Poots

Was looking for some suggestions for a restaurant in the Grapevine, Texas area with a private room for a business dinner. Guests will be staying at the Gaylord Texan and i'm looking for a somewhat formal place for 25-50 guests. some suggestions i got from the hotel were: Old Hickory Steakhouse Bob's Steak & Chop House Silver Fox JR's Trulucks Tuscany art in dining. I'd appreciate any help you may have. thanks and regards, Brian

I've ordered from South Silk Road and had good experiences. http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/teas.php#oolong I'm no expert in tea but i've ordered and enjoyed: Cold Summit Tung Ting http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/produ...products_id=335 and Early Spring Mei Jia Wu Long Jing http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/produ...products_id=346 and Silver needle King http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/produ...products_id=271 They also included a few small samples of four teas for free which i appreciated. regards, Brian

I'm driving so the walking distance doesn't matter that much. When i last did Med Manor it was on a week night and was just ok but i understand that all of these places are better when it's crowded(higher meat turnover). i know Casa Vasca well and have been going there for probably a decade or so and really love the food but i'm really hankering for some salty grilled meats and plenty of them. I've never been to Iberia or Iberian peninsula before so maybe i'll try them just to expand my newark rodizio experience. thanks and regards, Brian

I'm headed down to the prudential center on saturday night. I thought i'd get some rodizio before hand with my gf and was wondering if anything has changed from the above reccomendations? I've been to the brazilia(2nd floor) which apparently is no longer open and enjoyed it. I've also been to Jason's favorite mediterranean manor on Jefferson. I'm leaning towards going to Brazilia Grill on Monroe. Any thoughts? thanks, Brian

I'm currently living in Australia and will be moving back to the New York area in the near future(few months). I have around 50 bottles of wine i'd like to bring back with me. My company provides me with my own 40 foot shipping container for all my household goods but i don't think this would be such a good environment for my wine(especially being in a large steel container during June/July). I'll have 3 suitcases that i can throw 3 to 4 bottles in for my flight(although i'll probably be over the customs limit). does anyone have any suggestions for solving my plight? thanks in advance, Brian

I've bought some wonderful cultured butter(salted and unsalted) at the Good Living Grower's Market in Pyrmont(just blocks from Darling Harbor). It's only on the first saturday of every month with March 1st being the next date. They also have tons of great stuff like free range/organic goat/duck/venison/lamb, fresh bread, produce, olive oil, etc etc. it's only open for a few hours 7 to 11 but well worth a trip. regards, Brian Here's the link: http://events.smh.com.au/view_event.asp?intid=11

Has anyone dined here recently? I may have the opportunity to join a friend for dinner here on a tuesday in December and was wondering if i should expect a wonderful meal. thanks and regards, Brian

I'm planning a trip with my girlfriend to Marlborough in New Zealand and also maybe Hunter Valley in Australia(i live in Sydney). Can anyone give me some recommendations of wineries that are nice to visit as well as have great wines? Beautiful/romantic would be a plus as well. Probably going to spend 2 days in Marlborough and 1 in Hunter Valley. Any hotel/b&b recs and dinner recs are welcome too. thanks in advance, Brian

I'm quite possibly moving to Sydney Australia in the near future and wondering if any of you have any books on Australian Wine and Wine Regions to reccomend? I currently own the Wine Bible mentioned above and i've ordered the Oxford Wine Companion for general resources but was wondering if there are any specific Australia books i should look for. -Brian

The most famous bakery that i know of is La Glace which is located in the middle of Stroget the walking street. It's website is: La Glace One of it's more interesting specialities is Sports Cake...don't ask me why it's called that because i have no idea(although i just found out on their website). They even have pictures of their cakes, hmmm:Cakes I'm not a big consumer of traditional danish food(other than my daily lunch at work) so i can't help you there. Two useful sites are the Press guide at Wonderful Copenhagen Press Releases and AOK which has restaurant listings and other tourism info. Looking at the opera's website Opera you'll get out of the opera sometime after 10. I don't know for sure if they serve food that late but their hours show them open til 2 on the weekends is Cafe Quote. It's in Kongens Nytorv and a pretty good place. Cafe Quote Website -Brian

My cousin visited me a few weeks ago here in Copenhagen. We had quite a busy few days wherein we dined at Cofoco, Noma, Koriander, and Madeleine's Mad Teater. The most amazing dinner was absolutely Noma where after 9 courses(7 courses and some amuse bouches) and 7 glasses of wine there was only One 'less than stellar' incident and that was one of the wines was a new style barolo that we all felt wasn't a great match with the course. Asides from that the night was as close to perfect as any meal i've ever experienced. And man, people are going to look strangely at me when i now request pork fat instead of butter with my bread! we had 2 servings of the stuff which was absolutely amazing! Noma Pictures of every course, courtesy of my cousin, can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594286549372/ Koriander is a french\indian fusion restaurant which was also a very enjoyable meal. However it was also the Longest meal i've ever had. We sat at 715pm and left around quarter after midnight. by the end we were just trying to get out of there. Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594289424626/ Cofoco was a very reasonable 3 course meal(for around 50 US w/out wine). Great meal for the money in a easy going atmosphere. Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594286536156/ Madeleine's Mad Teater was truly an experience. It's a true performance as dinner. It's in a warehouse type building. Large and completely open on the inside. The theme of the night was Childhood or Childish or evoking the sense of childhood(or something like that). This was the last night with that theme. This was the first theme since opening day. After entering the building we were given a hibiscus kir(with pink plastic elephant ice cubes) and a coin. The coin was for our first course which was dispensed from an automat. We then sat on some astroturf like a kid's playground and enjoyed it there. The servers were great, especially considering they hadn't had many native english speakers before us. They kindly explained the courses as they arrived(the menu was only in danish) and so i could see how poorly i had messed up the translations to my dining partners. The diners were seated upon a small stage with a clear view of the completely open kitchen. On two sides of the stage were white lit walls which had images and lights shown on them. Themed music was played depending on course and pictures being shown. All in all a very fun and new experience. Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594294608747/ Brian

Here's a little press release about Madeleines in english. http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/composite-2475.htm

The fort/monastery at the top of Hvar Island The view of Hvar from above Hvar Harbor and Hotel Palace The sun setting on Hvar The market in Split near Diocletian's Palace A butcher's window in the market A hike to see the waterfalls in Plitvika National Park

Grub, there IS a fort/monastery of some sort on a hill atop the island of Hvar. When i get back to my home computer i'll see if i can upload a pic or two of it. Hvar was a gorgeous island although not the cheapest by far.

Andrew, i think the restaurant in Split was Nostromo.