jwjon1

Holy smokes! Where have I been? Boy am I glad I ran into this thread! I'm pysched to see some modern/molecular gastronomy cuisine coming out of Philly post kitchenstudio, and I'm a bit ashamed this is coming as a surprise to me. I've spent the past month trying to land a reservation at Chef Andres's minibar on a weekend to satisfy my exploratory dining desire when I lo and behold I just had to look as far as Philly! Bravo Johnny Mac for infusing some creativity into the mix. Can't wait to check snackbar out!

Turns out the bottle in question, 1996 Clicquot La Grande Dame (item 005889), is on closeout for $90, which is an absolute steal. The current release (1998) sells for $145. Guess its a shelving space issue, but if it were my shop, I'd discount the '98. I'm not complaining, however!

been a while since I shopped at the PLCB, but was near one for business so swung by for giggles. I was psyched to see a Priorat as a CS so picked up a bottle. Pulled to cellar temp, popped, poured, and immediately remembered why I haven't been to the PLCB in a while: yet another cooked bottle from the LCB. My personal experience has been that its quite a crap shoot getting well conditioned bottles there. I'd venture 1 in 4 have been off in one way or another. Am I alone in this experience? Importantly, I saw a blatantly underpriced high-end bottle (as labeled on the shelf) that I considered picking up. Any experience on price label "errors" and having management agree to that labeled price? The shelf label clearly referenced the bottle in question, so it wasn't simply a mis-placed product. I normally wouldn't even consider rolling the dice given storage concerns, but at the price listed, I might be willing to gamble. Any clue on how the temperature controlled room inventory is stored prior to being shelved?

Fingers crossed indeed! Thanks for the potential heads up Philadining! I'd love to hear if any of these rumors come to fruition... and hopefully in time for me to get my foot in the door.

Excellent thought provoking posts in this thread! I love it! Thanks for taking the time to envision and organize this, Vadouvan--I'm throughly enjoying it. I'm particularly intrigued with the notion that the consumers on this board stand a chance at turning the tide on products available to us at retail. In the very least, my experience with DiBruno's convinces me that they would be willing to listen to our requests. My personal next step is to comprise a letter to them regarding meat purveyors, and I'm sure I won't be the only voice doing so! I concur with mrbigjas's proposal to split this thread into more manageable pieces according to the event.

What Alexis said! You should definitely try a knish from Yonah Schimmel, and since you're in the area, a trip to Russ & Daughters would be in order. If nothing else, try one of their excellent barrel pickles from Guss'. If you're in the area of 54th and 5th (next to MOMA), enjoy brats, and looking for one of those budget saving but excellent lunches, pick a dictator combo from the Hallo Berlin Cart. Food Cart you say? Trust me, its worth it. I coupled Hallo Berlin for lunch with WD-50 for dinner, and gotta say that's been one of my best culinary calendar days ever. Based on that experience alone, I'd confidently say that early Katz with a late WD-50 and plently of trekking around the city in between is definitely doable. And if you feel the urge for a NYC bagel at some point, my favorite has been Ess-a-Bagel. I've only been to the one on 21st and 1st, but understand there's one in mid-town as well.

Dewey was there in full force during my recent visit, and was quite the amiable character. He seemed to be having just as much fun as Wylie, which was a nice sight to see!

Great photos, Doc! I couldn't agree more with your commentary, and it doesn't surprise me one bit that the kitchen was receptive to your tasting menu requests. One more reason why I also cannot empathize with any less than positive critiques on this board. Once additional criticism I didn't include in my post above, but one which got under my skin during dinner was the poor choice of stemware used at WD-50. For such a detail oriented establishment, I found the rocket launcher (re., swirling is NOT recommended ) stem choices abysmal. Granted, I didn't pull $$ bottles out of the cellar as some restaurants require in order to break out decent stems and instead went with the pairing menu... but how hard is it to stock up on glasses more amenable to drinking and enjoying wine, rather than encourage the customer to curse the gods for serving tasty juice in less-than-optimal conditions? Kinda defeats the pairing purpose when you get excited about the food but not the wine. Anyway, just so as not to toss criticism out without offering a solution: while I'm not in the glass business, Schott Zwiesel makes some versatile Tritan stems that are both restaurant (economical, multiple shapes/designs, and super hard TiO2 glass=dishwasher safe) and wine snob friendly.

I've edited my post above to include thoughts on my dinner. Sorry for the delay, and the thesis.

December 2006 tasting menu Dish 1: Spanish mackerel, nori, kohlrabi, mustard paired with Champalou Vouvray Brut Method Traditionelle NV Dish 2: Carrot-coconut "sunny-side up" paired with Champalou Vouvray Brut Method Traditionelle NV Dish 3: foie gras, candied olives, green peas, beet juice paired with Wegeler Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2005 horrible funky photo of foie gras mold displaying beet juice Dish 4: crab "roll", black bean, mint, pickled ginger paired with Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle 2005 Dish 5: beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses paired with Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle 2005 Dish 6: miso soup, sesame "noodles" paired with Au bon Climat Pinot Noir 2005 Extruding and congealing the sesame "noodle" Dish 7: langoustine, popcorn, hibiscus, endive paired with Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir 2005 Dish 8: squab breast, beets, wood sorrel, coconut pebbles paired with Isis els Guiamets 2003 Dish 9: cream cheese, concord grape, black sesame, brioche interior of cream cheese mold showing grape pocket Dish 10: yuzu curd, spruce yogurt, pistachio paired with Scheurebe Spatlese Herrenberg Pfeffingen 2005 Dish 11: soft chocolate, avocado, licorice, lime paired with Commanderia St. John NV Dish 12: cocoa shortbread, menthol cream hanging with Wylie Night caps at Loreley, a killer German Beer Bar a short distance from WD-50 (off-topic, but an excellent end to a wonderful evening) I cannot comment on repetition of menus as this was my first visit to WD-50. I did not find any of the tastes from this menu repetitive, however. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find a common string between the dishes (although the curd and soft chocolate dishes played well with each other and would have succeeded even if served simultaneously). That said, there were plenty of aesthetic ties to be had in the dishes, so much so that I nearly went through imagery overload having just walked through MOMA prior to hitting WD's :-) . And I think it a fair and high compliment to compare WD's and AS's platings to many of MOMA's pieces. While the lack of a theme might have put off some diners, I was more than up for the experiment as was the rest of the group. I don't feel qualified to discuss in detail the merits of each dish, but I can say that I didn't detect the chemical qualities discussed elsewhere in this thread in any dish. Rather, as with docsconz, I found the quality and freshness of the ingredients to be extremely high. The entire table commented on the high quality ingredients, particularly of the mackerel, squab, and crab. From a taste only standpoint, the weakest dish by far was the "fried egg"; our entire group agreed on this one. But I can also say that this dish was the most memorable to me for other reasons, including its uniqueness, creativity, irony (vegetarian eggs? but is a coconut a vegetable or a nut?), and overall execution. My personal favorite dish was the squab. I love fresh beets and eat them any way I can get them (saved for pickled, that is). But I have never even thought about rubbing an extremely flavorful and rich cut of meat in chopped beet. And then to pair the richness of the squab (which was perfectly cooked, to no one's surprise) and the earthiness of the beet with well-portioned slightly sweet coconut morsels and the slightly spicy sorrel was a stroke of sheer genius. As for describing the coconut pebbles: maybe WD or AS can comment? I have no clue how they were prepared, but if I had to guess, I'd say fresh coconut was ground to a paste and then suspended in some time of confection to add firmness and a touch of sweetness. But chances are I'm way off. I'll concur with the richness and salinity of the foie gras mentioned previously as well, but I also could have gorged myself on this dish. The play in texture and taste contrast with the dry peas was exceptional. This was one the favorite dishes for one of my dining companions, who fortunately was able to eat a small portion off the plate of another companion who found it too rich to finish. So as has been written before: not for everyone. The langoustine dish had a lot going on with it, but the hibiscus (was it candied? it kinda was like a glassy hibiscus roll-up. strange yet fun. and tasty.) overpowered the dish rendering the endive and seafood moot. Most likely this was a concentration effect as the volume of hibiscus was overwhelming as can be seen above. Nevertheless, for me, the star of this dish was the popcorn paste which is not something I had seen before. My guess is that it was prepped from coarsely ground grits and not popcorn at all, but I was the only one at the table with this conviction. The langoustine, paste, and endive tips sin hibiscus worked well. But let me reiterate that I did enjoy the hibiscus, just not en mass with the subtle shrimp/grits things going on. My second fav. dish of the night was the yuzu curd. All the dessert courses were QUITE tasty (I don't know any better, but I would find it hard to believe that the quality of WD-50 has suffered with the departure of Sam Mason given the kick ass work Alex is churning out) and exceptionally pleasing to the eye, but the curd did it for me. Nice and tart, with excellent consistency and none too sweet. Made me want to incorporate a pistachio crust into the next key lime pie I attempt to fail at. Continuing with the dessert praise, I found that the best pairings of the night came from the pastry chef. All worked well. The traditional vouvray played well with the mackerel, but not the "egg". The medium dry riesling complimented the salty foie gras; I would have preferred a pinot gris with the crab over the too-fruity Blanc de Morgex which also didn't work too well with the beef tongue; the Isis els Guiamets needed a serious decant or time in the bottle to pair with the squab... as it was served, it didn't work at all. Finally, as for the Au Bon Climat, this pinot was a sub in for a Burgundy from a producer who's name escapes me right now. It isn't such an extracted PN that it didn't work at all with the soup and langoustine, but it certainly didn't add anything to the food, or the food to it. Again, not recalling the original pairing but wildly assuming it to be more acidic and less fruit forward than the Au Bon Climat, I still struggle sensing how well the original would have paired with both dishes. Ironically, the group ordered a bottle before dinner started and I discussed with the waiter options for something that would work with a number of courses. In particular, I made it known that I had been DYING to find any Radio Coteau offerings and lo and behold, here was one on the menu! Sadly, he described it as a fruit bomb and did not recommend it with the menu, instead pointing us to a 1er Cru Burg (Chambolle Musigny 2001). I folded to the will of the table and waiter. So imagine my disappointment when another "fruit bomb" (waiter's words, not mine) showed up with the tasting menu! Given the wine menu switch, I promptly asked for him to sub in the Radio Coteau in lieu of the Au Bon Climat, to which he politely replied that he couldn't do it because of the price differential. My only disappointment of the night. Should have gone with the Radio Coteau to start so I could have finally tried a jar :-) . I've rambled enough so let me end with a final praise for WD-50: while it sounds like the fried mayo and friend ginger are WD staples, I found myself blabbering on and on with my companions about how I planned to try to recreate them at home. If these comments are not obvious enough, I truly felt inspired by this meal which I suspect is WD's intent. Well, that and encouraging diners to come back. Clearly, I'll be back. [edited to correct my lazy editing. gin infused ginger anyone?]

thanks for pointing me to the burgundy outlook! unfortunately, looks like there's only one PN on its way... but the 1er cru white burgs have me excited!

I'm in the same boat with cap regarding the Saralee Syrah from Arrowood... super ripe (and by default quite high in alcohol) and super extracted makes for quite a heated fruit bomb which doesn't do it for me. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the many PNs now available. I cracked open a bottle of the 04 Rutz Dutton Ranch ($17.99!) and found it quite enjoyable. It is quite a big, powerful PN with excellent floral notes and decent fruit. It reminded me of the St. Innocent style: tannic, made for food, and made for bottle aging. Took a few hours to open up, but when it did I couldn't believe the Chairman was able to obtain this at such a killer price. The tannins were tamed on day two which made for an fabulous bottle. Based on pedigree alone, I'm more psyched about the Burnside (Martinelli!) and Windsor Gardens (one of Merry Edward's favorite but unfortunately now defunct vineyards... so you know its gotta be special), so I picked a six pack of all four Rutz single vineyards on the promise of the Dutton. If anyone else breaks open any of the Rutz PN's, let us know how its drinking. As for the Dutton, I'd give it at least two more years of bottle age or a vigorous decant... well worth the space in your cellar at this price, though! The Felton Road is a fun PN as well, but if you're not into new world PN, or PN that has flashes of a syrah identity crisis in the glass, this won't be up your alley.

Nothing like sharing fine wine with friends to run away the blues! I'm just impressed that you still found the time to share this useful info with us after such a rough day. So thanks, Katie. Hope your weekend shapes up to be a great one, lord knows you deserve it!

i have no location preference either way... we'll end up hitting the other sections of the city eventually anyway. afternoons are preferred on my end, but there's no such thing as a bad time to eat pizza so bring it on!

We just returned from an extraordinary trip to San Fran/Napa/Sonoma. There are many highlights which I will discuss elsewhere, but in keeping on topic with this thread, the most memorable and enjoyable dining experience all week was had in Sonoma at The General's Daughter. As you may recall, I teetered between La Toque (which I'm positive would have been an awesome experience, but we simply ran out of time) and TGD. We ultimately decided to go with TGD due to its proximity to our hotel on Sonoma Square. Thank heavens we made this choice and were able to experience this treasure of a restaurant! The staff at TGD was very courteous and easily accommodated our relatively large group. While we would not have felt out of place in semi-formal attire, neither did we feel out of place in our business casual (with the emphasis on casual) outfits, which made for a relaxing atmosphere. More impressive was the menu, which all looked tempting to not only myself, but even to the most finicky (re., non-adventurous) eaters in our group--I'm sure it helped that we are all southerners by birth as the menu has a number of quintessential staples such as fried green tomatoes (out of this world good!) and shrimp and grits (ca. 40% of our group ordered this dish... and all were ecstatic to have done so). I do not recall all the dishes that the group ordered, but my dishes included a tasty yellow fin(?) tuna ceviche served over thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes in a crisp and light citrus vinaigrette, a healthy portion of foi gras (if I had to guess, one side of the foi gras was crisped in rendered bacon fat and gave it an awesome taste/texture combo), and a hearty kobe beef ragu/roast for lack of a better descriptor served over polenta and topped with white truffle (quite a unique and tasty dish, reminding me of a tomato based chopped beef barbeque which is atypical of carolina barbeque--of course, vinegar would not have played well with the flavorful beef/truffle combo). There were others, including dessert, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, all were expertly prepared, quite original, and extremely enjoyable. And each was carefully paired with wine, but as I did not take notes and as it was a long week full of fine wine, I cannot comment on the selections. I do specifically recall an A.S. Kiken cab being served with the beef, but it was memorable for the unique winery name :-) and not because I felt the need to seek this cab out at the store. After dinner, Preston obliged our request to personally thank him for an excellent meal. It only took a few minutes speaking with our group to understand why this was the best meal of the week: his love and passion for cooking coupled with the availability of exciting and excellent ingredients as well as fine local wines creates one heck of a synergistic combo. We are thankful that Preston spent so much time speaking with our group. He truly made us feel welcome into his restaurant and we are all convinced that if he so chose, he has the charm, skill, and overall personality to make for quite the entertaining celebrity chef. Fortunately for us, he chooses to create masterpieces in the kitchen instead! Provided the kitchen isn't too busy, I highly recommend spending a few minutes with Preston just to "chew the fat". His generous hospitality and amicable demeanor really will add another dimension to an already excellent culinary experience. My only regret is that we did not have more time to spend in Sonoma valley as we were unable to return to the wonderful building Preston and his wife have breathed new life into. My own wife was particularly bummed about the lack of free time as she lives to explore unique landscapes and gardens, and the Dishman's many heirloom varietals would have been sights to behold. One last thing in case this is not already clear: although we initially decided to eat at TGD due to its location adjacent our hotel, having now eaten there, I'd willingly commute to TGD even if we were staying in Napa, San Fran or elsewhere in the general vicinity. It really was that good!