sam_harmon

I've become a big fan of Balboa Steakhouse in the Grafton Hotel on Sunset--As good a steak as a Morton's or S&W with a much hipper atmosphere (think porn star chic) and a great bar. If I'm in town without plans, I'll often have dinner at the bar. For fine dining, I've been very impressed lately with Zax in Brentwood. Spago--Beverly Hills, of course, is a great standby--Kevin O'Connell being possibly (no definately) the best sommelier in Southern California.

Sacramento is a good option if you plan on arriving in the afternoon. There's much less traffic getting to the Napa turnoff on I-80 than there will be coming out from the City.

Another fan of Matt's in the Market chiming in.

Non-vintage Rene Geoffroy A small grower-Champagne that has pretty good US distribution

OK, here it goes. I believe that it was during the 60 minutes interview where he proudly stated that he can fully evaluate a wine within 5 seconds of it entering his palate. If this is not egotistical nonsense, I don't know what is. I, however, feel that he sincerely believes this, and this is why his tasting is fundamentally flawed. Such an approach, particularly in the context of his marathon 100+ wine tasting sessions, does not allow for any reflection on a wine's subtleties or even the opportunity for a more elegant, acid-structured wine to show those subtleties. What it not only allows for, but makes an inevitability, is that the samples that make an impression are--low and behold--the so called hedonistic, sledgehammar-on-the-palate examples. Wines possessing too much ripeness, oak and alcohol. Wines showing everything they're capable of showing in their first 5 seconds--even if they subsequently have nothing more to offer in the glass that afternoon or in the bottle over the next 5-10 years.

Given your palates, I think that you might find South African wines quite rewarding. The soil compositions down there are very similar to the great French regions, and the best wines, in my opinion, reflect this through an emphasis on complexity, elegance and food compatibility rather than the Parker recipe of extract, oak and alcohol. I think this is also why Steven Tanzer is a much more vocal proponent of SA wines than Parker. One still has to choose carefully. The best producers are often new and the industry is still feeling its way out of the old mass-production co-op days. I don't know where you're located, but try and search out some Chamonix wines. Their Chardonnays are reminiscent of great Chablis. I believe that they are imported into the US but in limited quantities. The best wine shop in Cape Town is Wine Concepts on Kloof Street.

I couldn't agree more! Jonathon Waters is not only one of the most talented restaurant wine professionals in the country; he accomplishes this with an utter lack of pretension or ego.

I've worked in the wine business as a sommelier, a cellar worker in Napa and now an importer, and I can state with certainty that any restaurant that lets a distributor--even a small quality-oriented one--write their wine list is not going to get the best possible wine program. No distributor has the best of everything. This does not preclude having a close and beneficial relationship witht the quality boutique-oriented distributors. That, however, is a fundamentally different thing than letting them decide what goes on the list.