tommy

i like your math kid. rosie, i've seen some of these people drink. trust me when i say that 1/2 bottle will not be enough to get some from the bar to the table.

don't you think that after 20 years you'd find some decent friends! :wow: xo

did you have the sommelier try each bottle? at that point i would have been more embarrassed for the restaurant, and sent back the 4th as well. i think that in general i'm embarrassed to do it only because i know the server has no idea what's going on. it baffles me.

i razz because i love. rosie, re: people not bringing wine. happens all the time. some of my friends are simply non-drinkers, in the sense that they don't drink often and would have no idea what to bring. so they bring nothing, explaining that they'll have none. 2 glasses later and i'm a half bottle down! and you know how i get with my wine. i had one associate come to lunch. we ordered an app for the table basically. it was a big enough dish for the 4 of us to have a bit. this was at Sushi Samba in NYC if i recall. anyway, the check comes, and this guy doesn't want to chip in for it. i mean, he *had* some of it but claimed "well, i didn't order that". i think i was more embarrassed for him and the guy who brought him than i was actually offended. from then on, no one at work can invite someone out with me unless they undergo some sort of test first. a screening if you will.

judging by your comments earlier (click me) regarding tasting wine, i would think that you'd get more comments like "Ooh, it's freakin corked you idiot."

indeed fish sauce can have an off-putting odor to the uninitiated, and apparently to the clueless as well.

from what i understand, having me in that seat made it easier for macrosan to throw a chicken carcass at me. very well thought out indeed. :wow: in the interest of being a bit on-topic (and to divert attention from myself) i'll offer the following: cooking thai food for a guest on day, the wife of my friend yells into the kitchen from the living room "what are you cooking, it smells like feet!"

it's like, since i've met some of you people, i get like zero respect. hrmph.

don't be so hard on yourself. we don't think you're a complete buffoon as far as you know.

my point about having a foul taste in the entire table's mouth rather than one person's, and the interruption of the proceedings in order to send back a bad bottle wasn't convincing?!?!?!?! more proof that rambling seldom gets me anywhere. generally, if i see a post with more than 4 paragraphs or so, i skip it too.

christopher can taste my wine *any* time. you bring up another interesting aspect of tasting: "i don't like this." the only time i can imagine someone would send back an otherwise perfectly fine bottle because the wine wasn't their liking would be when it's recommended by the server. otherwise, i would never do that. i suppose one exception is if you are a very good customer who gives the restaurant a lot of business. even then, that's pretty ballsy. but hey, if it's going to ruin dinner, then you gotta get another bottle. i suppose at that point it's up to the restaurant's policy to determine whether you're charged for it, and from a PR standpoint, it seems that they often might not charge. i was at soho steak in NYC way back when, and i was presented with a bottle of white during the meal. i was drinking red before that, but then decided white would go well with the app. i gave it a taste, and detected something, but rather than suggest to the server, who was obviously oblivious to wine service, that the bottle was off, i gave the go ahead, hoping it would get a bit better (they rarely do). i continued eating and finally gave the wine a proper taste. it was definitely corked. the server had poured my and my guest's glasses full. it took probably 5 sips before declaring it undrinkable. with this, i told the server. her reply was, "well, you didn't tell me that before". i suggested that i really didn't give it much of a taste because i was chewing, and it turns out that it is undrinkable. "well, you already drank half the bottle". this nitwit couldn't see that the remainder of the bottle was sitting in our glasses, so i explained this fact. she took the bottle away, and at this point we didn't want any white anyway. i think we had another glass of red instead. the bill comes, and there is the 35 dollar bottle on the bill. i asked her about it, and she said that since i drank "almost all" of the wine, i'd have to pay. i asked to speak to the manager. he was too busy talking to his boys over at the corner table to get up and have a discussion with me. the server came back with that tone of "i'm doing you a big favor", and presented me with a lesser bill. it wasn't until i left that i realized they had charged me for half of the bottle!!!! had i realized this, i would have obviously taken it from her tip, which would have left her with exactly zero dollars as a tip, and me not paying for the wine. needless to say, i've never been back, nor will i ever go back or recommend the place to anyone. it's a shame, because the food was fair enough for what it is. thoughts? now i *really* ramble.

what is Asopao? i'm going to Puerto Rico in a couple of months, and would like to become a bit more versed in what they have to offer, culinarily speaking.

you are missing something. surely it's much more desirable for one person to have the taste of a wet basement in his mouth rather than a table of four, while toasting, or just enjoying their meal. the taster, in the event of a corked bottle (champagne or otherwise) is basically taking a hit for the team. perhaps a more effective method, time-wise and from a not-wanting-to-ruin-your-palate-standpoint, would be for the wine server to test the wine. obviously, i don't see this as a practical solution, but it's a lot better then me getting that taste in my mouth. (one reason it's not practical is that a huge percentage of servers have no idea why they are pouring the taste to begin with, which never ceases to amaze me. with all of the money spent on wine by the customer at even the most basic of restaurants, management apparently sees little reason to give the servers even the most basic of wine service education. "yes, it's very nice isn't it" is not an appropriate response to my declaration of "it's fine", or "thank you" upon the taste. unacceptable, in my book.) then again, rarely does one need to actually drink the wine to know if it's off. a simple sniff will do it. but i ramble.

unfortunately, even with "wine deals" like Cite, the price of the wine is somewhat built in. if you don't drink (although i'm sure just about all of us would have some alcohol) then you're paying for something that you're not getting. but, and this is the important part, everyone knows going in how much the bill will be, give or take.

nj was all inclusive. and it was loads of fun. edit: we could also consider a BYO, which would be the most cost effective for everyone involved. obviously there aren't all that many in NYC, but i know of at least one and i'm sure others do as well. is there a list somewhere like zagat's for BYOs??

i was thinking about this again this morning. it seems like a very bad idea for a group of people to go to a place where drinks are separate. not only will those who don't drink very much agonize over it, but those who do will as well. it adds undo stress and could easily end up being very unfair financially to a good portion of the group (drinkers or not!) i can say that i would feel much more comfortable if i didn't have to worry about how much i drink, and nobody else had to worry about it either. i'd imagine that sentiment is shared?

some place with a prix fixe would be ideal. cite would be great, but it's pricey and the menu is limited. the inclusive wine is fantastic though, since eveyone pays the same price regardless of how much of a lush he or she is.

i say pate and red wine sounds like a fine fine fine choice. and if it turns out to not be les halles, it might be a good idea to choose a downtown place anyway, considering the hardships most are going through.

everything at benny's costs "buck ninety". at least, that's the old story. this is because for a while back in the late eighties, there was this guy who worked there who wasn't so smart (as opposed to the guys who work there who are really really smart). anyway, a slice and a soda actually went for "buck ninety", but if you complicated the order at all, this nice chap would look at you with the blankest of stares while computing the additional math. to us, at least, he always seemed to come up with "...buck, ninety". even if it isn't true, we still get a snicker out of it. seven star has some huge slices as well. in fact, i think they're bigger than benny's slices. it is important to note that if you order a pie, you will get a standard size slice in the pie. additionally, the pies don't seem to be as good as the slices, at either of these places. it's also important to note that benny's pizza blows away just about all of the substandard crappy pizza joints that the fine city of NY has to offer. why can't NY figure out pizza??

that is just crazy talk. get yer drinkin boots on girl. it's calling you...

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Mr. W among others. :wow:

sounds right. looks like me and you kid. i'll probably be there by 6 turdy. edit: looks like i may be tied up in midtown for a little bit longer than expected. soooo, more like 7. please, contain your excitement.

it was bubbly, just musty. i'd be curious to know what kind of failure rate the industry sees. wine is generally around 5%. maybe it's not so noticable with champagne, as i probably drink 100 times more wine than champagne.

jeez, only a few hours away and everyone's enthusiasm seems to have petered away.