shacke

sweeet. wynnewood too? oh nooo.

Another nod to Capogiro in the Times today talking about sending food gifts for the holiday season..... There is nothing subtle about CAPOGIRO'S GELATOS. You can taste the bourbon in the bourbon butterscotch, there is loads of mint in the chocolate mint and the Mexican chocolate with hot pepper has a wonderful hint of heat. The gelatos are generally denser than premium American ice creams but have less butterfat: only 7 percent, as against 20 percent or more. Six pints are $60; www.capogirogelato.com, (215) 351-0900. Dec. 14.

I find Mark Squires to be even tempered and he is not one of those shrill voices against PA that you will on his board. Truth is that his and other people's arguments are valid and I can see how these guys can be frustrated by the system given how and what they buy. PA prices to put it mildly are not the best - that is no secret and then there is all the tax . The CS program and the PLCB in general is not geared to the high end educated palate but toward the general consumer. Its simple dollars and cents. I would not expect many folks on that board to find that a cheaper wine from an off vintage would be worth it. Even if they did, we would only be talking about - what - like 0.005% of wine consumers in the state? Not a market worth trying to capture to help revenue. Having said that, to poo-poo the whole program blindly is to miss out on some good deals. Granted, they are not all amazing buys, but some really are. Random thoughts......

Don't be too hard on yourself. It only hurts when you have a consumer that knows about wine and I suspect 95% of folks who utilize the PLCB don't. They were friendly enough. Should you want to try and tailor the operations to oenophiles, then that is a different matter entirely. Then people who work there should be educated and at some locations they are. One thing at a time. Fixing the top end of the PLCB is going well. I have never encountered a government run system where customer service in the trenches is A+. That's life to some extent. Have you ever heard the phrase "good enough for government work"? I think thats what I would say about my experience in the Narberth store. The folks on the SLO and web end? In my experience, it's been very good. You - you of course are da' bomb, Deidre Evan

I too bought a test bottle yesteday and let it decant for about 1.5 hours. Super dark purple, agree with oak comment, fairly tannic but I like this 40/40 combo of cab and sangiovese 20 merlot too. $80? Never would I buy this. $18 - certainly worth a try. I will buy more but perhaps only a couple. Evan ← A follow up to include the inconsistent service in PLCB stores. Went to Narberth as they had 30 bottles of the Futuro. Looked around and when I couldnt find them, I asked where they were. "These are the Chairman's selections right here". It was not there - I already looked. I told them I was looking for the futuro. He tells me he will ask someone who knows. She says "It's right there - the Latour". I said, no that is not it - I am lookng for the Futuro. She walks ove and points to the Latour and says "This is it. Right here". I kindly say that she is not correct. I am looking for an italian wine, chairmans selection, Futuro, 18 down from 85. The guy chimes in, thats not a chairman selection. Don't have it. I say "I saw you have 30 somewhere in this store". He asked a third guy who has no clue. I assure him that it probably came in that day or Friday and there are 30 bottles under his nose in the back. After 2 trips, he emerges with them. I buy one. Part 2. Today, 1 day later, my wife goes in to get more. She asks for the Futuro. Guy shows her the chairman selections. She doesnt see it. He tells her they must be all sold out. She tells guy - "It is the Italian supertuscan, futuro, chairman selection and her husband was just here yesterday and there are definitely more here." Guy goes into the back and guess what..... out comes a box of em. OK - maybe its not a premium store but these guys knew nuttin' about nada here. Thank goodness for the website. I just feel bad for someone who really wants advice or counsel from these gomers. Or worse, coming in and asking for something they have and erroneously being told they don't have it. This is pretty standard stuff - the cluelessness. Can't find an internet order after they call me that its in to pick up? That was a fun one. Can't find stock that you know they have? This wasnt the first time although this was the most entertaining. Bryn mawr does not suffer from this illness and Robert at Ardmore is very helpful. Maybe if they would let me into the back room , I would only have to check out at the register. Speaking of which, my kingdom for online ordering from the local store - when is that coming? There (straightening out parted hair and wiping lapels), I feel much better now. Evan

And now any lingering doubts as to the strangeness are cleared, as far as I'm concerned: there is currently not one drop of the Latour Chardonnay Chairman's Selection wines for sale in downtown Philadelphia. I just bought the last few bottles of the Chassagne Montrachet, and missed the Mersault entirely. Meanwhile, suburban stores, and stores throughout the Commonwealth, are swimming in vast piles of the stuff. Because, presumably, "sales-based allocations" dictate it should be so. I love love love the Selection program. But something keeps just not adding up here. The kindest construction I can put on this is that someone in Harrisburg really believes that Ardmore and Bryn Mawr are in Philadelphia. As if we'd have them! ← Say what you want there pal but when you dis Ardmore and Bryn Mawr, you dis me, punk.

I was interested in starting also Mrbigjas. Never found a local mycological group though. Wouldn't do it myself. There are old mushroomers and bold mushroomers but there are no old bold mushroomers. Let me know if you want company in the woods... wait ... uh ... that doesnt sound right.... y' know what I mean though. Evan PS - Saw the post on the Fair Food thread and ordered my heritage turkeys for T-day. If you never had one - TRY ONE. They are great and not having to spend $$$ on shipping this year is welcome news.

I too bought a test bottle yesteday and let it decant for about 1.5 hours. Super dark purple, agree with oak comment, fairly tannic but I like this 40/40 combo of cab and sangiovese 20 merlot too. $80? Never would I buy this. $18 - certainly worth a try. I will buy more but perhaps only a couple. Evan

Done. Just like Greg told me to do it - perfect. I now officially like brussel sprouts. ← so what, we're supposed to guess how Greg told you to make them? Pony it up please Jeff ← Butter in pan and a bit of maple syrup/sugar. I added olive oil too. Toss in sprouts to cook and carmelize them a bit. I cooked them until they started to shrink - maybe 6-8 minutes. Throw pan in oven (400 for me) for about 10 minutes until they look like the picture. Serve them with your favorite Chairmans Selection Du Jour. How's that for a segue to getting back squarely to the wine topics?

Done. Just like Greg told me to do it - perfect. I now officially like brussel sprouts.

You must be reading my mind Mike. Newtown got 35 cases today, I got 12 also, bottles that is. Also picked up some of the lovely Latour Mersault along with that nice St. Frances chard we had the other night at RX. Next for me is a few bottles of the ridiculously priced Chassagne Montrachet. Jeff ← Pop 'em open gents. Let's hear it. Still waiting here..... At Rx, Deidre told me the Il Futuro benefited from 2 hours of decant time when she drank it. Evan ← Also either Parker or the Spectator says it has 10 years aging in it. I truly doubt I'll hold onto any of it for that long. If you're in the neighborhood, I'll pop one for you! ← Must have been the WS. I have seen the WA note on this vintage already. Checking the site daily for any word of Montgomery county stock. Evan

Maybe I was missing the elephant in the room but I looked all over for this new location and can't find it. Has anyone spotted it?? Evan

You must be reading my mind Mike. Newtown got 35 cases today, I got 12 also, bottles that is. Also picked up some of the lovely Latour Mersault along with that nice St. Frances chard we had the other night at RX. Next for me is a few bottles of the ridiculously priced Chassagne Montrachet. Jeff ← Pop 'em open gents. Let's hear it. Still waiting here..... At Rx, Deidre told me the Il Futuro benefited from 2 hours of decant time when she drank it. Evan

If you can give us a sneak peek at the date when you know - that'll be just purdy. Evan PS - That Buller Muscat just got a Parker 96 so get some now while it is still around. That was good stuff - thanks Greg.

Say no more..... here are the photo accompaniments. Let me add my thanks to Greg, Katie, Deidre and of course Jonathan Newman for a great night. It was nice to finally meet you. You know if the wife came along, it had to be special! Now many of you doubters know she actually exists. I look forward to more of these BYO dinners! Let me add my vote for Sycamore over Bosche. Also, some of these upcoming selections sound great - esp. the Inniskillin Riesling icewine...... Evan

I got my turkey neck fix from them this weekend along with a few squab.... They did not have turkey backs though - Evan

NB - Saw a sign in N liberties of a spanish tapas restaurant opening soon. 2nd and Girard.

This is what my egullet donations go to? Pork belly projects? mmmm. baaacon (in Homer voice) Evan

Not if we talk about her dancing with a ham in each arm.

Did Jeff like it too? Evan

As I was walking to Amada last night to have a post movie dinner with my wife, I thought of a problem. If it sucked, how can I consciously as a F.O.K. (friend of Katie) spew praise on the forum about a restaurant that I didnt like? I decided I would keep mum. No need, amigos. No need. First off, the restaurant has been open for a week and was packed. Luckily we got a high table next to the bar for two. The place is "hip" and a tad loud but not overbearingly so. The layout is really trendy and I love that is the kitchen is exposed to the diners but not in your face. The menu was really extensive and we didn't get to choose everything we really wanted because of gastric space issues. We decided on a big pitcher of red Sangria ($28 - $6 per glass). Kudos to Katie, there is a huge choice of wines by the glass - spanish heavy of course. The cocktails looked ultra cool. There is a "chefs choice tapas" which is $40 per person and includes 10 of the tapas from the menu. There is a charcuterie section on the menu which we passed on this time. Other than some paella/steak options, the menu is tapas of various sorts - sorted by veggie, meat, grilled, etc. We chose to have a few tapas and a paella valenciana. The paella was pricey ($38) but huge. The lobster one was a steep $75. I will let you all decide for yourselves but while the paella was "ok", it was not the best I have had nor the star of the menu IMHO. You may want to stick with an all tapas experience. The tapas is totally where its at. It's fun and delicious. We had no losers. We ordered the octopus, grilled I think, with smoked paprika - excellent and not chewy. We had empanadas filled with spinach,manchego and artichoke. Great. The best thing we had (dont miss) was the fried baby anchovies. Sure its bait fellas, but it's deep fried bait with a cute little fried egg on top. Terrific. We also had a flatbread topped with shrimp, tomato, parlsey and sausage (Can't remember the name of the dish). There is a flatbread tapas section. My wife did not love this but I thought it was very good. For dessert, we went with the banana y azafran - a dense chocolate torte topped by carmelized bananas and a creme anglaise - there was safron in there somewhere - I saw the tell tale color. Outstanding. The service was friendly and quick but not rushed. We asked if the chef's tapas is off the menu stuff but she said not so we decided when we go back we will go with more tapas. Total bill was $150 for 2, including tip. I think the chefs choice is a good bargain and a great bet. Next time that is what I will do. Time for fiesta. Evan

I have heard the praises of CFC and I frequently eye the shop on 40th and market on my way into Penn. Evan

I am glad to hear your experience was good. Should it demonstrate cconsistency amongst the gulleteers, I shall return in earnest. Post on dudes. Evan

Mental note..... Tuesdays best for SK.

Just got this email from the PLCB. I am so glad this is happening! Who'd of thunk it would actually come together? Cool! Evan Please join Greg Salisbury and Ross Essner of Rx Restaurant, Along With Jonathan Newman, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, for an evening of discovery at the first ever Bring Your Own Chairman's Tasting event November 1, 2005, 6:30 pm at Rx Restaurant. Discover the American style cuisine of Rx, the restaurant that features fresh, organic, seasonal foods from the local area, at this special event. Discover how Jonathan Newman, creator of the Chairman¹s Selection program, is able to accomplish bringing some of the top wines in the world to Pennsylvania at exceptionally low prices. To fully enjoy this culinary experience the following wines should be purchased at a local Premium Collection Wine and Spirits Store to bring to this unique event! St. Francis Chardonnay Behler Vineyard 2003 Montes Alpha Syrah 2003 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Bosche Vineyard 2000 To find stores in your area with the selection of these wines click here This Specially Priced Four Course Dinner Menu $40.00 (excluding tax, gratuity, and wine) Rx Restaurant 4443 Spruce St.! , &nb sp;Philadelphia 215-222-9590 Reservations Required (seating is limited)