KatieLoeb

I snagged a six bottle half case today at the very nice PLCB store in Norristown that I hadn't ever had the priviledge of visiting. Very nice well stocked store! Pizza Club was right around the corner this afternoon, so after what seemed like a hundred phone calls yesterday, I was pleased to locate some right near where I knew I would be today. The store Manager was very nice about holding it for me. I probably won't get to have my first bottle until possibly tomorrow evening or later in the week. Glad you guys are enjoying yours though! I will continue my dogged bloodhound-like hunt for more bottles and keep you all abreast of any successes. After I've picked up mine of course.

Carolyn: My deepest condolences on your loss. I sit here with tears streaming down my face thinking of my mom, whom I miss every day, and the things I have of hers in my kitchen that might be old and beat up, but mean the world to me. That was a lovely and I'm certain fitting tribute to a woman who gave you such passion for food and cooking. Everything you do is a tribute to her, and she most certainly knows and is as proud of you as your father and sisters are. (((((hugs)))))

Fork always has an interesting array of wines by the glass. It's one of my favorite bars to sit at and have a glass of wine and an appetizer. Food is always interesting and creative, the service is usually excellent and the atmosphere is quite nice. I love Fork too.

With exquisite taste in furnishings...

Liz: What a lovely piece that is! It looks like it's serving both form and function. Very nice!

My liquor cabinet looks alot like the far left side of Jason's cabinet, with the overhead automatic light feature. That's exactly what I was trying to describe. Nice collection Mr. Perlow. I'm duly impressed!

My dining room has cabinets that were custom built by the previous owner of the house to line the walls on two sides of the room. It has all manner of drawers, glass fronted cabinets and cubbies. All my pretty barware and stemware is behind the glass doors, and my schnapps collection is in the middle. One section has a door that pulls down and becomes a shelf. It has a light that automatically goes on when it's opened and that's the liquor cabinet. The wine rack sits directly below that in one of the open spaces.

In reality: A really great bottle of wine, by myself, just because I can. Capogiro gelato. An Omakase at Fuji. Or really just go back there and eat a dozen of those achingly perfect Pacific Orchard oysters on the half shell. Good coffee - La Colombe at my house. Good chocolates from Miel Patisserie. In my vivid fantasy life: Ming Vases overflowing with Ossetra and well muscled young men in loin cloths butlering silver trays of fine Champagne to accompany and serving me...

The Bad News: The first round of the 1992 Burgess Library Selection Cabernet at 12th & Chestnut Specialty store was pre-sold, apparently they got 3 cases and ONE person bought all 36 bottles . I'm told they might be getting more. Jenkintown and Germantown stores are also already sold out but supposedly getting more next week. I looked up this wine on the Burgess website. It's $48 AT THE WINERY! It's less than half price here in PA. Befriend ye your local PLCB Wine Manager. This stuff is FLYING out of the stores, aided no doubt, by the mention in Philadelphia Magazine. The Good News: A whole line of the Burgess wines are part of the upcoming Chairman's selections for this month. I have the list of what's on deck at home. Will post later.

I'm thinking you'd want something to echo the cherry fruit but still have enough tannin to stand up to the lamb. Lamb is serious red meat that needs the tannin to balance the fattiness. Perhaps a bigger Oregon Pinot Noir? Or a really well rounded Sangiovese might be delicious. The Valipolicella suggestion is a good one. Or a not too peppery Zin.

I've always loved the Honig Sauvingnon Blanc. It was one of the first domestic Sauv Blanc that made me go "Aha! - I get the difference between Old World and New World Sauv Blanc." I've never tried their Cabernet (I'm ashamed to say that because I should just buy a bottle and check it out) but I have no doubt it's made with the same care and organic viticultural technique as the SB. Their wines are a bargain too, compared to their bigger "cult" vineyard neighbors like Opus One. Unfortunately, I didn't visit the winery when I was in Napa several years ago because Honig was still not on my radar. Next time I wouldn't miss it.

Bob: I've read and heard tell of Brasserie Jo for years and it's high on my list of places to go should I ever find myself near it, in either Chicago or Boston. I haven't been in either city in years but I'm overdue for a trip to either sometime soon. I have no doubt I'd love it.

I suspect fuller glasses when folks serve themselves, jet lagged or not! Any of the wines from Cline, Ravenswood (Vintner's Selection) or Bonny Doon (either the Big House wines or the Ca del Solo Cal-Ital line) are widely available and well priced for domestic choices. They're all excellent "cocktail party" wines in that they aren't so serious they could only be enjoyed with a sit down dinner.

I second the recommendation for Toscana.

Bob: By your strict definition I think you'd be hard pressed to find anything "authentic" outside of New York City, and even there I can't really find an Alsatian restaurant listed as such. There's Hallo Berlin which would qualify as a Brasserie by virtue of it's beer seleciton and varied sausage dishes, but Ludwig's here in Philly would be similar. I can't think of a single place that regularly has choucroute on the menu. If you find one let me know. I'd be happy to join you since the portions are always humongous! I'll even bring a bottle of Alsace Riesling.

Mary: You and I both know that, but most of the "Do you have a pulse? Can you walk erect? Great! You're hired!" catering waitrons I see will invariably fill the glass (or plastic cup) as though it were an aquarium.

Not to be a stickler, but actually there are 25.4 ounces of wine in a standard 750ml bottle. That would make for five 5 oz. glasses, or four 6 oz. glasses with an "angel's share" per bottle. I'd still stick with between 8 and 12 bottles of each. How much wine people will drink depends entirely on whether there's a full bar and/or beer available as well. People tend to drink more and will drink almost anything if it's at someone else's expense.

Brad: How many of you were present for this Bacchanal??? Looks like you were drinking quite well, indeed. I'm quite fond of the Mulderbosch wines and love Falanghina in almost any incarnation. Looks like you hit a lot of bases at this meal.

It seems that how "upscale", fusion style or Westernized the restaurant is has more to do with their selection than their criteria is letting on. The common thread I see in the restaurants that made their cut is that they are less authentic and more pandering to American palates and ideas of what a "restaurant" looks like inside, with all the trappings like linens, fine china and crystal, etc. that one would expect at a French restaurant.

Actually in the really upscale restaurants in Vienna, I noticed the usual preponderance of male waitstaff. At Florianihof in Weissenkirchen, one of the nicest restaurants in the countryside of the Wachau, there were more female waitstaff, but that is a family owned and operated establishment that's a little more like a really upscale "heuringen", or "wine tavern" for lack of a better phrase. I think you're just having visions of buxom Bavarian chicks like the St. Pauli girl dancing through your head.

They already did. It was called The Restaurant. I feel far less sorry for one who's brought their misfortune on themselves through their own greed, arrogance, <insert deadly sin of choice here> than I do for one who is genuinely "victimized" by bad circumstances or acts of God.

Bux: Not sure what you meant by this. I've eaten at several of the nicer restaurants in Austria and didn't really find any common thread in the service other than it was less "formal" than French service but still attentive and professional. Could you clarify what you meant? Now I'm curious if I've missed something patently obvious.

The Philadelphia area contingent of restaurants is an odd mix. Joe Poon's, Susanna Foo and Yangming out in Bryn Mawr. Not a single nominee from Chinatown??? Where's Shiao Lan Kung? Charles Plaza?? Lee How Fook???

Ummm - 'scuze me, but ain't that a Stone Crab claw like the ones at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami??? Lookee Here

Call (215) 922-7800. Ask for Bill Eccleston - he's the sommelier at Il Bar at Panorama here in Philly. They have a 120 bottle cruvinet and have had it for years. He should have the best perspective of anyone I can think of on this issue.