wkl

"Anybody with suggestions for a viognier with less alcohol and a more integrated and mineral driven approach?" jim, try finding the less expensive georges vernay coindreiu. his stuff can be pretty expensive, but iirc, vernay produces a basic viognier that is priced in the teens. it is definetly mineral driven and moderate alcohol. imported by sussex or fleet street in my mid atlantic market. can't remember if this bottling carries the coindrieu aoc or not. so, will bruno's barbera be stealing space from his nebbiolo in your celler?

definitely check out jaleo for tapas style meal. i think this would be a great place to take kids too. i believe theweb site is www.jaleo.com

never mind.

"Alcohol beats the hell out of our livers and our families and neighborhoods...cirrhosis." only when abused, let's not get carried away here,please.

for french, try any condrieu by georges vernay.

hey v, pomme puree using olive oil as the main blending ingredient? actually, that may be repetative after the risotto, but i've found mashed potato to really show truffle oil and walnut oil well.

"As far as cooking with it, I have not been able to use it for anything that turned out edible<G>" you owe it to yourself to try some high quality, properly handled walnut oil. it is very, very good. nut oils don't have much shelf life, so if you buy one that's been languishing on some grocers shelf too long, it won't be a pleasant experience. try it blended into mashed potatoes. :

pomme lambic anyone????

"Actually, not having met most of you, I really have no evidence that you're real people, as opposed to online personalities created by one person with a lot of free time. Wouldn't it be funny if "Holly Moore" and "bigboss" were actually the same person? " i believe there is medication for this condition.

"I think the best thing to come out of this thread is more activity on the board, lately the E-gullet PA board has been like watching a game of Bocce Ball at Shady Pines Retirement home... " could be worse, have you visited the dc board? dead.

terrific idea v.

"2002 Dom. Robert Chevillon Bourgogne Passetoutgrain" interesting note brad, i've never had a passetoutgrain with any age on it. i used to drink them fairly often then, all of a sudden the prices started climbing, and i've laid off. i belive hubert lignier's fetches $20 now. my guess is 2006 from chevillon is about the same? i wondered if they (the vignerons) started putting a little more effort/ 'better juice" in the bottlings to cash in a little bit. i mean, these wines traditionally were pretty rustic quaffs meant to drink right away, kinda like beaujolais nouveau. but once the price escalates you expect more. you could maybe make a rough analogy with grappa. traditionally, pretty awful stuff, but now there are some better quality efforts and the price has escalated. but at the end of the day it is still grappa. ( i'm being pretty general here, just wondering what peoples thoughts are)

i have a polder thermometer that would gladly bring.maybe a bottle of barolo too

"Pinot Noir and Merlot - that is so wrong. Are there any other examples of this traversty in the US and do they ever produce something better than the sum of the parts? " well not in the usa but, pinot is blended with barbera in northern italy and malbec in the loire valley.

" (BTW, how do you go about splitting the steak?)" the porterhouse has the strip on one side and the filet on the other. simply, remove both from the bone and slice. voila........

"Ah, memories of chicken at Zuni Cafe... we thought that we had been exaggerating how good the chicken there was in our memories of our first time there, but we were back two months ago and had our minds blown yet again." da- you may know this but, zuni cafe presalts their chickens (and many other things) up to 3 days before roasting. this cooking method may be one aspect of what makes their roast birds so memorable. it's all explained in the zuni cafe cookbook.

but if we all went went vegetarian, v, (no fish either) that would pretty much kill the sous vide thing

"Listen Trish, you can say whatever you want about the contestants and Tom.. But lay off Padma.. she's pertty." padma is lovely. does she have a background in food, or is she just there for the obvious reason?

what do you mean, rich? (not being snarky, i'm not sure i understand what your suggesting) i just reread this article and maybe i have too much time on my hands, but it piques my inteserst on a couple levels. anyone find the back pedaling by the gm at silverado, ummm, interesting? we are to believe the guy who is the broker knows the wine better than the general manager at the winery? anyone else notice the quotes around napa valley in the descriptions of the whitehall lane wines? "Regarding Weis' $26 figure, Newman said, "Suppose out of 500 products in your program, someone gave you inaccurate information on one of them?" wouldn't mr newman's comment be more accurate if he said "Suppose out of ____ products i had a hand in blending, someone gave you inaccurate information on one of them?" or did he actually have a hand in creating 500 special blends? the wines created only for the pa market are the wines with the pricing discrepencies. why would whitehall lane take maybe $8/bottle (just a guess, but maybe not that far off) for a wine the broker and the plcb claim they could get 3 to 4 times more for (at a minimum) ? just some random thoughts. not meant to disparage the plcb (who i am actually looking at little differently lately) or mr newmans work.

according to my wine guy, who has visted edmond and drank old vintages with him, the wines are very long lived. i was really wowed by this wine and it has made me explore loire valley sb's more. it was never my favorite varietal, but it is undeniably wonderful with the right foods.

i'm referring to edmond vatan also.

jim- the vatan sancerre currently available in my market is the 2004. did you have a choice between '04 and '05? the price here is similiar. i found the '04, my first vatan sancerre, a revelation. one of the best and most memorable wines i drank last year. maybe you know this already, monsieur vatans' children will not be taking over his vineyards, so he sold some property and is now only making 500 cases a year of sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. only 125 cases come to america. not sure what his last vintage will be but i'm told he won't be making wine much longer. he is truly a traditionalist, prehaps a dying breed. the small production and uniqueness probably contribute to the high price. i bought a few bottles because i loved the wine and like owning a piece of history. but yeah, $45 for sauvignon blanc is hard to swallow.(pun intended ) it's a weygandt-metzler import in my market.

good for me!? all of a sudden i don't like it as much! gracias, senor james! there's actually a small mexican population in wilmington that the local grocerers cater to, so maybe i can find some here.

looks a bit more refined than molcajete mixto. how would you compare the quality of the food? or is it fair too?

i ate here for the first time friday night and loved it. we had: to start: sopa azteca quesadilias de huitlacoche guacomole entree: split an order of molcajete mixto dessert: flan coffee everything was delicious and as all have noted the service is friendly and efficent. some random notes: the sopa azteca is comforting and very tasty, however i, and my dining partner , both commented that the broth tatsed kind of like campbells tomato soup. i'd be suprised if it wasn't made in house like probably everything there, but we both noticed this. the cactus salad that accompained the quesadilias was delicious. i'd never had cactus before. i loved it. (does that mean it's bad for me, like everything else i get a taste for? ) the guacamole has queso fresco in it. i'd never experienced this addition, but the owner said it was a traditional ingredient. the guac was served a bit cold, so it was probably made early in the day and popped in the fridge, but we still devoured it. the mixto was awesome! came with corn tortillos and a side of refried beans. refried beans were good, something i've never really go for ,but these were enjoyable. the mixto was very smokey and spicy, which totally clashed with the wines i brought, but that was my own fault. the flan was excellent. i thought i tasted allspice or nutmeg, but the owner, clemente, said i was tasting the burnt sugar and good quality mexican vanilla. coffee was great. la columbe, i think. this was plenty of food for two. total bill, just shy of $50. i'd totally go back, especially with a group, and i think, lots of cold beer or chilled rose. this is a place to support.