jgould

don't miss frank prial's "wine talk" column in today's NYT's!!!!!!! particularly the last column's info, as per this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the " la tartine" i'm thinking of is @ 24, r rivoli 4e. supposedly one of the better wine bars in paris(?) as per many.

What was the "sour and spicy vegetables" like? How was it served? a particularly tasty dish, spicy, yet interesting. julienned celery in a hotish red oil, i believe. type of dish one could take-out & make an entire lunch with, which is probably what i SHOULD have done

beautiful!! thx very much, keep'em coming

couldn't stand it any longer, had to go!! 2 people: dan-dan noodles, sour & spicy vegetables, sizzling rice & pork, kung pao (freshly killed menu). all from the recommendations here. our bodies still paying for the amount of food, but excellent!! next time will try to temper our ordering. thx egullet!! btw: reminded me of our all-time favorite: "cuisine of szechuan", which used to be on irving place & 15th - the best ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2nd Sevilla. have been eating there for 30 yrs. never consider anyplace else when going for Spanish. ???? : " Honorable mention: Florent (in the meatpacking district), for their absolutely wonderful ... , rillettes, and daily specials. " had the rlllettes, served as 2 scoops similar to an ice cream scoop, absolutely terrible, tasted like dog food!!! manager was very gracious.

san miguel dark in manhattan??????????

thx for the wonderful update!!!!!! 1 question: thought la tartine, in the marais 4e, was simply a wine bar?

thx for ALL the wonderful responses. plan on purchasing the riedel vinum chianti for "most" whites, & continue to use the red burgundy for the montrachet crowd. egullet rocks with information, knowledgeable & helpful members (in a good way)

point well- taken

good to see u are covering all the bases, a la, your same question on chowhound. let's see which is more helpful?

pietro's

thx chris! i guess its just me & u. no wonder memphis 'Q' is going downhill.

of course u conveniently left out the fact most europeans drink "plonk", so whatever they drink it out of, is an improvement.

WOW! that's it!? one response??? are there no bbq lovers in one of the major bbq capitals in the country?????????????????????

balthazar vs the UWS!! we had the steak frites, chicken spaetzle, nantucket bay scallops risotto + a bourgogne rouge '00 vs the menu's '01, whether it makes any difference or not. the 1st two were typical, the risotto was excellent. the point? the place was booked from 5:00 - 10:00!! we arrived at 5:30, had a glass of wine at the bar, & seated at 6, as walk-ins. every table was filled, every table had a wine bottle, there were no kids, everyone seemed dressed appropiately; it had that buzzy loudness. how many were native to SoHo? how many were native to NYC? but, i imagine, when you are tallying up the night's receipts, you don't really care. as much as i love the UWS, & as much as i would love to see something similar, even i, must admit, it probably just would not work for the reasons enumerated above. UWS Blues - u bet'cha!!!

simply repeating the theme of this thread, which is an excellent one. are we doomed forever to pay higher & higher mark-ups? it DOES appear we, the public, will!!! therefore, kudos to all those restaurants that can & do mark-up both mediocre wines, as well as the better wines far beyond what we should be paying.

has anybody else been to jubilee 51 & care to comment? apparently, marion burros, who reviewed the restaurant 7 jan, does not in her Q & A, so i'm curious as to what others have experienced. i believe it is a nice addition to that area, & quite an improvement over their immediate competition.

...when i'm bombed out of my tree at 4am they let me make my own hotdogs, I know just how i like 'em...well done dog, light kraut, lotsa onion fortunately or unfortunately i know what you mean!!!!

What do you think a reasonable price is for Petrus? "Reasonable" has to take into account the kind of restaurant you are sitting in. Just curious. excellent question! however, i am not in the wine or food business; therefore, it is difficult for me to answer specifically. but, i would pose the following: there is too much evidence, a la frank prial of the ny times, robert parker, & many other professionals who have publicly stated THEY believe wine prices in restaurants have been & continue to be unjustifiably high!! for myself, its simply knowing retail prices, & also knowing that restaurants pay LESS THAN retail, but they begin their pricing on retail, then arrive at some multiple. THAT multiple is what we are discussing, n'est-ce pas? every business is "entitled" to a profit. what that margin is - is determined by the marketplace. IF restaurants can charge excessively high margins AND we pay those margins, then it is the public's fault that we allow this to happen because we continue to pay & pay, & gripe & gripe, but continue to go & go!!??? re: YOUR question: Petrus's price is as ridiculous as a 1963 ferrari 250 GTO that sold for $10mm at auction, but is now worth much less - THE point? someone paid the price! the same as someone will buy the Petrus! MY point - consult P.T. Barnum's famous quote: "there's a sucker born every minute"!! as for the kind of restaurant... yes, sitting in Daniel is different than sitting in a Les Halles; however, i'm just not sure that a $25 retail priced wine should cost $75 in Les Halles, & $125 in Daniel? i don't mind paying for all the things that differentiate restaurants, but adding the kitchen sink mentality is just too much. and by the way, for all of daniel's hard work, he doesn't appear to be suffering economically. i assume there is EXTRA margin in his pricing

another question: does anyone believe restaurants would sell MORE wine by the glass or more bottles, IF they lowered the prices to more reasonable levels?

good catch & let me clarify: as per my post, i find most if not all the french bistro-like restaurants on the UWS to be lacking one way or the other for the reasons i enumerated above. with that being said, if i have to choose WHICH i would go to, i guess i'm saying i would go to cafe lux, not for the "stars", but for the GENERAL ambience. the food is not terrible & there are several items i enjoy, but it is expensive; however, i can't find a place similar that ISN'T overpriced - that's NYC!! its safer to order by the bottle, which can be tough if i am alone the service is very good & friendly & generally the bar crowd is interesting & fun. my only point as to the star/destination aspect is that for some reason they have selected cafe lux & continue to remain loyal. personally, i would prefer, they went other places for selfish reasons: less crowded & much easier to just walk in, which basically is what I'M looking for in a neighborhood place i can go to twice a week that has a certain je ne sais pais...

would love to begin a thread on memphis bbq & whether or not anyone has recently been so as to be able to update some of the old favorites like: the interstate, neeley's, leonard's, the commissary, A & R, cozy corner, central bbq; & provide info on any new ones discovered or opened fairly recently.

FW is no longer BYOB & the service is so bad, its worth it to pay more somewhere, anywhere, else. mike the bartender at 'cesca is an excellent bartender. gray's papaya on a relative basis is good, but so is free parking , of course, it would be nice if they got some personality, but for the price... don't think tom keller et al will be moving further uptown & have never seen a new orleans restaurant succeed in manhattan, even though they keep trying. some say that location is jinxed since the museum cafe closed up. can't figure, seems like a great location. isabella's always crowded!!!