Joe H

Because I've sold in Europe for so many years and regularly travel there so many times a year I've developed relationships with several places. I've traded Leonetti and Caymus Special Select (for them, impossible wines to find) for allocated bottles of Dal Forno Recioto and Avignonesi ong others. I also found that because we take our vacations in December and January when no one else in their right mind travels it is easy, with a polite e-mail or fax, to get into vineyards that are otherwise almost impossible. Until the last two years buying wine in smaller towns (say Dal Forno or Quintirelli in Soave) rather than a larger town (Alessi in Florence is double for the exact same bottle, Verona priced halfway between) combined with the exchange rate and no middleman would allow me to buy wine for 1/3 to 1/2 of what it sold for here. Unfortunately, with the exchange rate, that is no longer true. The same bottle of '97 Dal Forno Valpolicella that was 28 Euros in Soave two years ago (approx. $26 at then rate of exchange; year earlier it was $23), in December cost 46 Euros in Verona, 60 Euros at Alessi in Florence and between $75 and $120 here. My guess is that with the current Euro the '99 and '00 will be even more.

Jake, have you ever tasted Avignonesi Vin Santo? In particular the '90? Or Dal Forno Recioto? The '97? Really incredible stuff.

Depending on where you are staying: Old Town-Eve, especially for their bouillibasse Airport-Oyamel & Jaleo are excellent suggestions Downtown-Kinkead's, DC Coast, Old Ebbitt Grill (All are unique & feel like DC) Georgetown-Black Salt (one mile west) Capitol Hill-Bis Arlington-Guajillo (up from Rosslyn)

Cramped quarters + aggressive crowds = a good thing I don't own a hand gun. Edit to add -- and parking sucks ventworm nuts ← Not to mention that they can be incredibly snotty if you're not loading up on Grand Cru Bordeax. Even a formerly reliebale wine guy from another shop seems to have gotten a little full of himself since he's moved uptown. And I'm a little skeptical of the "bargain" wines that they display by the case. Some is and some ain't, but they always get a big push. Though, in all fairness, I have to say that the last few times I've dropped by, I've run into some new faces and they've been helpful and enthusiastic, so they may be changing. I don't mind the cramped quarters at all. Gives it a callar-like feel. ← I like Schneider's a LOT-it IS one of the best in America! But it makes C/W feel "spacious" by comparison!

Moby Dick, the Reston place you like, Ravi Kebab all are far superior to Shmshiry for boneless chicken kebab. I, too, found that out on my first visit. In fact it was three or four years before I went back to find that I hadn't ordered the right kebab or the right rice.

I am surprised that the Ritz Carlton in Tysons is not holding their event again this year. That was superb. Having said that the one at the Convention center, for me, is well worth it. I went both days last year and probably tasted over 200 red wines, maybe 300, learning that to survive I must spit out the wine. At a show like this I am looking for wine in the $10-20 range that I can buy aftewards and it is absolutely invaluable for this. In fact you WILL SEE many people in the restaurant industry walking with notebooks, pocket recorders, etc. doing the same as I except much more extensively. They'll come away from this show with bottles that will later show up on many restaurants' wine lists. On another level it is a zoo, but a helluva lot of fun. The fact that it attracts 20,000+ in two days speaks for itself as well as it having grown dramatically in size each year. This show started with a mob scene in the Reagan building and has worked its way through two convention centers now to be one of the largest shows in America. Some on here do not like crowds. Others, view this as the ultimate singles event (which for many it really is!). Still others view it as an opportunity to compare tastes of serious wines within seconds of each other. For still others it will be the lowest price of the year to buy a EuroCave from the Wine Enthusiast booth. There is also wine related artwork, gadgets, corkscrews, glasses, decanters, etc. I look forward to this show every year and view it as not to be missed. I also strongly urge anyone reading this NOT to drive. You WILL drink a lot of wine. (Note my comment about singles event.)

http://www.galileodc.com/restaurants/laboratorio/ Generally, Roberto is in the Lab 3 or so nights a week. This is an extraordinary experience lasting 3 to 4 hours, totalling 12 courses. Laboratorio is a restaurant "within a restaurant" (inside of Galileo) with its own open exhibition kitchen, mirrors over the ranges and a staff of four dedicated to serving the 20 to 28 people who occupy the 8 tables. Table #7 is a four top that is literally within 5 or 6 feet of where he stands. Usually, Laboratorio books up within days of when the dates are announced, even two months out.

Taste of Saigon is very good, excellent mussels and black pepper chicken. Note that I haven't been in about a year or two. Shamshiry is the best overall Persian restaurant in the DC area with several special rice dishes that are outstanding. Salmon kebobs may be their strongest along with chicken on the bone. (boneless chicken kebobs are better elsewhere)

'2003 Prima (Argentina) ($17.99) is the only one I've tasted yet and several friends and I did not like it. Actually bitter. '02 Salentein Malbec, another Argentinian and not opened yet. '03 Solyss La Corte from Puglia, not opened yet. '03 Chateaus de Valcombe Prestige (Robert Kacher), a red not opened yet. '02 Catena Malbec, an Argentinian raved about in the Post for $14.99-not opened yet (91 points from the WS) '01 Casa de la Ermita Jumilla, Crianza-the Spanish wine is from a particularly good year and recommended by Pepe; not opened yet. '02 Petit Grealo Sero Costers Del Segre, another Spanish wine (14% alcohol) recommended by Pepe; not opened yet.

"Don't like reading through 11 pages? Tough cookies to you. What's with this obsession with instant gratification? If you have time to write a lengthy post, you have time to read through 11 pages. If you want to bring up being rushed from a table at a particular restaurant, guess what? You can start a topic on being rushed from tableS at restaurantS and comment to your heart's delight." I type 110-120 words a minute and don't proofread. It took me four or five minutes to type the post. It took 30 minutes to scroll through the many posts. Mostly, though, I find your post to be rather mean-spirited and feel that comments like "tough cookies" and "obsession with instant gratification" are not called for. If you have a problem with me or my post I would rather you contact me directly at wwthrills@aol.com and tell me what you don't like. I have no problem with your disagreeing with my many opinions. And, yes, I have many. But I have many problems when you assume the tone you have. I believe it is uncalled for on here.

By the way, does Lizzee, who started this thread two years ago still post on eG?

Mark, it shows the new posts but doesn't tell me what is IN the posts. That is why I intentionally included three separate topics in my original "response" to Don. This is an attempt on my part-a feeble one, albeit-to illustrate that threads with so many responses, spanning huge lengths of time are, for me self defeating. When I look at various message boards on the Internet there are many that use similar or the same software. Other than a hs football board in Cincinnati I haven't found any that allow nearly as many responses on one topic. Noting that you've responded in the past 24 hours to the "Tom Sietsema" threaddoesn't tell me what is being talked about on it since the topic title hasn't changed in two years. I'm offering this as a suggestion to change a practice which will allow more casual users to more efficiently and easily follow current topics, or at least to know what is really being talked about in a particular thread rather than just a general "catch all." Of course it's been my experience that there is little in life that I have had much effect on changing so.....

I go everywhere. Pepe at C/W is phenominal and I totally trust him. In fact I just returned from there with ten bottles in the $12-18 range that I will try. I buy by the case at Total (i.e. Chateau Souverain cab is $15.99; with a 10% case discount it is $14.39; tax is a bit more than half of D. C.. For comparison Souverain cab is $22 at some stores.) depending on the particular bottle. I have a case of Pallazzo which I picked up at Magruder's along with Marquis Phillips Sarah's, I bought two cases of the 94 point Don Melchor cab for $29.95 at Costco in Manassas. Wegman's was $47.95 for the same bottle. Similar to Pepe is the owner of the Wine Rack in Reston's Horth Hills shopping center. Randy is extremely knowledgeable and his taste approximates mine. He'll also negotiate when you buy more than one case. I also buy from Woodland Hills in CA and stop at the Wine Club in O. C. twice or so a year. They will ship here. For most people it is finding one person who's opinion you trust and prices his wine fairly. When you like and you can afford his suggestions, go back to him. Some, like me, still return to their favorites like Randy and Pepe while also searching for the best price of what I know I will like.

Don, this is a good place to re-introduce an earlier discussion we had. I maintain that it is very difficult to follow threads of discussion on eG. In fact I would argue that Chowhound (which I no longer post on) attracts a much larger audience because of their Hot Posts as well as their simplistic, archaic formatting. Specifically, the last fifteen or twenty posts derive from the "catch all" topic, Tom Sietsema's chats. But there are so many subtopics within this thread that it is impossible to really know what a recent post is referring to. I am suggesting that EACH chat of Tom's generates a response from week to week and each of these responses almost always represents a new topic. In this thread Sietsema's chat hasn't been mentioned for ten or so posts and has long been forgotten. Were this its own thread the chat would merely have been used as an introduction to the topic, not as a continuim where many wanting to join in wouldn't have the vaguest idea of knowing what was contained within a post or what the thread was now focusing on. Yes, I realize I am introducing a topic that is really off topic, having spun off from the original thought. But so was that which started this. As were so many other responses from numerous weeks of chats. In fact within the "Tom Sietsema" chat thread there may be 10, even 15 or more individual topics that could/should have its own thread. I sincerely believe that the quality of responses on eG is superior, often far superior (especially on the International board) to Chowhound. Yet, I cannot tell you how many people I know who have looked at this board since I "moved over" and find it extremely difficult to navigate. Yes, CH is simplistic, but its simplicity is its strength. I believe that eG could easilyovertake it but it must be made more user friendly to the average person who looks in once or twice. It is not enough to say there are far more options on eG. It is that the average person will take a quick look at how threads, topics are arranged and make a quick decision before taking the time to explore other options. My apologies but I felt this was a very good place to introduce this since the discussion of appropriate dress in a restaurant surprised me, lurking in a thread about Tom Sietsema's chats. Of course with 225 replies and 17,000 views in the two years since the topic was first introduced I'm not certain why I would have found anything even remotely related to the particular thought that first introduced it. For that matter, Ray's the Steaks has 338 posts and 27,000 views in the 8 months since it was first introduced. My wife and I had dinner there last Friday and were surprised that our entree was served within 90 seconds of the appetizer being removed and the dessert was served within 120 seconds of the entree leaving the table. There is no separate thread on Ray's discussing whether anyone else felt "rushed" through their meal. In looking through 338 posts I did find several where people shared the same surprise/disapproval that I did feeling, for myself, that a seriously good dinner was compromised because of this as well as the 90 minute "limit" placed on dining. (The "insurance" that we would be served fast enough to be in and "comfortably out" will cause me not to return because of this. For the $150 the two of us spent at Ray's I personally would rather spend $50-75 more at the Captial Grille where I do not feel that I MUST be gone within 90 minutes. I view this as a very real loss since the scallops, rib eye and key lime pie were superb and the ambience had as much in common with the French Quarter as it did with Florence-I liked it. But I cannot stomach courses served so close together that I cannot relax for even a few minutes between them. Especially with $29.95 for an entree.) I thought about posting a separate topic to discuss this and then, after finishing the 338 posts, decided that I didn't want to risk having it taken down and incorporated, banished as post #339. I also know that I am probably the only person on this board which has a legion of Ray's fans as well as the owner. Still, I feel the way I do. Also, so no one thnks that I am singling out Ray's for this very personal criticism one of my more infamous posts on Chowhound was this: http://www.chowhound.com/midatlantic/board...ages/32271.html Ray's beat the Prime Rib with minutes to spare.... Before anyone responds to my comments about Ray's please read this post. It speaks volumes about my personal tastes and many, if not most of you, may strongly disagree with me. Yes, I know that I am rambling here and have introduced a third topic under the same thread. But this is exactly my point: so many of these threads are so long and unwieldly and nonspecific that focus is lost. There is also a conversational aspect to many of them that introduces their own divergencies. For many, first visiting eG, these are real distractions or real inconveniences in following current topics. Last, restaurants change. A topic started two years ago, one year ago even eight mnths ago may have little in common with what it is today. Please understand the spirit with which I write this. I would love to see eG attract more regula contributors than CH. I also know many, many people who would enjoy posting regularly on here yet find the board to be not very user friendly. For many it is not about the many options and the overall flexibility that eG offers; rather it is the archaic simplicity that allows CH to continue since so many who post only relate to or understand that very simplicity. Finally, the way topics are arranged on CH it is easy to respond directly to the initiating topic. On eG there will be specific responses to this post that may be 20, 30, 40-three pages away. Yes, an excerpt may be included in a response but sometimes you have to read the whole post for the "flavor" of the overall piece. For anyone who has ever been quoted out of context in a newspaper they will undersand exactly my point here. Last, before passing final judgment on the propriety of including so much here, please scroll back through the 335 previous posts and see if you don't find several that deviate and ramble just as much. If it is too much to scroll that far back then I have made a point of sorts. Thanks. Joe

I also make bouilibasse as well as several other fish stews (Cioppino, Kinkead's Portuguese stew, ((whose recipe is in his new cookbook as well as on the internet;it's incredible! and incredibly time consuming.) which involve several 2-3 lb individual fish and having them gutted and fileted, receiving the heads and frames back for the fumet. I have not used Black Salt for this yet but look forward to trying them. I have not had good luck with Super H since they usually do not have the larger fish that I want and when they do there is some resistence to doing this for me. Cannon is expensive and I am not a fan of the place on Glebe road near I 95. I would also note that I have tried on three separate occasions at Super H and either haven't found rockfish, red snapper, grouper, etc. that would all work in combination with the fileting, etc.. Yet they are excellent for shrimp, scallops, etc. I do not like Wegmans for this yet I do like Whole Foods. The latter can be very expensive, however. I do like going to Maine Avenue and buying several whole fish then using the "shack" there to have the fish gutted and fileted. Maine Avenue can be a challenge but if you're patient and really look the fish over, having them cleaned and gutted there can give you a good start. I've also been to the market in Jessup and, on the same trip, ended up on Maine Avenue to find everything I wanted. Black Salt carries, among other things, diver scallops and as good of oysters as you can find anywhere. As mentioned by others their selection is incredible, sourcing even Crisfield lump crab meat which I couldn't find last summer in Crisfield! Black Salt is a very real possibility and I look forward to trying them the next time.

Fairfax is an excellent representation of Wegmans. For whatever my own idiosyncrasies are I just prefer the "Dulles" store which seems to have more of an open feeling.

I've been to Central markets in Plano and their flagship in Austin (not Houston). They are very similar to Wegman's. However, I prefer Wegmans Dulles (Wegmans biggest) to the two Central Markets I've been in. For national comparison the largest of all grocery store chains is Woodmans in Wisconsin and the Chicago suburbs. I've been in their Racine, Madison and Rockford stores. For 250,000 square feet they are horribly disappointing (Wegmans Dulles is 130,000) with low roofs and a wholesale club ambience. The largest individual market in North America is Jungle Jim's in Fairfield, Ohio which is currently undergoing another expansion that will top it out at 285,000 square feet. They have a monorail running their parking lot. This is a fascinating website with a lot of photos and info about it: http://www.junglejims.com/index.cfm Prior to this expansion I still prefer Wegmans Dulles store. Stew Leonard's in New York (Bronx) and CT. have large stores also but not on the level of these. I believe the largest supermaket in the world (strictly food) is the Carrefour outside of Paris on the way to EuroDisney. Carrefour is a hypermarket, similar to say, Super Walmart. But the food portion of this particular store features employees on roller skates. It's hard to judge it's actual size since part is non food related but it's at least as big as Woodman's. Still, overall, I prefer Wegmans Dulles to all of these with Central Market and Auchan's store at Val d'Europa adjacent to EuroDisney coming closest. I should add that I've travelled heavily for 24 years on business around North America and Europe and have a great interest of exploring supermarkets and wine shops when I have the time. Despite having seen so much it still comes down to opinion and someone from Texas is probably going to disagree with me just as someone from France or Connecticut will also. Of course there's a market off of the Ramblas in Barcelona that.....

Adam, have you been to Sostanza? I've raved at length about this place for several years. It also has great "character" as well as a tiny kitchen. If you have the chance to go I think everyone would enjoy seeing how they cut their bisteca and cook it. I would argue that Sostanza is to Italy as Luger's is to the U. S. Also, if you go, their meringue cake (off the menu) is awesome. Still, as Florence's oldest operating restaurant (300+ years?) it is a very real experience in its single cramped white tiled dining room. Thanks again for the vicarious pleasures of your photos.

The overall quality of your photography is superb. Which camera are you using? You mentioned Olympus-which one? How many megapixels? Almost all of the photos excepting a few just above are almost professionally lit. Is there a flash feature as part of the camera or are you using the available lighting? Thanks for sharing. Just fantastic, exquisitely detailed photographs that capture the texture of the objects!

John Binkley took these photos from our 14 course dinner at Black Salt on Tuesday night. This is the link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/v...1&x=1&sm=1&sl=0

Vancouver? One of the two companies I represent is in Richmond. Did you ever happen to see this rather infamous post/essay of mine on another board from April of '02 called "Horror in Vancouver?" This is the link: http://www.chowhound.com/midatlantic/board...sages/7171.html

It's layered in a Martini glass, vaguely similar to, say a B-52 with layers of espresso soaked home made lady fingers, whipped cream, kahlua laced custard.... But the overall effect is visually impressive while the flavor is intense and lasting. Kliman's description of her efforts succeeding in "reinventing" several classic desserts is a very good analogy. This may be her best effort. This is a Tiramisu that you will not have to apologize for ordering.

My wife rarely agrees with any of my opinions. By the way, all of the photos above are from Martin, aka "Tweaked" who has his own blog. I don't have the website but would welcome him posting it. Thanks, Martin, for supplying these. Also, for those looking at the photos, please pay particular attention to the risotto. The arborio is the same Alban violane nano that Le Calandre uses. (and Maestro now, too)I hand carried it to Black Salt and Jeff Black nailed it! He and another alternated 15 minutes of continuous stirring in a huge pot for the 50 of us. In the photo you can see each individual kernal of arborio. A rarity anywhere for this type of preparation-THIS is the texture of risotto that rarely shows up on a plate.

Between Caserta's and Al Forno there was no need. I must also add that two stars is the same rating given to the restaurant he reviewed last week. Do you remember it's name?

I agree which is why I noted the dishes I did. There are also a number of posts about the meal on the other board. For anyone on here that would like to be part of a future dinner, they are unsponsored and I receive nothing for them and no consideration from the restaurants-I pay my and my wife's own way. The restaruants have gone all out for us as Black Salt did. I have about 75 e-mails representing 150-160 different people from the four previous dinners I've arranged (Laboratorio for 14 courses including truffles twice, Maestro and Black Salt). I do it biannually. Anyone interested send me your e-mail to wwthrills@aol.com and I will copy you in the Fall when I am putting the next dinner together which, more than likely, will be a Fall blowout at the Lab, possibly a dinner at Charleston but this last is premature to really mention.