2004, not 1954.

That's really funny. I am a New Yorker and I couldn't agree more. We do tend to have a very New Yorkcentric view of the world. I frequently turn to my husband while we are watching TV and say "we really need to get to other parts of the country" when the television program is about some regional issue that has never dawned on me. You mean there are places you can't get Parmeggiano Reggiano and real bagels? We are unbelievable snobs about most things, especially food. It's good for us to remind us of that every once and a while.

Thanks. I figured rubbery was probably not such a great sign.

What is cuttlefish supposed to taste like, exactly? The order we had was very rubbery and hard to chew. I can imagine it would be yummy if tender, especially b/c the sauce was flavorful, but the consistency was hard for me to stomach.

I do not mean to suggest that $180 for three is inexpensive, it's not. But you could dine far less expensively. Plates run from $3-15.

Hello, all. Very new to e-gullet, so please bear with me. Went to Casa Mono last night with my husband and a close friend. We had 8:30 reservations and were seated fairly quickly (had to wait a few minutes, but nothing unreasonable). Here are my rather lengthy observations, both food related and not. First, the restaurant itself is quite attractive, with dark wood tables and wine racks and the open kitchen. It is tiny though so there is a significant amount of squeezing between and around tables to either get to your seat or use the bathroom. If any of you have been to Gennaro on the Upper West Side it reminds me of what seating there used to be like. Also because it was roughly twenty degrees last night, people who were waiting for tables were crowded by the front door which made for an interesting attempt at ingress and egress. But generally the restaurant is very comfortable with one caveat, it is cold. This is largely, I think, due to the fact that there is no double door so every time the front door opens you are hit with a blast of cold air almost anywhere in the restaurant. Probably won't be a problem in the summer (or when it's not twenty degrees) but if you are going soon I would suggest layering if cold temperatures bother you. Now on to the stuff we really care about, food and wine. The food was generally excellent. The plates are small which encourages sharing. Between the three of us we ate eight dinner plates and shared one dessert. Our first wave of food was: Jamon Serrano a Mano, Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Croquetas, Calamares Fritos, and Scallops with Cava and Chorizo. The Jamon Serrano was very good but not that interesting. Other people probably feel very differently (I know my husband does) but I wasn't wowed, and I love all pork products. The Scallops with Cava and Chorizo were beautiful and the Cava and Chorizo mix that pooled in the bottom of the plate was wonderful. It had the heat that really good spanish chorizo has mixed with a bit of sweetness from the cava. The problem was the scallops, which were in my estimation a bit overcooked and flavorless. The Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Croquetas were phenomenal. They were sweet, crunchy, and tangy all at the same time. I could have eaten thirty of them. The Calamares Fritos were the best example of fried calamari I have ever come across. The squid was tender, not rubbery, and the batter/breading was spicy and lemony which meant there was no need (or desire) for anything to dip them into. In my experience fried calamari is usually rubbery and flavorless. This was a revelation. Our second wave was Sepia a La Plancha with Salsa Verde, Skirt Steak with Onion Marmelada, Cockles with Huevos Revueltos, and Patatas Bravas. I hated the Sepia. This is no reflection on the quality of the cooking because I had never eaten cuttlefish. But I hated the texture because it was rubbery and chewy. I have zero idea if that is the way it is supposed to taste, so can't tell if it was good or not. The Skirt Steak with Onion Marmelada was perfect. The steak was rare. The onions were sweet. The only problem was that there wasn't enough of it (like with the Pumpkin Croquetas. The Cockles with Huevos Revueltos was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten. It was scrambled eggs, chorizo and perfectly cooked cockles. The chorizo is outstanding at Casa Mono. The mix of flavors in the dish was really spectacular. Patatas Bravas, which are basically spicy potatoes, were crusty and delicious and an excellent complement to both the cockles and the steak. With the meal we had three different wines. The wine service, like at all Batali restaurants I have been to, was great. The wine director was friendly and recommended reasonably priced bottles. We had a quartino of 2002 Albarino Lustico, Rias Baixas ($14) to start which was light and refreshing. Then we split a bottle of 2002 Vina Sila "Naia" ($24) which was a good accompaniment to our first wave of food. It had grapefruit and melon notes with a little mineral. We then split a bottle of a wonderfully light fruity red (I can't remember the name or price — probably because it was bottle number two) which was similar to beaujolais, but not too perfumey. Finally we had dessert. None of us were that hungry, but I am a cheese whore, so I had to try the three manchego taster with quince jelly. There were three manchegos of different age (3 months, 6 months and 12 months, I think) and they were all delicious. The youngest manchego was buttery and smooth, the oldest had a harder texture and nuttier flavor. I hate quince jelly so can't tell you what that tasted like. I had a very nice sherry with the manchego, as did my dining companions) and left the restaurant feeling very sated and having really enjoyed my meal. The tab, for those of you that are curious, came to $180 without tip. Not bad given that we ate like pigs and drank equally as well. You could definitely have an inexpensive meal there with no difficulty. Am counting down the days until my next visit. . .

This is my first post, so please excuse any mistakes on my part. I love Murray's Sturgeon Shop on Broadway between 89th and 90th for chopped liver. They won't put it on a roll because they don't carry rolls but will put it on a very excellent bagel. They also have vegetable chopped liver, an oddity (and some would say blasphemy) which I have not seen elsewhere. I have no idea what's in it (except it's meat free) but it does taste surprisingly like the real thing.