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jbonne

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Everything posted by jbonne

  1. at bare minimum. I agree it's hard to assess the finish without swallowing, and it's a skill I'm still working on. But I do think it can be done. The tastings you attend sound terrific, JohnL. It sounds like most of the wines you taste at these are well outside the parameters of the average wine tasting, for which I salute you. From your keyboard to the organizers' eyeballs.
  2. my problem is when trade and public tastings aren't separated, as in the case of Taste Washington up here in verdant Seattle. these are usually walkaround tastings involving 100+ wineries and hundreds of wines. add in a couple thousand civilian taster/drinkers who've ponied up $75+ for the right to be there, and you've got a serious traffic jam on your hands, to say nothing of a drunkfest. they're not much fun. even at a tasting of 16 wines, i'd argue you need the constitution of a horse to manage a reasoned assessment beyond good-bad-crap while sucking down the vino. (not that i'm aware how much a horse can pack away, mind you.) i've been astounded to see people gulping at 9 a.m. sit-down evaluations of 16 wines. if someone likes wine, enjoys tasting and wants to swallow (responsibly, not in that wine-geek-as-a-cover-for-boozehound way), more power to y'all. if you're doing it on the clock, though i'm gonna wonder what in the world you're up to. the one big exception, as Marco_ points out, is when spitting would offend your winemaking host. that said, there's nothing i'm usually craving more after a tasting than a glass of wine. that group off in the corner, drinking some bubbly or Muscadet to cleanse our palates of all those steroidal 15.5 ABV red-fruit bombs? that's where you'll find me.
  3. quite. if you're tasting for work, or for your own rigorous evaluation, and you're not spitting ... you're dulling your ability to do your job, essentially performing the equivalent of mid-day nipping from a bottle under your desk. (disclaimer: i have occasionally had a glass of wine during a workday lunch, and an end-of-day beer for a farewell party. but i didn't expect to get as much work done afterwards.) if you want to go to a tasting to drink a bunch of wine and get a buzz on, have at it. all i ask is: (1) be able to leave the venue standing, and (2) don't stand in front of the dump bucket.
  4. actually, it's phood made by Laurie. wine poured by Phred. i'm truly amazed how many folks have found the experience grating. it makes me wonder whether there's been a major sea change there since last i visited. (we've been staying away on the theory that they've been dealing with a post-review crush. that, plus the volume of wine and late night makes it a tricky choice for a weeknight.)
  5. actually, we asked a ton of pesky questions of Phred along these lines -- though in an interested, we're-a-bunch-of-food-geeks way. he couldn't have been more pleasant and eager to answer them.
  6. jbonne

    Oregon Pinot Noir

    yep, David O'Reilly has his hand in both Owen Roe and Sineann, along with O'Reilly's. O'Reilly's is a terrific value. Sineann makes some of the best domestic pinot i've had (though i'm not a fan of how their '03s have tasted thus far) and Owen Roe wines (mostly made from WA fruit) are awesome too.
  7. i don't think they were scoffing so much as worried that the reviews would drive more business to their door than they reasonably could handle -- including a lot of customers who wouldn't appreciate what unquestionably is a quixotic way of doing business. from the reports, it sounds like their worries about being overloaded weren't frivolous. needless to say, when someone writes a good review about you, you don't kick them in the teeth for doing so. (hence the Web links, i'm guessing.) all that said, if the stress of this is getting to them, it's obviously their responsibility to determine how they want to cope and respond. unwritten rules or no, there's no excuse for not being a gracious host. olivina: i'm guessing you'll get plenty courteous service, doubly so if you feel like revealing who you are. they both seem to be very happy when fellow industry folk pay them a visit. if not, your input to them will no doubt be invaluable. (you being an incredibly gracious host yourself, that is.)
  8. this has very much been my experience. when we've eaten at Elemental, the food was excellent -- not uniformly so, but it was uniformly good (especially for a single-chef operation) and far more interesting than dishes at some monosyllabic Seattle restaurants with far larger staffs. the prices are hard to beat, especially the prix fixe. and while i think they're both nuts for refusing to let people offer gratuities, i'm not going to complain *too* loudly. Phred's wine pairings are fantastic, and if you show yourself interested, i've found that he'll engage you in very animated discussions about what he's poured and what wines he enjoys. (disclaimer: i had the advantage of correctly guessing the first wine he poured for us, which probably helped.) we've brought our own wine in there too, and not only didn't get nailed with a corkage fee but managed to add it to the mix of all the things we were trying. i think each of us ended up with 8-9 glasses on the table that evening. beyond that, i've found Phred and Laurie gracious and pleasant on every occasion, even sitting and chatting with us well after closing time. you clearly sense these are two people who are utterly committed to the food and to minimizing the layers of frou-frou restaurant crap that usually lies between an eager diner and a good meal. that said, if you're someone who thrives off the experience of fine dining, and is particular about the wines you drink, you'll probably be annoyed. but plenty of restaurants are around to cater to you. when the reviews were coming out, Phred and Laurie sounded none too pleased, if only because they're so small (capacity about 25, at my last count) and expected to be deluged by people, most of whom they'd have to turn away. this is the inevitable downside of a good review -- a short-term bump by a flood of one-time customers. it sounds like this is exactly what's happened, which i find unfortunate. (it's also why i speculated that the stress may be getting to them.) what i'm hoping is that Elemental goes slightly underground again -- not so much that the place is empty -- and regains its equilibrium. it's such a unique dining experience that i'd like to do whatever i can to keep it around.
  9. this is really quite stunning. we've been several times -- including right after the reviews came out -- and found short waits, but also found Phred nothing short of gracious. (and the food and wine were terrific.) i wonder if the stress is getting to them.
  10. actually, the Wine Enthusiast broke down the numbers on how you could more or less make the economics of TBC work, even at $2 or $3 a bottle. needless to say, all getting-what-pay-for rules apply.
  11. i think Costco is safe until after Wal-Mart gets a big bullseye painted on it, which it won't. the Sherman Act implications are more likely to be focused on something like liquor distribution, which in most states grants exclusive license to a single wholesaler to handle specific products. Wal-Mart and Costco throw their weight around, but rarely have officially legislated power to serve as exclusive distributor. i wouldn't say the Sherman Act is a dead letter (Microsoft, anyone?) but it's fair to say it hasn't exactly been a priority of the Bush administration.
  12. yep. Vivace, Zoka, Caffe Vita, Lighthouse -- to name a few. i think Vivace is unbeatable, though i'll admit that Artigiano gives it a run for its money. Ladro is above average, but not even close to the top quintile in Seattle. the rest of the trip sounds amazing, btw ...
  13. my own take, now published, is that the ruling took things about as far as most observers figured they possibly could -- essentially mandating parity in the shipping laws. to go much further, and start imposing federal requirements on shipping, would require a very, very fine honing (if not outright trashing) of the 21st amendment. but i think the constitutional issues are going to fall to the background, because Costco and the growing unrest by more forward-thinking distributors about consolidation, franchise laws, residency laws, &c., are going to prompt a much closer look at the three tiers through a Sherman Act (antitrust) prism.
  14. jbonne

    I can't ship wine!

    on a related note (but wholly unrelated to yesty's SCOTUS decision), the San Luis Obispo Tribune has penned something on the personal-shipping issue, though they note that UPS has also fallen prey to this bizarro policy.
  15. great itinerary. (yes, Salumi's open Friday lunch.) should you be hungry by cocktail time, Sitting Room has great noshy items, btw.
  16. jbonne

    I can't ship wine!

    Trust me, it has been written about -- almost ad nauseum but it is only wine geeks who are reading... ← not direct shipping overall, but about the apparently new FedEx crackdown on *personal* shipments, which never were a prior focus on coverage. if it's been written about, it hasn't been anywhere i saw. and i get flooded with this stuff. to me, a personal prohibition is far more offensive than the winery shipping issue.
  17. i think this would be a good topic not only for Seattlites but for eGers as a whole. that said, this was never an issue for me until i moved to Seattle.
  18. jbonne

    I can't ship wine!

    so by my reading of that FedEx missive, a private citizen can ship certain biohazards, blood and many toxic chemicals using FedEx, but not wine? this begs to be written about.
  19. i'm well aware of the backstory of Vios, you'll notice i didn't criticize him for making that decision (i believe the words were " i salute them for doing it"). moreover, i agree: Vios' setup is absolutely appropriate for its location. my point is that every negative experience of dining-with-kids was underscored during my dinner there. and i think it appropriate for those who want to dine there to know when they'll be in kid heaven, and when they'll be able to have a more low-key experience. i would wager that we childless folk would be less critical if we didn't have such an enormous breadth of bad experiences upon which to draw. and i'd also wager that the average restauranteur would be far more likely to accomodate parents if the average child's behavior didn't make dining out such an abominable experience for everyone in a 30-foot radius.
  20. as another of Palace's longtime defenders, i'd argue that the beer-and-snack thing is exactly what makes it such a pleasure. if i want fine dining, i go to Lampreia. if i want a decent glass of Gascon white, venison salami and a big bowl of mussels at 11pm, i go to Palace. PK always struck me as a chefs' sort of place; it's not really pleasurable for its table service, though the table service is by no means bad. it's enjoyable because it's like eating in a really well-adorned kitchen, with a kitchen's energy. that said, i'm finding the food and service ever more inconsistent -- and i say that knowing plenty of the staff there and having spent more money than i should have there in the past five years. when the right staff is there, you can feel a palpable buzz. but it's not consistent. the food wobbliness is more troubling to me. i've had soups there in the past year that were just plain bland. the abovementioned salami portion is about half what it should be. i personally think they're in a menu rut, and need to strip down to the frame and build again. so long as they keep the burger. p.s. Daddy-A, please report back on your Brasa impressions. i'll be curious. p.p.s. Mssrs. Maw and Wyles, and other north-of-border folk, please give a shout if you're headed this way and i'll treat for a round at Palace, or the drinking hole of choice. (if i'm in town.)
  21. the tables up front did seem better for this, which might explain why they were filled. sadly, the hours extension was only a minor help; would still only give me about an hour of peaceful mid-decibel background noise to eat in before they lock the door.
  22. we finally got here last night. the found was nearly impeccable, balanced, well-seasoned, and a pleasure after having so much bad Greek food in Seattle. the staff, Thomas and everyone else, was gracious and charming. the atmosphere was ... great for young families. for the kidless? it was unbearable -- at least from 530-7p, which is when we were there. this is clearly intended to be a kid-friendly space, and i salute them for doing it. but never have i been so convinced of how young children can ruin an eating experience. we saw one very well behaved young girl who clearly is en route to becoming a prodigious foodie, and her very pleasant parents, and a lot of very cranky, very restless little folk. i can't say Vios shouldn't maintain its current configuration, because they're clearly aiming for a specific demographic of which i'm not a part, and it seems to be doing quite well for them. but i can say there's no chance i'll return there before 730 or 8p, which is a shame, since their hours don't give me much time to enjoy a meal there before they close.
  23. hmm -- i just searched again from the front page and found it again. try searching under "Bugey." the price is only about a buck higher than i saw recently here in Seattle. i'm guessing it may have gone up since the Bugey has gotten a lot of press in the past year (including from me). Zachy's apparently misspells the vintner's name, btw. i believe it's Renardat-Fache.
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