Really Nice!

Huh. I get sucked in by Barking Frog 25 for 25 every year or so; I guess it's about time again. Background: We live just a couple miles away from BF. The menu is tempting; they get some pretty good reviews. I really want BF to be a favorite of mine. But every time we go there I leave disappointed. The food is generally good, not great, and the prices always feel high to me for what I'm actually getting. Still, it's been a year or two since our last visit so if there's an eGullet gathering at BF count us in. ← Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll?

I like The Wine Atlas of France and traveler's guide to the vineyards by Mitchell Beazley. It begins with: Wine law and vineyard classification Grape varieties Vineyard sites: Climate and soil Then it takes you through each of the regions with excellent maps, photos, and includes producers of special interest, fêtes (festivals), wine (tourist) information, hotels, restaurants, and places of interest. Although this book has no information about vintages, which can be had from so many Internet sites so it's an acceptable omission, I think French person would appreciate it. I'm not familiar with Andrew Jefford's, The New France, so I can't comment on it. Clive Coates, The Wines of France, is a good read.

Well now I never said to dump the thing in the bottle!

Sediment has little to do with a price range and more to do with the philosophy of the wine maker. The great wines, such as Lafite Rothschild or Penfolds Grange, have sediment but so do some lessor valued wines. If the label says something to the effect of "unfiltered" then it will have sediment. If a wine is left to age a few years, some sediment might occur; such as Penfolds Bin 389 ($18 at Costco). As to how long you should let a wine breathe, that is the $64,000 question. Each wine is different, and even the same wines from the same vintage will be different. Older wines don't need to breathe as long because their tannins have already softened. To my knowledge there is no 'decanting chart' like the vintage chart to guide us. Not to throw you off your quest, but if the wine is the center of the evening I don't decant. I'll let the wine evolve for a couple hours as we slowly go through the courses, and when it gets down to the bottom of the bottle I pull out a coffee filter and run the last couple of ounces go through that.

The "aromas" in these kits are chemical based. They're about as closely related to what you should be smelling as an orange is to orange flavored vitamins taken when I was a kid. And if you have a cat you have the essence of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand!

Salt corrodes aluminum. However, I don't know to what degree with a brine. Your plastic bag idea is good and should work with no hassels. You are brining this in the fridge, right?

There are two purposes for decanting wines; each purpose has a different style decanter. To keep the sediment out of your wine glass, get a tall, narrow decanter. This allows the sediment to fall to the bottom. You want one that's about the height and width of a half gallon milk carton. To let a wine breathe, get a decanter with a fat bottom (height is irrelevant). This gives the wine the most amount of surface area to soften the tannins and let the fruit come through. As for price, they both start around $30. With the holidays coming up you should be dropping hints, not shopping!

Any chance of Harold McGee coming to Seattle?

Ya know, it really sucks having this restaurant sitting in my backyard. I heard from LMF that Jason is no longer working behind the bar. Welcome ms vosne-romanee!

It is not a quiet place. McCormicks on First is quieter towards the back. The food and service are good. Another incentive is to go on Monday nights. Wine is half price. We enjoy their coupon specials. We get four about every two months: 2 for lunch that are $10 off and two for dinner that are $20 off. Food and service are good. I jumped on a bottle of Niebaum-Coppola Cabernet Franc for about $50. This too was a steal compared to the $45 retail price.

Good = Tell the chef he/she is a rock star! or Good = Tell the chef this rocks! Bad = Yeah, I remember my first time at the stove.* I've never had the courage to say that.

It was a good time indeed! Even though it's not The French Laundry, Ms Really Nice and I will be returning soon to Serafina as last night was our first time there. Andrea is great lady, too. She was gracious enough to autograph a bottle of two buck chuck (gag gift for a friend who is a certified wine instructor).

I bought into the hype and I should have invested my money elsewhere. Not at all worth the cost of shipping.

You write that like it's a bad thing. Luv homemade buttah! Why not buy a whipped cream dispenser and N2O charger and you can have whipped cream on demand in a matter of seconds. Or is that what you're talking about when you say "organic whipped cream out of can."

Keep in mind these promotions *usually* run between Monday and Thursday, which are evenings when nonrestaurant going people are less likely to go out and dine. The promotion is to bring people in that normally don't go out on a weeknight. You're going to see some behavior that you might not expect. The other part of the crowd is people who might not try a certain restaurant. Just curious, didn't this promotion start in November of '01 to bring people back into restaurants after 9/11?

Yikes!! I'll bring some copies of my tags so you can apply them to yours.

I like those tags, too. I tend to go through them rather quickly. I also want to know as much about the grape varietal as possible, so I came up with a table that I created in Word. The figure below is one I use for Cabernet Franc. I make five folds in it and tape it to the tab. First column contains: Winery, Vintage, Applelation, Grape Varietal, and the year I want to consume it. Second column contains: Typical aromas and flavors I can expect from this varietal as well as what to expect as the wine ages (bottle age). Third column contains: Mouth feel, Characteristics, Style, and any interesting tidbits. Fourth column contains: Primary match or main ingredient to serve with this wine and if there's room in this column, the Accompanying components or supporting ingredients to go with the Primary match. Fifth column contains: Typical match, which is the dish that works best with this type of wine. Also known as includes names of the same varietal from other regions, and It's all about explains what this varietal is all about in 25 letters or less. The last column is the same for all my varietals: What makes wine taste milder, which is good to know when you open a bottle and find that it isn't meeting your expecations. And What makes wine taste stronger, for when you have a great bottle and want to get the most out of it.

I like those tags, too. I tend to go through them rather quickly. I also want to know as much about the grape varietal as possible, so I came up with a table that I created in Word. The figure below is one I use for Cabernet Franc. I make five folds in it and tape it to the tab. First column contains: Winery, Vintage, Applelation, Grape Varietal, and the year I want to consume it. Second column contains: Typical aromas and flavors I can expect from this varietal as well as what to expect as the wine ages (bottle age). Third column contains: Mouth feel, Characteristics, Style, and any interesting tidbits. Fourth column contains: Primary match or main ingredient to serve with this wine and if there's room in this column, the Accompanying components or supporting ingredients to go with the Primary match. Fifth column contains: Typical match, which is the dish that works best with this type of wine. Also known as includes names of the same varietal from other regions, and It's all about explains what this varietal is all about in 25 letters or less. The last column is the same for all my varietals: What makes wine taste milder, which is good to know when you open a bottle and find that it isn't meeting your expecations. And What makes wine taste stronger, for when you have a great bottle and want to get the most out of it.

Use a small amount to add to your sauce. If you reuse the entire amount for another batch, they'll be too much starch in the water and you'll end up with gummy pasta. This has the same effect as using too little water to boil your pasta. Boiling water is great for killing weeds. What's even better is filling a garden spray bottle with vinegar. You can get vinegar super cheap at costco or cash and carry. About 1/5 the cost of a weed killer. Weeds can't handle the sudden drop in pH and they literally shrivel up and die within hours. I did this for a period of three weeks this past spring before selling my house and it allowed me time to work on other things to prepare the house for sale.

C'mon, don't be shy... what's the name?

That hasn't been my experience, but I have mostly seen menus that are less than inspired. They almost beg you to order from the regular menu. Two exceptions are Union and Nells. Union offers the regular tasting menu for $25. Although this time around it's cut down to six courses; still an incredible value. I went to Nells last night for the first time. Here's the menu. I had the Duck Liver Terrine with Cornichons, Whole Grain Mustard and Frisée. Absolutely wonderful. Smooth, creamy, perfectly seasoned. Then went to Wild Mushroom Risotto with Leeks and Reggiano Parmesan. This too was nicely done. Chocolate Brownie with Peanut Butter Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce. Not bad, but it didn't have the impact of the first two. Others at the table had Gingerbread Cake with Pear Caramel Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce for dessert. Some weren't keen on it but I liked it because the flavors developed as you progressed into it more. I've been meaning to get to Nells for some time now. 25 for $25 is a risky way for a restaurant to introduce itself to you, but I'm definitely planning on returning. BTW, I had a glass of Chandler Reach ‘Corella’ Sangiovese Blend, Yakima Valley 2002 with the risotto. This is a very good wine.

says "cooks rule"! ← Are you sure that second 'o' is an o?

So you're going to hang that over your bed, right?

They've been serving it this way in Italy for centuries. But then sometimes the ambiance adds more to the wine than we give credit for.

Yeah, like what's between thighs and breakfast????