Busboy

Last night I opened up a bottle of Savenniers -- a little-known Loire Vally wine which I stumbled across and became a great fan of, for its price and its quality -- to sip before dinner an almost spit out the first swallow. "Oh shit, it's a dessert wine." Sure enough, there on the label, in red, was the word "doux" French for "sweet." So we opened another bottle and saved the Savenniers for dessert -- a rare treat for a casual Sunday night meal. I'm a big fan of the "stickies," as the Aussies call them (my initial reatcion sprang from surprise, not dislike) and I find that most people, though initially skeptical, come around very quickly once they taste a really good dessert wine. I think Tejon's post is spot on, and that wine angst also explains why people cling to the "red wine with meat, white wine with fish" rule as though Baron Rothchild was going to rise from the dead and skewer them on a corkscrew if they dare pour a merlot with their trout. I also had a friend who almost had a heart attack when I asked the waiter to ice down what I considered to be a too-warm bottle of cabernet. Of course, the truth is that people on the whole prefer wines to be a little sweet. In blind tastings most prefer "extra-dry" champagne to "brut," which is dryer than the extra dry; the massive popularity of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay is based in part on the fact that it's a little sweeter than other, similarly priced chardonnays.

I like to slice garlic -- so that it looks like little almond slices -- and chop shallots and throw them both into a healthy dollop of olive oil and sautee until the garlic gets a brown. The you throw in your previously blanched beans and toss around until the beans are warm and well-coated. Throw 'em into a serving dish and to with a little chopped parsley. One nice thing about this is that you can do everything in advance and, once the frying pan cools down, throw the beans in and forget them until the last minute, while you tend to the rest of the meal.

I was never much of a fig guy, but I saw some at the market not long ago that were so compelling I had to buy them. For dinner (for a gang of friends) I boiled down maybe a third of a bottle of red wine, some honey (you can adjust this to taste) and a couple of dashes of balsamic vinegar into a syrup. The served the figs split, with proscuitto, topped with a drizzle of the syrup. I'd never actually seen people wolf down figs like that.

Don is certainly capable of defending himself and I am sure he will do so. In the mean time, I'm quite willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is aware of Coke's status as a faceless, marketing-driven corporation and chose it as an example merely because his mind was on his larger point. I expect that he wasn't consciously "advocating" Coke; if he was, I'm sure there is an interestsing reason why, and we can legimately stomp him senseless once he gives it to us. In the mean time, ripping a single phrase out of a larger argument -- without giving the writer a chance to explain or backtrack -- and using it to launch ad hominem attacks on the writer should be left to the pros in Boston, Washington and, of course Austin this election season. Not that I'm usually the voice of reason, but I find that this new wine I've been drinking has a mellowing influence, that just makes we want to sit back, relax and...buy...more...Red Bicyclette....

I have a longer post to compose when I get a few minutes but, in the mean time I would like to suggest: 1) "Hypocricy" is a pretty loaded word to begin tossing around, and 2) That in my original post (and someone else's upstream post) that the word "pizza" be stricken and the words "Mrs. Busboy's lemon-rosemary roast chicken with cous-cous, tomatoes and cucumbers" be substituted, as a decent meal for which many are searching for a decent, cheap wine. more anon. Sdited to add: Rocks did deserve a bit of ragging for positing Coke as the alternative to Gallo, though.

I used to have one of those from a Libertarian candidate for some office or another. It read "get a grip on big government." I take the big chef's knife and whack the edge of the lid with the blunt side. Works like a charm.

We had a truly memorable dinner at Chez Panisse. We went in skeptics and came out true believers. We personally had a hard time finding exceptional Chinese. We looked through a lot of local press and came away with almost nothing -- I think San Francisco Magazine's "Best" was somewhere out in the non-SF Bay Area, which we couldn't get to -- and kind of wandered around Chinatown randomly looking for framed press clippings, "25 out of 27 in Zagat's" stickers and "Voted #1 By Chronical readers" type of indicators and came up empty-handed. We ended up getting a good Chinese meal, but nothing particularly memorable. So, what I'm saying in a roundabout way is not that there's no great Chinese there, but that you would do well to get your (Peking) ducks in a row before you get to SF.

I'd certainly read it and contribute. I wonder if there's a way, in the new format, to collect and arrange contributions so that if we get to a reasonable number of posts, we could make it easier to flip through, looking for ideas. Also, if any DC folks are reading this, doing a group tasting of under $10 wines on a crisp autumn afternoon would not be a wate of time. And I can prove to Malawry that brined chicken is unnatural and wrong.

Fired up with the spirit of scientific endeavor, Mrs. busboy and I picked up a bottle of Red Bicyclette (shouldn't that be Bicyclette Rouge?) Syrah and one of the Chardonnay, vowing to pay attention to the taste this time, rather then knocking the stuff back while hunting in vain for a chicken wings place that delivers to Mt. Pleasant. Let me begin by saying that if there is a $7.99 bottle of wine, either red or white, of any varietel, made in America that is worth drinking, I have never had it. So, for comparison purposes we picked a Finca Natalina Malbec from Argentina -- comparing other $7.99 options, rather than mounting a semi-surreal under-$8.99 vertical syrah tasting -- and the Concho y Tora Chilean bulk chardonnay. We got out the good glasses, opened both bottles of red, and did a preliminary comparison during The Dailey Show, and the Red Bicyclette showed well almost from the get-go (I know, contrary to my memory of an earlier bottle). A little body, decent fruit and that nice earthy syrah kick at the finish. The Malbec, on the other hand, seemed thin and unpleasant: sunburnt, tobacco-y, and more tannin than fruit, though very little of either. In fact, it tasted a lot like a cheap, watery Languedoc syrah. Then we let the wines sit open for about an hour while we dashed out to Vace for a pizza and a copy of The Hudsucker Proxy which -- though it faded at the end like a cheap pseudo-French "lifestyle wine" (more anon) proved that the Coen Brothers are definitely not longer at the top of their game. Time was good to the Malbec. The tannin and tobacco held firm but, as the fruit bloomed, turned into talented supporting players behind a nice and gave the vino the strength to stand up to the pizza. Time was bad to the Syrah, however, as the fruit fled leaving the same burnt dregs as the Malbe offered up in the beginning. Not actively unpleasant, but passively so. Either bottle would be better than the 85% of the "red wines" I've bought by the glass at bars and restaurants in the United States. The treat of the night was the Red Bicyclette Chardonnay. But let me begin by dismissing the Concho y Toro as virtually undrinkable, though I have many friends and one wife facing high tuition payments and other child-rearing expenses who make do with it. I can't even describe the taste, though if you've had any bulk chardonnay recently -- including the Woodbridge -- you kind of know what I'm talking about. The White Bicyclette, however, was a pleasant surprise. It has a real Chard taste and mouthfeel and actual layers of flavor. There's a little tart/lemon thing going on at the beginning and it closes with a bit of oak, but not that "licking the barrel (woodchips, actually)" level that a lot of winemakers affect in order to appear swank. It's light, it's clean, it has a little bit of character and I can't think of another inexpensive chard I'd rather have, even the reliably good stuff the Aussies (think Rosemount) put out. Bottom line: eminently drinkable plonk, and a credible contribution to the low-end market. Not a crime against nature.

That should be tu crapaudes. I refuse to allow any more irregular verbs into the French language, no matter how small their irregularity.

Interested for 2, but unable to commit at this point.

You can also cook up a pretty decent flagelot stew and avoid the whole "proper" cassoulet debate by throwing some duck confit, lamb sausage and whatever other tasty scraps you have around the house into some beans, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Doesn't really matter what you call it, after all, as long as it tastes good. I did this last spring to use up some over-salty confit and it was delish.

They're not...evil. They just have a funny texture and an unnatural sweetness to them. And Grimes -- and by extension, myself and others -- used them as shorthand for the bad habit of substituting processing and convenience over taste and wholesomess. Canned peaches are the swift boat/National Guard debate of this thread. Cobbler is good.

I am utterly mystified by the vitriol Grimes as brought down on himself. Grimes' goal is completely legitimate: It's a goal my wife and I try to reach three or four times a week, and the whole purpose of aiming for less once you step into the kitchen escapes me. "Honey, we're having bland frozen food tonight, with a tasteless cut of meat. Oh, and canned peaches for dessert!" I don't need no stinkin' cookbook for that. He takes tough, legitimate shots at cookbooks he doesn't like -- if it looks like Alpo, it looks like Alpo, for goodness' sake. Yuck. More revealing: "Betty takes a nonjudgmental attitude toward margarine versus butter. Frozen or canned ingredients she accepts as a fact of life and frozen fish, too. If you don't want to mince garlic, it is O.K. to buy it minced in a bottle." In three quick sentences, he sums up an attitude hostile to truly good -- as opposed to convenient -- cooking. Nice writing, I say. A recipe for prosciutto and melon? Come on. Can't anybody cook any more? And I really don't need a cookbook "chock-full of sensible, middle-of-the-road recipes," especially if they grate America cheese into the corn chowder. Not that Better Homes and Gardens would have been my first choice - I wasn't too keen on them back in the 70s. Then, just when you might be able to dismiss Grimes as a irredeemable snob, he embraces Reader's Digest! And Martha! And Jacques. I must have six Jacques cookbooks, and I'll wager none of them call for canned peaches, by the way. Grimes' piece was a good read and witty and informative look at a cookbook genre that I have always been afraid to invest in, for fear of throwing my money away. He bought, he cooked and he told it like it was, and committed a valuable public service. I'm sure at least one of these books will find a cherished place in the busboy home.

Try some smoother beers to start. India Pale Ales, other Ales, Lagers maybe. Avoid Pilsners, Bitters, Porters and the like, which tend to be hoppier, heavier and more bitter. Are you in Colorado or the west? If so, have a Fat Tire for me.

For better canning karma, try making it while listening to the Dead's "Spanish Jam." You never know, dude. [Click down the set list to spanish jam; the format accessed by clicking the column on the far right is Windows Media Player Friendlt].

Excellent call. They did have good ethiopian in Denver, so I never had to cart it back.

I'm sure that, with the hurricane hitting in an election year, they'll be getting plenty of classic DC pork.

Trio's Diner, the first restaurant where my kids were regulars. The waiter who writes backwards still works there, God love him, and any place where they don't bat an eye at serving my daughter a milkshake and me a glass of red wine at 11AM (hey, it's Saturday) is OK by me. Also, the subshop, now gone. Philadelphia Steak and Pizza on 9th and P Street. Best wings in town. Or, my favorite anyway. Sometimes I have them deliver but I'd just as soon drive down and pick up the order. Something about the bullet-proof glass and the woman on the register -- who always has a smile and often has a daughter doing homework -- makes the wings taste that much better. Credible cheesesteak, too.

I expect that the New Orleans contingent is too busy with more important matters to answer the question, "what can't you get for dinner in NO," but that's the way I'd look at it. My best guess would be the more exotic cheeses and charcuterie Dean & DeLuca offers, more cucina Latina from Mt. Pleasant Street, good bread or bagels from the Georgetown Bagel Bakery (if there's room and you can eat it that night). What's the deli scene there -- lox anyone? When I was travelling back and forth from Denver I used to always pick up Thai carryout from Sala Thai and bring that back -- damn hard to get good Thai in a lot of cities.

My wife and I stumbled across this stuff in a recent trip to the corner grocer and she tried the chardonnay and I had the syrah, purely on the basis of the lable. I know, but believe me, we've tried everything in that store, so why not? She actually thought the chardonnay was pretty good for what we call "swilling wine." I thought the syrah was closed and forgettable but, when cleaning the kitchen hours later, the last glass from the bottom of the bottle seemed to have opened up into something perfectly acceptable, even pretty good, for an under-$10 bottle of wine. Despite the off-putting bullshit offered up by the Gallo release -- "a fun and approachable alternative to stodgy French wines" -- those of us who have watched the price of everyday wines from France, Italy and the US double over the last few years (remember $8.99 cru bougeois Bordeau? $7.99 DOC Chianti?) are happy enough to see any new choices show up on the shelves, even if it does come from the Death Star of winemakes. Who knows, even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.

Clearly, they're more interested in making money than making wine. I'm sure they deserve it for all they've done. Now that they're cashing out, we can look to the next generation of pioneers. Does anybody else find the phrase "quality premium and super-premium lifestyle wines" as loathsome as I do? Just saying the phrase makes my mouth feel as though it's been rinsed by a large glass of corked plonk. Any emotional attachment to a company that would issue a press release like the one Mondavi issued -- though I have fond memories from years back, and quaffed some Woodbridge just the other weekend -- are misplaced. One hopes that something real will emerge from the spinoffs.

I've always found the beer at the airport Sam Adams places drinkable, but the food inedible. Better bet at Dulles is the Vintage Virginia Wine Bars, or whatever the hell they call them. It's not like it would be if say, Beaune International Airport offered up an array of the local products by the glass, but it's not mass-produced, foul-tasting generic swill, either. Pretty drinkable, in fact, and they usually offer a variety of wines. Also, don't they have a non-Sammy micropub at Dulles?

Good to know that even in the 21st century employers still feel the need to control aspects of their minions' lives that have absolutely nothing to do with their jobs. This is the kind of thing that makes non-vegetarians more violent!

Also, be sure and consider the whole package when selecting a place. Even a well-behaved 8-year-old and, especially, a five-year-old have limited capacity for being quietly delightful. If it's going to take dad an hour to drive somewhere, park, wait for a table, etc., you dramatically increase the potential for a cranky child ending the evening on a sour note.