goofy md

For those of you who have been, Is the la cart by the glass or bottle? I'm assuming you order a glass of wine and they pair up the food, or is the only way to get multiple different wine to do one of the menus?

FYI for others, I wrote Atelier and they replied: We confirm you that we can welcome you with pleasure to the Atelier. Even if you do not eat shells ans meats it raise no problem, it is to indicate it to us in the booking. We have two menus, mainly consisted of vegetables.

I apologize ahead of time for my rudimentary knowledge. I had read on these and other board about La Chassagnette. It sounded amazing. I didn't connect the chef with L'Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabenel. How is La Chassagnette now? worth going to? 9we are staying in arles for three nights. L'Atelier does only one menu? so if we don't eat meat or shellfish, we would be out of luck?

We had a great night. one couple dropped out at the last minute, so my wife made me drop the pizza course. Started with a spinach and roasted garlic hummus with : 1997 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (4/4/2008) lemon, apple and honeydew nose. great balance, minerality, pineapple good long finish (94 pts.) then had a tuna tar tare and avocado tower on a bed of heirloom lettuce with heirloom tomatoes with: 2003 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (4/6/2008) lemon meringue nose with citrus undertones. nice big oily attack with complex middle and very long finish of crisp apple. (95 pts.) then had a cedar plank grilled Iron jaw snapper encrusted in Herbs de Provence over ratatouille (the fish guy at whole foods suggested it. I thought it worked fairly nicely. I'm not sure it added much to the wine, but in my opinion, it didn't take anything from it either.) 1995 Tardieu-Laurent Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (4/6/2008) rubber, tar , earth, mushrooms, black pepper and cherry nose. good acidity, with more earth on the finish. good balance. (93 pts.) Dark chocolate brownie with chocolate chips and almonds in an Oreo cookie crust covered in a chocolate ganache and topped with raspberries. 1977 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto (4/6/2008) nice nose of cherry, rhubarb, carmel . good richness and dept with a long finish. decanted for 12 hours and needed all of it- was too medicinal/alcoholic at 10, but this resolved by 12. (92 pts.)

you right, unfortunately we go 4 hours. my mind set at this moment- which does by the way change from moment to moment, is to grill the sea bass on a cedar plank and serve it on a eggplant, mushroom, olive tapenade with a Hermitage. i don't know.

The salmon locally is all farm raised and looks awful. O.K. I'm getting the idea that my square peg (fish) is not fitting in the round hole. I'm a little hard headed sometimes. what if I do a grilled portobello stuffed with ratatouille? I'd still want to serve it with one of the previously mentioned wines-a 1986 Chateau Montelena,1997 Ojai Syrah Cuvée Henry Daniel or 1995 Tardieu-Laurent Hermitage , maybe the Hermitage to keep the provincial theme. or would you pick another one?

you may be right. maybe I'll "bag" the sea bass and try a salmon instead. I'll head to whole foods to see what fish looks good. I do make a mean cedar planked salomon with a spicey brown sugar rub. practice run tonight !

I don't have many good whites, and don't like pinots, so mostly big full bodied wines. I personally don't mind most mis matches, but don't want to offend others. what if I change my preparation. I still want to work with sea bass cooked en Papillote (in Parchment). Probably on a bed of carrots, mushrooms, onions. what else should I add to fit in better. Probably with a syrah- either a Ojai or maybe a Lillian.

I am having some of my wine tasting group over and have selected some wines I want to serve. (trying to stay within my cellar). the problem is they don't match with the foods I want to serve- mainly because I cant serve meat. I want to start with a tuna tartare with 2003 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg (a good match) then couple pizza tart preparations with pistachio basil pesto and forest mushrooms with truffle oil paired with a 1990 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia Soprana ( good match) now the problem- I really want to serve a parchment paper hong kong style sea bass but I'd like to do it with a bigger red- a 1986 Chateau Montelena or 1997 Ojai Syrah Cuvée Henry Daniel . (the fish has a marin, but mostly soy sauce, vegetable broth, garlic, and ginger.) And I'll probably make some sort of dark chocolate dessert either with a vintage port or Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume I really want to throw caution into the wind and just do it. would that be a big mistake?

going to sf in june. have a few reservations already including Gary Danko and Quince. I need a good sushi place (but not at $35 a piece like I heard Kyo-ya cost). is INO's good? I'll be staying at Campton place so in the area would be nice but I'd be willing to travel if the fish is much better. thanks, mark

thanks Elizabeth, I'm pretty excited to go but that maybe because I have a bottle of 78 aldo Conterno Barolo waiting for me. that aught to make the long flight worth while.

thanks for the input, I think I will opt to go elsewhere. I'm leaning towards Troquet over Radius because I love their wine list (I'm waiting to see if Radis will e mail me theirs). My original thought was to eat in the area so we could walk (although I'm not sure this is a reasonable option anyway), but I think we'll just take a cab. How do people dress at Troquet? I'm from Arizona and causual is always acceptable.

I'll be visiting Boston for one night and was looking for a good place to eat (with a great wine list that serves fish or veggitarian food /I don't eat shellfish but my friend does ) near the wyndham in the finacial district. I was leaning towards Meritage. is this a good choice or are there better? thanks, mark

hathor- with a teaser like that, I'll certainly bite. If you ever happen by Scottsdale, I'm sure I can find a barolo to help loosen your tounge. Craig- we have very restrictive dietary rules, and my wife's mastery of the Italian language lapsed a little with some of the more creative menu's. so I had to respect her comfort level. Craig, if you happen by scottsdale, I'll offer you the same deal, just for reading my long boring post.

I’m back from Italy. Normally I neglect to post my findings, but because this site has been so helpful I will post my findings. Of course as always my excruciating planning was all for not, but we had a great time. For those who do not know, I planed a surprise trip to Italy for my wife’s 40th birthday. She has studied in Italy both in high school and college, so she used to speak fluent Italian (unlike me). The first part of the trip was a cruise from Athens to Rome. Fantastic. After disembarking we were taken to the place where I had reserved an Alpha Romeo. We were 1 hour early and the Taxi dropped us off at a seedy corner and told us the place was up the stairs and around the corner, but nothing was there. I was worried, but we found a little bar, had some coffee and waited till the rental place was open (which was 1 block the other way.) It was NOT the place I rented from but had the same address. Luckily their computers were down, so the gave me the same car anyway. So we drive to Florence, were we ate at Husteria Ganino near the main piazza. I was worried because it looked like such a tourist areas, but was pleasantly surprised once inside. We had pesto pasta and mushroom pasta. Both were wonderful. We also tried the zucchini blossoms, which were also very good despite being fried (not one of my favorite things). We were going to look for my wives old stopping ground but I really wanted to get up to Alba. We stopped for gas a second time. I remember the first time he used the green nozzle. So I looked and there were two greens- which one do I use? I asked my wife. We picked one- carefully avoiding the black gass.beacuse we needed diesel.. well the attendant comes running out, no,no,no…but it was too late. A quarter tank of Benzene in the tank. There goes Alba by dinner. And here come a little econobox. We finally drive into Alba around midnight- oh what a drive in the dark. Luckily the people at La Meridiana were nice enough to keep our room for us, and let us in. The Area around Alba has to be some of the most gorgeous I have ever seen. I love the little villages on the top of every hill. So the next morning we had the bread with the most wonderful homemade apricot jam I have ever tasted. Then we went to Cerreta for a tour. The wine maker was this nice young man. He tried to get us lunch reservations at Antine but they were closed, as were most of the placed I wanted to go. It was Wednesday. So he suggested Resterante Belvedere in La morra. This might have been our favorite dining experience of the trip. We sat at a window overlooking the entire valley. WOW! When we (my wife) explained we were essentially vegetarians, he said he’d take tare of us. We were brought plate after plate of scrumptious treats. A lot of mushroom dishes including a torte with mushroom reale- I think, it was a local mushroom, which the waiter brought out a raw one to show us. Splendid. That night was funny because we had called and had a reservation at Trattoria della posta and after we drove to it (passing it twice), there was a note on the gate that they were closed for vacation. So I’m not sure where we made the reservation. We came back and almost ate at ostoria Laberia but my wife was afraid there wasn’t enough for us to eat, so starving we ended up at a pizza joint around the corner. It was fairly unmemorable. The we made our way to Lake Como. We stopped at a lakeside restaurant just past Como on the way to Bellagio. I don’t recall the name but it was lovely. While in bellagio we ate at three wonderful places, unfortunately I only remember the name of one of them. The best was La Punta- on the point, the best pasta of the trip. The salmon pasta was to die for. The pesto was also wonderful. For lunch that day we ate at a small pizza place an one of the first streets of Bellagio. A little dive place with an extremely rude waiter, but great pasta. We had the same two- my wife thought this was the best salmon ever. It was so good we came very close to returning for diner. But we ended at La Punta. The third restaurant was across the lake and up the hill- it was recommended by the hotel. We were picked up from the ferry by a member of the family and driven up to what looked like their house. We ate on the back lawn- overlooking the lake. The food was good, but could compare to the view. (my third try at lake fish- all lightly fried- not to my liking). All and all a great trip. Yum!

I was wondering if you could further explain what your doing with the corks. or what happens next. So you soak them in vodka , why? do you need the alcohol for penatration? do you visually inspect them after? if so why not use a colored liquid?

What a wonderful journey. I just found this part of the site and greatly appreciate your postings. From just reading this once I'm already getting attached to "our little grapes". If I continue to watch them grow then transform like a caterpillar into a butterfly,into a wonderful wine, I'll have to get some....somehow. thanks again.

love your postings, I've enjoyed joining you on your honeymoon.

thanks Bill, apreciate the advice. BTW baised on more of your advise I have a room at Cascina reine of mid July for a few nights.

I'm going to alba in july, and am looking to get some bottles of barolos. I am only going to be in the area for two day, and hopfully will be going to a few winerys. I was wondering if there are wine shops that either have better selections then others or have better prices?

cmvnapa- that place looks nice, I think we will go with a regular hotel this time. but next time.. Villa Serbelloni is sounding better and better. especially if Tremezzo has that much traffic. Maybe I'll just forgo the lake view. how important is is the lake view?

Craig, where do you stay around lake Como? what were your favorite places to eat?

these suggestions are some of the same places I've been thinking about. I thought Villa Serbelloni lookes nice but wasn't sure about the price. Tanabutler- Grand Hotel Tremezzo is one of the places on the top of my list based on the web site, looks very nice for a reasonable price. you post is interesting,