KatieLoeb

Ha ha ha funny... Styria is another austrian region on the east of the country, the Austrians and the Alto Adige german people call A.A. "Südtirol". I've had 2001 Lagrein from Lageder recently and I've found good structure and flavors but a quite disturbing alcohol presence. Other reds I've tasted from Lageder were tasty as well. Cheers, Alberto Alberto: You are quite correct, and it's what I meant, but not what I said. I think of both of those area as Austrian provinces that begin with an "S" and are south of Vienna, which is pretty much where I spent most of my time there. So I confused myself. And I'm obviously pretty easily confused. .

If you mean Judy's at 3rd & Bainbridge, I had no idea they were open for breakfast. In fact I'm pretty certain they aren't as it's around the corner from my house and I pass it every day and NEVER have seen it open during breakfast hours (or even lunchtime), at least during the week. OTOH if you mean Sunday Brunch, that's another story. I think they're open at 10:30 AM or so. No brunch on Saturdays.

He obviously hasn't been here in years. BOTH Bookbinder locations are closed. That place had been coasting on it's reputation since the Eisenhower adminsitration. No loss, I assure you. If you really want seafood, I'd recommend Sansom Street Oyster House now that Striped Bass is no more.

Having worked in a restaurant with a similar policy (we only enforced it for parties of 5 or more), it's not just to prevent loss, but to encourage diners to have the courtesy to call and cancel. Folks seem to perform that simple courtesy a whole lot more when the restaurant has their credit card number than when they don't. It's a little "incentive" for the diner to show that courtesy to the restaurant and not simply "no-show". Having worked with reservationists that had a very good relationship with all the concierges in town, you'd be surprised how many people (tourists and natives alike) would make reservations at four of the hardest to get into places in town at peak time on a Saturday night, decide at the last minute where to go, and simply blow off the other three reservations without a second thought. Many of them were doctors and dentists who thought nothing of charging their patients if they didn't show up for their appointments. You'd think they'd understand that "time is money" and even cancelling late and the restaurant re-booking the table doesn't GUARANTEE that the restaurant will be afforded the opportunity to do that. Cancelling with appropriate notice allows the restaurant to maximize seating. Payroll and overhead does not go down when the seats aren't filled.

Who, me??!!?? OK - so I'm utterly busted for not paying attention.

But Varmint! This was half the fun of getting to know each other at the Pig Pickin' ! Having had the pleasure of your hospitality and actually having seen your kitchen, I can totally understand what you mean about the reconstruction opening up that area, though. You're just talking about replacing stove and oven(s), right? As I recall you had some serious high tech refrigeration already happenin' at the far end of the kitchen. If the contractor is truly reasonable perhaps he could put rolling wire baskets and such into your pantry. Or some of those funky pull up drawers and shelves like your out-laws have in their gorgeous kitchen in whatever island is built. If there's a tiny bit of space left you could install one of those very reasonably priced wine refrigerators that are less than $200 at Home Depot. I'm thinking of removing the trash compactor I never use and doing exactly that in my island. I wish you Godspeed and no delays on this project. Home kitchen renovations, like restaurant construction, is inevitably over time and over budget.

I've had group dinners at both Marrakesh and Fez. I thought the food and atmosphere at Fez was superior, even though the menus were virtually identical. This is a great suggestion. It's definitely fun with a group and I think Fez still has belly dancers on the weekend.

Beans: Great article! Thanks for posting that. Actually, I think that the drinking starts on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, traditionally one of the busiest bar nights I know of, at least in my neck of the woods. All those college kids are home and want to see their high school pals for a few drinks before having to deal with the famille the next day. Very cute dog picture!

I'm right there with you two. I need to shop, cook and eat more healthfully. I've just started South Beach Diet and it's a real education and lifestyle change. Hopefully I can learn to eat well and lose a few pounds, lower my cholesterol, and avoid the family penchant for diabetes in later years as well. Right now I'm having a big field greens salad with a large piece of grilled salmon on top for dinner. Pretty good stuff and satisfying too. Last night I had the other half of this salmon filet with some store bought olive tapenade on top and a big stack of steamed asparagus. Also delicious. I need to stop picking at French Fries (tough when I walk through a restaurant kitchen about 40 times per day ) and condition myself to make large pots of vegetable based dishes (cauldrons of Ratatouille, anyone?) to snack on or use as omelet fillings or whatever. I know what I'm supposed to do, I just can't seem to DO it!

Alto Adige in Italy (or Styria, depending on whether you ask an Italian or an Austrian ) has always had some fantastic values and very consistent producers. The wines of Alois Lageder are top notch and quite reasonable. There are other producers such as Hofstatter and Ignaz Niedrist (tough to find but amazing wines) as well. Slovenia - I've had a couple of Pinot Grigio from here that have really knocked my socks off. And I'm usually NOT a Pinot Grigio fan - more of an Alsace/Oregon Pinot Gris style fan instead. Not the usual thin and weedy tasting stuff you'd WANT to put ice cubes in, but a richer and more flavorful (dare I say - Chardonnay-like ) quaff than the stuff most Americans think of when they think of Pinot Grigio. Movia Villa Marija is a good example of this. The grapes for this wine come from just over the Italian border and the wine is made in Slovenia. Friuli/Venizia/Giulia - Slovenia is sort of an extension of this, I suppose, being all of just slightly across the border as in the previous example. Livio Felluga and Borgo del Tiglio make nice affordable wines here.

Wow - lots of good answers here. First off, I have to agree with the good butter, fresh tomatoes, herbs from the garden, fresh ground horseradish, super fresh sweet corn, real hot cocoa and good roast coffee. Life itself would cease to exist without good coffee. At least it would for me in the early AM. My mother's Cuban black beans have spoiled me for any other. My aunt's pickles too. I'm also fond of the gelato at Capogiro, here in Philadelphia. Yes - of course I'd rather be eating it in Florence, but given the circumstances, this is a pretty mean stand in. The Pizza at Tacconelli's (see photos from Pizza Club thread in PA forum Scroll Down HERE) has utterly spoiled me for anything less. And although we're making a valiant attempt to find the best pizzas through Pizza Club, until we make those road trips to New York and New Haven, I'm pretty well satisfied with what we've got around here. Philadelphia has also spoiled me for good, reasonably priced BYOB restaurants. We have a wealth of them that I don't believe any city can compete with! And the North Star Farms varieties of Asian Pears. I can't get enough of these locally grown beauties every autumn and stock up on them twice a week at the local farmer's markets. The most delicious fruit I think I've ever tasted.

Linda: If a steakhouse isn't too boring or overdone a choice, I'd highly recommend going to Capital Grille. Very centrally located, excellent food and service and a wine list with some hidden gems on it. Clickety Pasion is one of my very favorite restaurants (and yet another former employer), so if Nuevo Latino cuisine isn't too wacky for this crew, I'd say no contest. Food is exquisite, service is excellent, particularly when explaining an unfamiliar menu to new guests, and the wine service is top notch as well Clickety. The Moshulu received a three bell review from the Philadelphia Inquirer's Craig LaBan HERE which is no small feat in this town. The Chef de Cuisine is a (new) and frequent poster in the PA forum and the menu and upcoming events sound very intrigueing. Restaurant site is HERE Brasserie Perrier is also a good choice with a wide menu of bistro favorites Clickety. You could also try Fork, which might be a little lower key than the previous choices ambiance wise, but has fantastic food and a very interesting wine list, particularly the by the glass selection Clickety. A new restaurant that just opened is called Patou. It's run by a well recognized chef (owns Bistro St. Tropez) who is a very good chef, but it's too new to have gotten any reports back about yet. Service was always an issue at the other restaurant, but they hired some of my old staff from Striped Bass, so I presume the service here will be a step up. Clickety Gee I wish this dinner had been a few months ago! I could have been a lot more help on a much more personal level. Will you be joining in this feast, or merely doing the planning? If you're heading this way we might have to roll out the red carpet for a fellow eGullet host!

Did I manage to do that tactfully? How unlike me! The bartender's presence and flamboyant wardrobe definitely did add a certain je ne sais quoi to the place, I must say... Plus the food was quite good! My yardstick first order at any new Thai restaurant is the chicken coconut soup (Tom kha gai) and an order of Pad Thai. If they can't do those things well, I'm outta there. This was very tasty and fresh and the portions were of reasonable size. I had the rest of the Pad Thai for lunch the next day. Sara I suspect you'll find the staff far more gracious and accomodating than your last experience at Salt. Not that the bar is set too high given that experience , but they were really very nice at Pad Thai AND it's BYOB to boot. Seems like a good choice. And I disagree that Pho Xe Lua is too "divey" or visceral for a group of young ladies, provided that they are adventurous. It's certainly slumming compared to Pad Thai or Penang, but certainly no more so than many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. And the food is phenomenal as anyone that attended the DDC bash there in November 2002 (sheesh - was it really that long ago ) can attest. Certainly one thing it has going for it is that you can eat like a king on a pauper's budget! The soups are delicious and it's always worth checking out the specials on the board on the wall. Ask to be seated upstairs and I think you'd be fine there as well.

Seth: I just received an e-mail today that has a nice selection of Viogniers available (including the Arrowood mentioned earlier) at various price points. I can't ship wine into PA, so I don't know if this link will be helpful to you. I presume you live in a more progressive state than this on, so perhaps it's worth a look: Oakhillstore.com - Viogniers I'm tempted to buy some and ship it to a friend's house in NJ.

Holly: I live all of half a block from Pad Thai and a couple of weekends ago when I was feeling under the weather (and lazy), I decided to call for takeout. A nice young man answered the phone and took my order and my phone number, and said it would be about 10 minutes. I was working at my computer and hadn't noticed the 10 minutes passed and the phone rang. It was the nice young man telling me my food was ready. I hobbled up the block and went into Pad Thai for the first time. Looked everywhere for the nice young man who helped me to thank him, but there was no male waiter, maitre 'd or manager in sight. Only once I began chatting with the waitress and the bartender did I recognize the bartender's voice. Very pretty and smooth skinned young drag queen in residence. Looked fabulous in that tube top and sequined skirt I might add. Only once I recognized the voice did the telltale oversized feet and hands and hint of an Adam's Apple give him away.

I thought the name of that red stuff in the jug referred only to the color, and not the flavor of the wine-flavored product within.

The Brachetto I had been purchasing was the Marenco (sp?) at about $21 in Pennsylvania. Really rich raspberry flavor, garnet red and bubbly in the glass and the most perfect thing in the world with a piece of flourless chocolate torte .

I served Blanquette de Limoux at my wedding and have recommended it to other budget conscious party hosts as well. Drinks like Blanc de Blanc Champagne at 1/3 the cost. I've tried the St. Hilaire and think it's good. I'm particularly fond of the Maison Vergnes Blanquette de Limoux Berceau. It's around $12 in NJ.

Also true. The story of the winery is pretty interesting as well, and for a relative newcomer, their level of success is stunning. Everything I tried of theirs was fantastic!

YES, YES, YES! The Darioush is amazing. Possibly one of the best domestic viogniers I've had the pleasure of drinking. I know it can't just be me since at least two other wine geeks mentioned it . Gawd, I absolutely loved this when I tried it at a tasting in September. Yummy! If you can track down a bottle of this (try This Site for a local retailer) you should add it to your wish list of viogniers.

The "classic" example of Viognier is Condrieu. But there are many more appellations that produce Viognier in France as well as domestically here in the USA. Look for Rhone wines, Rhone blends that are primarily Viognier, or Viognier from California. One that I'm fond of is the Freemark Abbey - it's one of my old stand by glass pours. There's also R.H. Phillips EXP Viognier that is fairly widely available. Check this site HERE for more info and ideas. And enjoy! Viognier is one of my very favorite whites. Delicately floral with the backbone and richness of Chardonnay and the balancing acidity of a Riesling (if it's a good one, anyhow). It's particulalry tasty with lobster or scallops. Cheers!

Jason: You beat me to the punch on the first post with the Egly-Ouriet Ambonnay Rose. Damn that stuff is tasty! The Laurent-Perrier is also a fave. If we're including RED sparkiling wines in this discussion, I can't not mention how much I love Brachetto d'Acqui, even though it's sweet and meant to accompany dessert. Hell - I'd just have it AS dessert.

Chairman Kaga is the Liberace of the foodie set! I think we need Carson from Queer Eye to help him update his wardrobe to some 21st century costuming, dontcha think? I happen to find Kaga's shirt in the opening (the white one with splotches that look like black ink drops or a pinto pony) incredibly sexy. I have looked all over fine men's stores for one (for my husband), but nada. Hmm...maybe Carson knows... I have cowboy boots that match that shirt perfectly. Black and white pony hair uppers and black leather bottoms...

Have you tried the Corteforte Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso? That's some seriously tasty wine and shows off the good effect of ripasso technique to best advantage. This wine is incredibly lush and tastes of black cherries and black licorice. I've had the last few vintages and never had a bad bottle. I think the 1999 is the current release. You should be able to find a bottle in the $18-22 range, depending on where you live. I highly recommend trying this - ees goud sheet mon!

Most wine has a distressingly short life expectancy in my house! Other than a precious few "Big Gun" bottles in the rack I could undoubtedly count on one hand, everything is purchased for almost immediate consumption. Enjoy and please post your opinions about the Pol Roger and the contrast with the other bottles. I'm sure all of us would be very interested in your thoughts.