ewindels

I'm headed upstate the weekend of August 9 for an annual trip to the Berkshires, driving up on a Friday night after work. In the past we've stopped at the Daily Planet diner in LaGrange, if only because it's close to the parkway and therefore convenient, but we have all tired of this option and are interested in something better. Hudson is an option but it's 20 minutes off the parkway and at the very end of our trip: something slightly more mid-route would be preferred. I'm personally campaigning for good wine. And not too expensive... Any and all suggestions welcome!

That was also my (brief) experience: you can add bottles to their database, which is how it grows. My problem was that for some reason the site would not allow me to add to My Cellar a bottle that they already had listed. Too bad that it didn't occur to me to try to re-list as a solution to the issue. Kind of fascinating that they seem to be the only game in town: Vinfolio seems to be principally about getting you to buy wine via them, as opposed to tracking an existing cellar, and I can't find anything else, which leaves me back with my Google Drive spreadsheet.

Following is the entire exchange with Mr. Levine, verbatim. I will let it speak for itself. For background, I was trying to register the Juan Gil 2010 to my cellar, but the Cellartracker site, despite displaying a large number of options from this bodega, would only allow the 2012 vintage to be selected. Me: Why do I have to register separately for the forum? I have been attempting to add the Bodegas Juan Gil 2010 to my cellar. The site refuses to recognize anything other than 2012 Bodega Juan Gil Honoro Vera Calatayud, no matter what I do.If these are endemic issues, I'm going to stop trafficking on the site now. Which would be a shame, the site seems to have some great features. Cellartracker Sorry, the forum is separate. It takes 30 seconds to register, and you only need to do it once if at all. For the Juan Gil, please just type less or be careful with your search. The wine is there and has been for nearly a year. https://www.cellartracker.com/pickproducer.asp?szSearch=Juan+Gil+2010+&PickWine=on&NoVintage= And: https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1378939 I am not sure what is endemic here. I do recommend reading the search tips: HELP Search TipsSearch using any information from the wine label. If you don't get any matches, try typing less (e.g. just the first few letters of a producer or vineyard name). Use a wine label decoder if you are unsure how to interpret a label. Me: I've tried six times tonight, reselecting the straight 2010 bodegas vintage each time. The site keeps defaulting to the 2012. Darn, and I had such high hopes for your site. Cellartracker: Ed, Somehow a quarter of a million people have managed to add 40 million bottles. Can you please tell me the steps you are following? Clearly something is going wrong, and I would be happy to help. I hope you march onward to a pleasant weekend. Me: Mr Levine, I have typed the term "juan gil" in the search bar. Of the many options that are then listed, I have six times tonight clicked the 2010 vintage. Despite which, the site persistently defaults to the 2012 vintage. The tone of your response indicates that I am at fault. I don't know how to reply to that. Cellartracker Mr. Windels, There are two ways to do this: 1) Do your search on the ADD WINE screen which is more optimized for this scenario: https://www.cellartracker.com/pickproducer.asp On the QUICK LINKS menu click on ADD WINE TO CELLAR. 2) Or if you are doing a general search and then wish to use the side panel on the right, please note that you much FIRST click onto the row for the wine in question. I am guessing that your 2012 is the first item in the long list of items returned in the search. So THEN click on the row for the wine you wish to add. Alternatively if you hover your cursor over the wineglass icon for the specific wine, a HOVERCARD appears that you can also use to add the wine to your cellar. You might want to quickly peruse this help topic which covers this, and the brief screencast video would likely be very helpful as well: https://www.cellartracker.com/content.asp?iContent=41 I am not sure how you are inferring tone from an email. If I were to infer the tone of your email, it might be passive aggressive since you repeatedly have sent me emails that are pointed and accusatory and threaten to “leave” a site you have barely used and never paid for. However my site is free, and I willingly answer questions directly. I believe the answers you seek are above. Me: Wow... Cellartracker: So apparently I inferred incorrectly.

I'd be grateful to get the communities recommendations on the above. Cellartracker had some very good features, including a substantial existing database which made adding items to my account easy, but their customer service has proven to be a comically unpleasant experience. I'm exploring Vincellar/Vinfolio, but as of now their database is limited and manually entering in over 800 different bottles with full details is more of a project than I care to undertake, so any other recos would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking for: Something with a mobile option as wellA large-ish (subjective, I know) existing database, including label photographsThe ability to easily share a post to social mediaI'd principally like to be able to look up search someting in My Account if I'm out and about to see if I've drunk it already and if so what I thought of it. So I don't need gargantuan or professional options, at least now. Thanks, all!

Thanks so much, this is great!

Sorry, gang: OakBROOK, not OakLAND. 5PM show at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakland, letting out 7:30, so... 8ish? We're driving. Preferences: I've loved Blackbird, and Girl and the Goat (though that was awfully noisy). We're going to Filini tomorrow night, so maybe not Italian again. Doesn't have to be very polished / upscale like Blackbird, I would love a good and reasonable wine list.

I'm staying with friends this weekend in Lincoln Park, and attending an early theater performance in Oakland. Any recommendations for GOOD dinner joints on the way back to LP? Thanks!

Thanks, all! Jaleo looks like the spot (also they were available).

Folks, of the places listed here, which would you recommend for a pre-National Gallery lunch this Saturday for a single person who won't be dressed up, so a bar lunch would be fine. I'd like to sample the best and brightest, but e.g. Citronelle seems way too formal. Thanks!

I'm in the capital this Saturday and Sunday for The Kennedy Center. Dinner on Saturday is at the Center itself (locked in, no options), so I've only got lunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday to explore. Saturday I'm open to anything: Richard? Andres? I'm hoping to spend the afternoon at the Gallery, so convenience would be nice but mandatory. Sunday breakfast I'm entertaining an older couple coming in from Arlington, so if there are any logistical considerations in terms of the Metro that might influence location choices... This one should be low-key, they're not shmancy. Thanks in advance!

I'll be out on the island next week and was wondering what gulleters were currently recommending? I'm hoping to revisit American Season and Sfoglia. Anything else?

Steve, thanks for store reco: I managed to do a quick run through it, and while I wound up not actually buying anything, man were there truckloads of stuff I would have liked to. Stores like that alone make one contemplate moving to Flushing... Spicy & Tasty, I have to say, was a little disappointing. It was certainly tasty, but not very spicy: nothing like the original Grand Szechuan, or more recently Szechuan Gourmet before the Times review (after which they seemed to have dumbed down the content). Now S&T may have looked at this very Caucasian couple and given the kitchen the warning, but I wouldn't have known how to counteract that, so it was a bit frustrating. But definitely tasty.

I will be making my first visit to this restaurant tomorrow evening, and wondered if there were any recommendations for good food stores in the vicinity, particularly asian. Google Maps lists a Hong Kong supermarket on Main Street: any thoughts on this?

I've found that if you get there before noon, the wait's not horrible and the dumplings are still nuclear temperature. And an order of the chive-and-pork, plus a pork-filled sesame pancake, is hands down the best lunch in the city, and for $3 probably the best bargain. But Prosperity sounds like a promising alternative. And FG, agreed on the Mosco street place.

What a shame to read these, especially I was looking forward to making a re-visit sometime in the near future. Does anyone know if Bryant is still involved? That might explain some of these recent experiences.