KatieLoeb

I will "paint" the inside of a deep dish store bought crust with a light coating of Dijon mustard before filling it, and that seems to keep the crust from getting too soggy. Jazzes up a ham, spinach and cheese-of-your-choosing quiche pretty well too. I'm also quite fond of an apple, carmelized onion and Roquefort quiche from time to time. All quiche custard needs a grating of fresh nutmeg too.

London Grill has a 2nd floor banqet room and also serves brunch. You could try that. But I'm still not sure it would come in under budget. White Dog Cafe has several separate dining rooms, some of which should probably accomodate a small group. They also do a nice brunch.

Aruna: I could think of a few places, but no one that would do it at that price. You could barely take 20 people to Little Pete's Divey Diner for $10 a head. Any place that actually has a private banquet space, ain't gonna cost that little. I'm thinking at least two times that for a mimimum.

That's pretty cool. I really enjoyed speaking with him and I was really impressed with his enthusiasm for the consumers. And thanks for keeping us up to date on the website upgrades. No software upgrade has ever gone perfectly in any industry I've ever seen. So it should be no surprise that there are kinks to be worked out here as well.

aw man, i love underberg. i didn't know you could get it here; i've only picked it up in german delis in texas. while the taste may not be to everyone's liking, it's unsurpassed as a digestif--you could eat an entire cow, and then have an underberg and be ready for seconds. ← It's true. It has wonderful digestive properties. All the folks I know that are prone to overindulging swear by it. But it's NASTY. Gah! Medicinal is too kind a word. But if you really want to have that second cow...

Yes! The Krakus Market - that's it! I couldn't remember the name. I haven't been there in ages but I might have to cruise by there this weekend and hook up a pierogie fix. One thing I always found interesting is that Krakus Market had the little green bottles of Underberg (a truly heinous German digestif that is like unsweetened Jaegermeister. My ex loved the stuff. I'd make him brush his teeth twice after having one ) for sale right at the front counter.

Hi Cherie!!! Welcome to eGullet! Glad you've decided to come join us and play... For everyone, Cherie is another one of the "wine chicks" here in Philadelphia. She and I know each other as she used to be one of the salespeople that called on me when I was still back at Striped Bass. She has an impeccable palate and will hopefully be adding to our wine discussions and commentary on restaurants. Everyone say: [singsong voice] "Hi Cherie!!" [/singsong voice]

Syrenka is wayyyy too small for a DDC dinner. It's more of a luncheonette. I ate there several years ago. It was some of the best Galumpkes I've ever had. The big Polish grocery store across the street from Syrenka has a pretty good butcher and a lot of interesting canned and jarred Eastern european products. Great horseradish mustard that was awesome on roast beef sandwiches. And about a dozen flavors of handmade frozen pierogies.

Try Franco & Luigi's "Stadium Club" Pizza at 2400 South 10th. Phone number is 215.755.5411. Their pizzas with fresh ricotta, prosciutto and spinach are a fave with Miss Claire and I, and the other pizzas the Pizza Club tried there (including the glorious work of edible art "Christmas pie" that they were nice enough to give to us) were all top notch. You're certainly within a reasonable 20 block radius. See if they deliver to your address.

I have a couple of bottles of the Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc 2003 in my wine rack at the moment. I really love this wine. It's been on sale here in PA for around $20 recently so I bought several. According to the winemaker's tasting notes, it's fermented 75% in stainless steel, the remainder in neutral berrel, and then three quarters of the wine was aged five months in French oak. Periodic batonnage gives it that richness and "lees-y-ness" that I love so much. It certainly has an identifiable oakiness, but it's applied judiciously to my palate, at least this time around. That's not to say I haven't tasted my share of overoaked wines...

Me thinks that cash that was bet would be better served put toward some extensive marketing. Telling Daniel Boulud, Jean-Marie LaCroix, Georges Perrier as well as the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons hotels that they're serving inferior product in a public forum probably isn't the best way to earn respect in the specialty coffee world or in any culinary circles. Perhaps when Murky Coffee sales are topping 7 million annually and those famed chefs you've just insulted by telling them they have no palates have become your customers, there will be something to report publicly. And since you aren't roasting your own product then you're really not competing on the same playing field anyway, are you? I do wonder why you named your enterprise Murky Coffee. Was it meant as a joke?

Ummm, no offense, but La Colombe doesn't get much respect in the specialty coffee world... at least not outside of the Philly area. I'll check out some of the places people have mentioned. Thanks! ← There are several very well known chefs in New York and Las Vegas that give them enough respect to ship in their coffee. They make way more money supplying fine restaurants than they ever did doing retail at two small cafes in Philly. Seems their bottom line is respectable enough. Sales topped 7 million last year.

i just want to take a second and point out here, in case you're directing this at me, that i'm not complaining about the prices of wines in general--that's craig laban's territory to fight out with barclay prime. rather, as someone who has only gotten into the whole wine drinking thing within the last three years or so, i'm still in the stage where i'm learning how to figure out when restaurants are charging fairly or not--considering not only the price of the wine but everything else involved. and that's why i'm asking questions. of course living in a city where so many of the good new restaurants are BYOBs doesn't help with the learning process. (also to me, love my goat tastes like ass, and besides it costs $7.99 a bottle retail, so i still say it was an OK example above) ← My comments were a very general rant, not directed an anyone person in particular. Just pointing out that there's a reasonable amount of work that goes into having an actual Beverage Program, not just ordering any old listed thing and marking it up astronomically. Of course some places still mark up all the alcoholic beverages astronomically, as pointed out by Mr. Laban. And no one complains about the other things that are marked up even more astronomically than wines are. I'm bitching for anyone that'll sit still long enough to listen.

Cuban food is pretty bland compared to Mexican food IMO. I grew up eating the stuff and it's far more savory than spicy. Widespread use of cumin and cliantro would be the only things in common I could think of off the top of my head. Mexican food relies much more on corn as a staple carbohydrate. Cuban food uses beans and rice as their staple carbs, in addition to root vegetables like Yucca, Malanga and Boniato. It's more of a peasant cuisine that was influenced by the various colonists. Mexican cuisine has much more indigenous influence from Aztec and Mayan peoples.

Katie, methinks your statement about terroir and climate may be a tad extreme. The ideal terroir and climate varies with the particular grape you wish to grow and vinify. The Finger Lakes can, and do, produce superlative rieslings, as philadeining notes in regard to Dr. Frank, and to which I will add Hermann Wiemer. Land prices for well-sloped tracts along the Finger Lakes (particularly Seneca and Keuka) have been heading upward as California buyers have started stockpiling potential vineyard sites. I've yet to find a Finger Lake red I can enjoy, but there's plenty to like among the whites, from very modestly priced table whites to a number of exceptional rieslings and dessert wines. The problem is that most American wine drinkers simply haven't given rieslings (dry and semi) and dessert wines a chance, and these are wine types in which the Finger Lakes excel. ← Bob: I was by no means discounting ALL New York state wines in that statement, although I suppose I could have qualified better. Certainly the Finger Lakes wines, and the rieslings in particular as you've mentioned, are excellent. I just enjoyed some Dr. Frank riesling last weekend and it was absolutely wonderful. I suppose what I meant was that many winemakers in the Middle Atlantic states tend to try to grow varietals and make wine that isn't particularly suited to the terroir of PA or NY and the end result is often flabby or thin and weedy. It qualifies as wine because it's fermented grape juice, but that's where the similarity ends. Believe me, I've had some postively heinous examples of "wine" from various parts of PA and from the Cayuga Lake area of New York state that have tainted my opinion negatively. And it seems that with rare exceptions, (notably the Finger Lakes rieslings and wines from the North Fork of Long Island), that seems to be what passes for regional wines around here. That's what I was talking about.

I had posted earlier with a tongue-in-cheek defense of "Love my Goat" recalling that the irreverence, and borderline psychotic weirdness of Bully Hill had gotten me interested in wine in the first place. There's something about showing up at a party with a bottle of "Space Shuttle Red" or (I'm not kidding) "Missing Children White" whose label bore a photo like you see on the side of a milk carton, that was sure to start a conversation! So that Goat Red has a special spot in my heart (although I can't say I like drinking it much anymore...) But I spaced-out on the quite reasonable site rule about not posting copyrighted images and impulsively included one of their typically odd labels for reference. if you're not familiar with their vibe, you can get a sense on their website. Most of the wine's not that great, but they're an amusing bunch... But of course I agree completely with the actual point of the post. I have occasionally jumped in and ordered a bottle that was priced way higher than I wanted to pay, and I have even occasionally thought it was worth it. But by and large, I would really appreciate a few reasonably-priced bottles on any list, we all know they exist. But the restaurants rely on that margin, so although I don't like it, I can't blame them too much for pushing it as far as they can. This just came up in conversation the other day: the mark-ups generally made on soft drinks and coffee at any restaurant, not just swanky ones, are WAY more insane than even the worst offenders in the wine category, but it's incrementally so small that we don't get too worked up about it. But the theory is the same, it's how restaurants make money, they mark stuff up. I've paid 6 bucks for coffee in a nice restaurant. The fact is that we'd likely scream louder if the wine was cheap but entree prices were even higher. So some marketing-types figured out that making drinks, and wine, and apps and desserts more expensive would be less offensive. There must be a middle ground, and I'd prefer not to have to do as LaBan did and haggle over the price of the wine. So I hope his complaints might help restauranteurs realize that there's a point at which people will resist the mark-ups, or just be dissuaded from eating at that establishment. Until then, I'm going to BYOBs more! ← Actually Bully Hill is quite a respected wine maker, even <gasp> for one from New York State. Given that the terroir and climate of that latititude are probably not as ideal as other places, they do a respectable job under the circumstances. And you're quite right about the other mark ups no one questions. A cup of coffee costs a restaurant pennies to make yet no one flinches when it's $3.00 on their bill. An espresso costs about 25 cents to make and can be marked up 1200%, yet nary a complaint. It's a matter of degrees. The amount of time that I spend crafting a beverage program, meeting with wine purveyors, tasting different products, and doing online research to provide my staff with product information for new wines is infinitely greater than the amount of time required to call in the order for a few cans of Illy espresso pods, yet I'm criticized for being greedy if I'm to try and achieve an industry standard Cost of Goods percentage of 25-35% overall. Doesn't seem right somehow, does it?

This is just about the funniest thing I've ever read. I would never have expected to end up in song. Too funny! This has absolutely made my evening! More importantly, the Bergamotcello is a success. So how cool is that? Yet another well thought out experiment goes good. I just love it when that happens!

In case any of you all thought I was joking about chatting with Chairman Newman, here's a little photo evidence from the press conference at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts on 2/9/05. Looking forward to working with the fine folks at the PLCB to keep all we PA eGulleteers up to date on incoming wine bargains.

Just finished watching it. It was quite interesting.

There's a photo of him and a long list of his known reservation aliases hanging on the bulletin board in the office of virtually every restaurant I've ever worked in Philly. At least the ones where he'd be likely to show up. EVERYONE knows what he looks like. At least in that photograph. Granted if he were wearing a different suit or the Groucho glasses it would be tougher to recognize him... The sommelier is a fool if he's charging $65 for wine that's a regular listed product in PA. Anyone could walk down the street to the store and see the price differential. Of course the PLCB website has the info too, but most folks don't check their Blackberry while perusing the wine list. It's rude. The real question is has the restaurant provided a wine list with several price points and a decent selection of different varietals and styles of wine from various geographic wine regions. Did you enjoy the wine you paid $60 for, regardless of what the restaurant's cost was? Was it well matched to your food, if you asked for that sort of advice? Does the wine list compliment the cuisine that the restaurant is serving? If you can't answer these questions affirmatively, then you should always go to a BYOB establishment and you won't be dissappointed. My goal is to have the best under $75 wine list in the city by the time the next Best of Philly rolls around. And to accomplish all of the above as well.

We lose on the carpeted floors and I'm sure we can't possibly do 150. 100 maybe, but 150 would be tight for anything other than standing cocktails and pickup munchies and incredibly loud. And it would require a complete buyout of the restaurant for that evening which would instantly take this out of budget. But thanks for thinking of me... Other suggestions might include the previously mentioned ones or even renting a venue and having the event catered. The University Museum is a great venue, the Mummers Museum on Washingotn Avenue is an exceeding cool locale with lots of Philly "fla-vah", the Philadelphia Zoo has a few rentable areas, Fairmount Park has Japanese Gardens and other locales. Even the Convention Center and the Train shed of Reading Terminal are available for parties. There's a boatload of possibilities. If only we knew someone with catering connections, you might have better luck getting a more realistic idea for a budget... Herb??? Nonetheless I hope you get to stop by and say hello while you're back!

Greg: As Forum Host I insist that you tell where this place is! I'm smelling a DDC dinner.... Can we bring you and your sister to interpret for us?

Mazel Tov from Philly too! Way to go, Daniel! Looking forward to hearing more from you on this subject.

Andrew: Chicken or egg question I think. If a reviewer says a place really sucks he might prevent some folks from ever giving it a try, but it seems if the reviewer is worth his/her salt (so to speak) that the place will eventually collapse on its own under the ponderous weight of their own bad food/inept service/bad concept/lack of hygiene or whatever. Sometimes it doesn't even take very long, as was evidenced with Sammy's. The resto biz is so fraught with peril financially, that having that sort of dirty laundry aired publicly usually only results in the Do Not Resuscitate order being signed faster. Are there examples of restaurants that were deserving of a truly heinous review initially that managed to get their acts together and dig themselves out of the hole? Maybe hire a new chef or better management to improve the food and service? There might be, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Anyone else?

Markups are higher at the low end and lower at the high end. For instance, a by-the-glass wine might cost $9/bottle and be served at $8 glass. But there's more waste with glass pours from giving out tastes and from having to occasionally pour some out because the bottle was opened too long. If Le Bar Lyonnaise buys a $300 bottle of Bordeaux, they can't mark it up four times because no one will pay $1200 for it. The higher volume and lower cost of goods at the "low" end funds the ability to purchase spectacular things for the high end and have them sit around taking up space. On average most bottles of wine are marked up between 2.5x or 3x the cost at restaurants.