Mano

I'm supposed to make desserts and pair wines for a dinner this weekend. I have some muscat and some LBV and tawny port, but I'm wondering which wines pair well with: Chocolate Lemon bars Fresh fruit Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for your replies. I left a message for reservations at Castello. We've been wanting to go to Alison at Bluebell, but because it looks like the kids will be joining us, that will have to wait. I'll let you know how it was.

Can anyone recommend a good BYOB in the Montogomeryville area for next Friday? My friends are passionate food and wine people who live in Macungie. Looking for something half-way between there and the Holland/Richboro area. Thanks in advance for you help.

You should try Jean Pierre in Newtown. He gets deliveries from Dartagnan who most likely will stock Quail. I've gotten duck leg from him in the past. His number is 215 968-7580 ← Thanks to both of you. Griggstown looks great! They have free range quail, duck, pheasant and turkey. I called for prices and they're very accommodating but said they rarely respond to emails and have no formal price list. I also spoke with Jean Pierre and will get them from him. He's always been a nice fellow, but since selling the restaurant and opening his catering business/cooking school he's been transformed.

I need fresh quail for New Years Eve. Does anyone know anyplace in Bucks Cty. that carries it and will debone it? I figure there are probably places in the Italian Market that carry it and if need be I'll gladly take the trek there to get it. Thanks!

Hi Katie, Pesto is on the 1900 block of Broad just south of Mifflin. Craig LaBan did a review in 4/04 and gave it two bells. Prices are in the teens for pasta made at the restaurant, to high 20's for the specials. For four of us including appetizers, entree's, one dessert and tax it came to $140. It's a pretty good value and worth a try. For the money and the distance from my whome in central Bucks, I don't know if I'll be going very often, but we were meeting my best friend from high school and his wife who happened to be staying in town. No doubt the company and conversation added to the evening.

LOL, we wondered the same thing ("He's really probably from Brooklyn"). His accent was heavy enough that I couldn't understand everything he said but I just learned on good authority that he's the real deal.

Pesto received a thumbs up from all four of us. Our waiter, Francesco, was attentive, entertaining and made us feel as if we were special customers. I saw him doing the same at all the tables he served. Three of us had fish, including dover sole, branzino and sea bass and the fish was cooked in foil. While I generally prefer grilled fish, I tasted the sea bass and it was excellent. My lamb chops were good, but not as flavorful and tender as I've had at other places. Appetizers were also very good and we were given a complimentary plate of herbed potatoes and carrots that were excellent. Another complimentary appetizer were canolini stuffed with ricotta and spinach. On a rainy Monday the restaurant was fairly busy. Pesto is nicely appointed and comfortable with tables set a reasonable distance from each other. All hard surfaces make it moderately loud. Students and staff from the Restaurant School were at a nearby table and one student came over when Francesco put on a nice show when fileting the dover sole. We drank bottles of Byron chardonay and Alpha syrah, both of which were very good. Near the end of the meal Francesco graciously accepted a glass of the Alpha. Thanks again for your suggestions!

Thanks all for your replies. I researched the recommendations and was all set on Radiccio, with Effie's as a backup as Radiccio takes no reservations. Then, a friend who is a concierge at the Wyndham in town suggested Pesto. She called the owner, made reservations and assured me we'd be well taken care of. So, Pesto it is. One of my New Years resolutions will be to check out the BYO's recommended here!

A friend and his wife are coming into town on Monday and will be staying at the Hilton and getting treatment at Wills Eye. Any recommendations for a BYOB in that area? I'd also be willing to pick them up at the hotel and drive a short distance. Thanks kindly!

Yeldarb, your frustration makes sense given where you live and your exerience. However, I don't know that the system is technologically incompetent, but think that it's likely very difficult for a system this large to keep track of such a vast inventory accurately and in real time. If you're old enough to recall "back in the day" buying anything from the State Store was for the birds. The current system generally works quite well and for the most part I'm satisfied with the range of product and the prices. The Chairman's Selections are a great and I don't much mind the hit-or-miss aspect of the whole concept. I've purchased a case of something on speculation only to return 10 or 11 bottles, usually with no problem at all. I'm fortunate to have an excellent Specialty Store very close by with several similar stores within a 30 minute drive. I'm also close enough to NJ and Delaware to know that I may find great bargains there but on occassion I've been disapointed, as well. In other words, even wine and liquor stores in free market states have problems similar to our commonwealth run shops.

Deidre... you posted this just last week. I have been checking the inventories online at least once a week. Last week I know the 94 Burgess was not showing up anywhere, and was still on the "Upcoming Chairmans Selections" list. Today I see it's no longer on the Upcoming list, and it's also not in inventory (Product Catalog Search results in nothing.) Should I conclude that this item came in less than six days ago and was subsequently all sold out? I'm beginning to wonder if the Chairman's Selection program is intentionally engaging in a bit of excitement marketing, creating hype around sparse shipments and limited quantities. You know, people want iPods more when there aren't any available... I like wine, but it's a bit absurd that soley because of the design of the program, we have to hover around discussion boards like this one (not that there aren't lots of other great reasons to be here...) and constantly check the PLCB site for Chairman's Selection items and stock levels at stores in the area. Instead why not just offer online pre-ordering via pawineandspirits.com? Wouldn't it make more sense to send the wine where it's already sold, then to make guesses about how much each store will sell, ship to them, and then wait and see? This is 2005, not 1950. I order everything online, and backorder things that aren't currently in stock, etc. etc etc. It's not rocket science, and the state does have a monopoly and a big fat revenue stream with which to implement information technology. ← Yeldarb, Even though I live very close to the Newtown store and not too far from the Franklin Mills store, both of which typically receive plenty of the Chairman's Selections, I've noticed the online inventory doesn't always reflect their stock. The Il Futuro was a case in point. A week ago Monday I called the Newtown store, was told it wasn't in yet, and probably wouldn't be until Thursday, but to check online. The online inventory never included Newtown and when I went there on Saturday, I was told it arrived Tuesday (two days prior to expected delivery). They received 35 cases and it was going fast.

Thanks for your suggestions. Ate at Oga on Friday and in my 20+ years of eating sushi, this was the best ever, hands down. On Saturday, six of us ate at Fava in Needham. The service was poor at first but then picked up when they realized they weren't on top of things. The food won positive to rave reviews from everyone.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations for great/interesting restaurants within 5-10 miles from the Natick/Framingham area. I'll be there this Friday and Saturday with six or more of us going out on Saturday. Most of us are adventuresome diners and being from the Philidelphia area, we prefer BYOBs but that's certainly not a prerequisite. I hope to make reservations within the next day or two.

Back in September a member of my wine club told me he brokered the sale, but it would not be finalized until October. He indicated the owners of Django would likely be moving to Pittsburgh.

The first date with my wife was at my apartment, where I made chicken tarragon and broccoli with hollandaise. I think the wine was a screw top called Emerald Green or something similar. She had just started working at the same non-profit and I made about $12,000 a year (this was 1982). Back then, my theory was that if I made a nice dinner, set the mood with candles and music, I might get lucky and my bedroom was only a few steps away. The women who agreed to this ruse were always invited to help cook and of course conversation, and wine, would flow. At the very least, we'd get to know each other without the dinner and movie or dinner and a club thing. Well, I got lucky and we knew within two weeks we knew we were going to get married. Our wedding was at the country estate of one of our 17th century vice presidents and because we had almost no money and had to pay for the affair ourselves, we did the cooking. We made a Country French chicken dish from a New York Times Magazine, filet mignon ("black and blue" black on the outside and blue inside) chilled and on a bed of vegetables with vinegrette, a seafood rice dish, and quiche. There were other dishes including a liver pate' (read: chopped liver) and a few I forget. We took off a week from work, bought a Cuisinart food processor and cooked for over 100 people. We also bought the flowers from a wholesale house and had to get up at 5 a.m. to pick them up. We hired servers and a friend donated a few cases of LeFleur (?) a "good" screw top wine. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. It's been 21 years and we're still cookin'!