KatieLoeb

I have a very droll friend who once turned to me while we were in the presence of some very loud and obnoxious children and said: "Tonight I'm taking TWO birth control pills when I get home...." Screaming brats can be a powerful contraceptive, or even an inducement to celibacy

Holly: You've really been dying to say that to me for ages, haven't you... The the lunch and dinner menus here change every day. Since we won't know until tomorrow what the menu will be, I can only say that it will be a limited menu that is based on the regular menu offerings- i.e. all high quality, extremely fresh seafood. There will be at least a few choices for each course. That's all I can get from downstairs right now, and they're in the middle of service so I won't get anything more specific than that probably until tomorrow anyways. Hope that helps.

Hello Everyone: As I posted previously, this week is restaurant week in Philadelphia, and Striped Bass was not going to be participating. As a result of an error on the Center City District website and published materials regarding this event, Striped Bass was mistakenly listed as a participant. We have been fielding phone calls from disappointed customers all week long. To remedy this, the decision has been made to offer a $30.00 prix fixe 3 course menu from 5:00 PM-6:00 PM Thursday 9/18/03 and Friday 9/19/03 when we still have available seating. Unfortunately, we cannot offer the special menu at later times because we are already fully committed at those times, and the reservations were made without mention of restaurant week so the full a la carte menu at regular prices will be offered then. $30.00 is a BARGAIN for a three course menu of the caliber of cuisine offered at Striped Bass, and we hope that some customers that were looking to try the place might be interested in checking it out without fear of sticker shock. Reservations are REQUIRED, as we have limited availablilty. Please call 215-732-4444. Please come in and check out Striped Bass as a limited availability "Early Bird" late addition to restaurant week. We hope that we have the opportunity to make some new friends!

Thanks everyone. I've sent my friend a link to this thread so he can keep up to date in the responses.

You inspired me. I'm sipping one of these right now and you are correct. It's MUCH better than Diet Vanilla Coke. Try and eat something. would 'ya???

Hi All: I have a friend visiting Seattle next weekend. We heard tell today of a brewpub that's 1) near the stadium area 2) has many different brews on draft 3) is cigar friendly and has some sort of gas "eternal flame" in it for the stogies to be lit from. Are these clues adding up to anything with a name and/or address? TIA for your help! Katie

Actually, I think I could go as far as to say that taking an unwilling child anywhere is a totally bad experience for everyone involved.

Definitely the seeming cad and later revealed to be the dashing hero of some heaving bosom Harlequin romance! Although that would probably be, Christophe Cognac, Marquis de Something-or-other.

Seth: Whenever I have a party I always make a couple of sides of gravlax. Tasty, easy, definitely make-ahead and everyone likes it. I serve it with cocktail pumpernickel bread and a goat cheese and fennel seed spread in a bowl next to the fish. I can fish up the recipe and PM you if you're interested. Quiches and tarts are brilliant, easy make-ahead party food as well. I always make quiches because you can put practically anything in it. Apple or pear and Roquefort is a delicious combination. There's a good list of quiche combos in either Silver Palate or More Silver Palate. Pate works well. A cheese platter of interesting cheeses saves a LOT of work as it's all purchased and just plated (unless you want to attempt making your own cheese?) with some fruit and crackers or bread. A savory cheesecake that's layered with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes has made an appearance on my buffet table once or twice. Also a relatively easy, put-me-out-and-watch-me-disappear type of dish.

Carolyn: Thank you for the information re:the Gewurztraminer. Now I shall have to call and beg for a sample bottle, as it sounds really delicious! This is great! Can one procure these shirts on the winery website? IS there a winery website? Please fill me in as I believe this has to be added to my goofy wine themed T-shirt collection. My other favorties are my Ravenswood "No Vino Sin Huevos" (their standard logo "No Wimpy Wines" in Spanish) and my personal pride & joy, my "Le Bec Fin Wine Tasting Team" shirt. I'm looking into getting a "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Bad Wine" shirt as well.

Thanks Fifi! I've PM'd the ladies and let them know they've been tagged. Yeah - sooner or later we do have to start tagging the guys, but since the ladies seemed more interested than the gents in my silliness, I figured this was my chance to subtly strongarm someone whose writing I admire into amusing me/all of us for at least a few days...

Alright - I admit it. Maxima Mea Culpa. I've been truly horrible about keeping up with my blog. My sincere apologies to everyone, but the new responsibilities at work and complete exhaustion when I'm not there have taken their toll on me this week. I think once I get the timing down of my new responsibilities, all will be well. But I've been doing the beverage accounting for so long, I had my days planned out in little anal-retentive 15 minute increments. Always knew what I'd be doing on each day and had definitely gotten into a rhythm with the job. Now I have to fit in endless meetings with wine purveyors, Manager meetings and tons of plain old web surfing time, as I'm trying to compile wine tasting notes for the staffs at all three restaurants. They've been without formal wine tastings and training for far too long, so I'm making it a point to at least give them some crib sheets for now. Even monkeys poke twigs into anthills. Given the proper tools, anyone can excel I've eaten lots of late night Chinatown take-out this week, as it's been too late and I've been too beat to want to cook by the time I was done with work. Had lots of good soup, my favorite steamed dumplings and some fabulous Beef Satay and Broccoli Chow Fun. Just had some leftover Szechuan eggplant on the side of a couple of small defrosted steaks I bunged into the trusty George Foreman grill. My only noteworthy meal this week was last night at Bleu, one of the restaurants I do the buying for. The General Manager has been asking me to put together some pairings for the staff of menu items and by-the-glass wines, so I figured it was time for some "research" I tried the oysters on the half shell served with a Champagne/Lemongrass granita. Very yummy!! I loved the contrast of the ice cold and crunchy granita with the cool, briny oysters. Excellent with a glass of the white Bordeaux, "La Fleur du Roy" we're serving. Followed with a duck breast salad with mixed greens, crumbled blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. Perfectly medium-rare duck breast on the salad with a slightly crisp skin. Paired it with the Olivier Rion Pinot Noir and was very pleased. These will be my first two no-brainer pairings for the staff. My thanks to everyone for their kind words concerning the birth of my dear friend Catherine's son Kenyon. I haven't had a chance to see mother and son since that first night, but have spoken with her on the phone. All's well and she can't bear to put the little tyke down as he's so cute and cuddly . She and her famille MOVED this weekend, five days after giving birth! Can you imagine! And I thought I had a hectic week... I think it's time for me to bow gracefully out of my foodblog, since I'm having such a hard time keeping up anyhow. Thanks to Fifi for tagging me. This has been a very interesting experience, I must say. It's like food journaling, but with feedback! I'll tag a few ladies whose writing I admire and who I don't think have done this yet and you can all fight it out amongst yourselves to see who wants to follow... Eenie, meenie, miny, mo.... The honor goes to Heather Shorter, Lady T, or Beans (once she gets to Alaska). Step up to the plate girls! Tell us about your life and the meals that punctuate it! Looking forward to reading all about it.

Hi Ed: Excellent! I assume they're making up those goofy name tags once everyone RSVP's via their website (HERE - if you haven't). If not, I'll either wear a red carnation in my lapel, or perhaps Groucho glasses so you'll be able to recognize me . Actually, I'll just try to post what I'm wearing that morning and make it easy, OK? This should be a great tasting. dlc - thanks for the props and the good advice. I'll absolutely hunt down that rose. I've tried some of the other Regaleali wines and always loved them. I'm meaning to stock some higher end roses on the list at Striped Bass because even if the customers don't always order it (post-traumatic white zin pinkphobic disorder, I think) I want to have it around for Chef's tables and such. Sometimes easing into the red wines with a rose after the whites is just the ticket. I was practically weeping last weekend when there wasn't anything worthy in the cellar for a poached salmon and chive butter sauce course on a Chef's table menu I has to put together at the last minute. We'd had the only three bottles of Unti Grenache Rose (utterly phenomenal wine as well as great winery in general) on the East Coast and they were all already gone . It would have been awe inspiring with the salmon. In the end it didn't really matter because the customers turned out to be bloody Philistines that didn't really "get" the whole Chef's table concept. Arrived late, got completely trashed at the bar before they even sat down to dinner, and started switching up the wine I'd so carefully chosen for the fifth course and drank it earlier with something it didn't go with at all. Grrrrr.....By then I was like Mericfully, this is why I don't work on the floor during service. I'm far less homicidal behind my desk . Intellectually, as much as I can appreciate someone wanting to drink Cabernet with their oysters, and understanding that it is their perogative to do so as long as they pay the check, emotionally it still makes me feel like the time spent was all for naught and somehow devalues both the restaurant, and the entire experience.

It's been known to happen. And I'm no ventriloquist... I've seen this wine but not tried it. I suupose I was instantly skeptical as to whether the name "cuteness" marketing ploy was all there was. But I have had other Frog's Leap wines and enjoyed them, so perhaps I should get over myself and give it an honest unbiased taste, sometime. Yeah! I love these too. The Evil Ex was Austrian and I spent quite a bit of time visiting wineries and enjoying Gruner Veltliner from all over Austria. Absolutely delicious stuff, although not in the same category of sweet/dry as the rieslings and gewurztraminers. The wines from the Wachau area of Austria, along the Danube west of Vienna are often bone chillingly dry. Not necessarily something I'd drink on its own, but definitely a top choice with freshwater fish or white meat. I'm still wondering if any American winemakers are experimenting with some of these other, funkier varietals and having any success. I haven't heard of any Gruner being grown here, but it would be an interesting idea if the proper vineyard sites/climate were found. My earlier musings were more geared toward the Oregon/Washington climate being suitable for all those lovely Alsatian and German varietals. That has definitely been successful, IMHO, so I wonder what criteria the vineyard owners take into account when deciding to maybe try something new and different. I realize that once they factor in their real estate costs, vinification costs and try to gauge what their income might be it's probably a losing proposition to do something different, because there's no guarantee it will be successful or whether the demand for the product or the price they can get for it makes it all economically feasible. I guess it's likelier that a larger and already established winery could afford to take the economic risk with planting a whole new varietal, and waiting all the time it would take to see if there were consumer interest or if the project wre even viable in the first place. I guess I just answered my own question...

Everyone has beaten me to the suggestions I would have made, but I'll reiterate: The Handley and the Thomas Fogarty Gewurz are both delicious. The Fogarty is currently on one of my wine lists. My personal favorite is the Lazy Creek. Best domestic gewurz I've tried, although some of the earlier vintages were "better" (I qualify this because I've never thought it was bad or unbalalnced, just different each vintage, as would be expected). Always a gorgeous rosy/lychee nose and lots of acidic backbone to stand up to the food you're serving with it. My fave with Thai food. I suspect there may be some good gewurztraminer coming out of the Pacific Northwest sometime soon. The climate would seem ideal for this grape, although I don't know enough about the soil characteristics to confirm whether my assumption is correct. Anyone else have an inside track on this? I'm thinking if the Riesling & Pinot Blanc are as good as they are from Oregon and Washington, the gewurztraminer might do well also. Am I talking out of my butt, or does this make sense to anyone else?

Greg: I'm doing the same thing at Striped Bass. I gave the Exec. Chef one of the peaches last week and he thought it was awesome. Unfortunately he'll be leaving soon, but I plan on bringing some peaches and Asian pears from North Star to the new Exec. Chef and the Pastry chef. The mind reels with possibilities of amazing desserts or sauces that could be made from North Star Farms produce.

Craig: I just had a bottle of this last weekend with a simply grilled steak. Fabulous. The price-quality-value ratio of this wine is amazing. Definitely better than anything domestic in the same price range. The quality of the fruit and the balance in the finished wine is worthy of other Montalcino wines at many times the price. I've always thought this would be an incredible by-the-glass wine for an Italian restaurant. Great value for both the beverage program and the customers.

Hi Greg: I've always noticed there were several salad type options (green papaya salad is quite tasty) in the appetizers and I'm certain one could order a vegetarian Pad Thai. I don't know how strict your girlfriend's eating habits are. Many "vegetarians" are really "fish-atarians" and if that's the case, then there are many things she could have. If she's vegan, then she probably shouldn't eat anything she hasn't prepared herself, or had prepared for her personallly by someone that understands her dietary restrictions. There has undoubtly been meat prepared in the same pans, or there's animal products in the stocks and sauces. To me vegetarianism is like keeping kosher. Either you do it properly or you shouldn't bother. Just IMHO, of course, but the "I keep a kosher kitchen at home, but I'll eat shellfish and bacon out at a restaurant thing" is nonsense. Does your belief system somehow get checked at the door of a restaurant? Does that mean the customers at the next table should beware because you might suddenly pull a gun and shoot them? "I'd never murder anyone at home, but if I'm out..." The suggestions for My Thai and Charles Plaza are also very good ones.

I have been waiting since I ate my last one before Thanksgiving last year for these to come back!!! YAY!!! These are without a doubt the most delicious fruits I've ever tasted. I am convinced that these are the fruit from the Garden of Eden, because nothing else would be worthy of getting kicked out of Paradise for Try their Asian Pear cider too! Ohmigosh! It's sooooo good. I made some pretty kickin' Margaritas with it last fall too! Thanks for the heads up. I shall be at the Farmer's Market at 2nd & South early to make sure I get my share tomorrow.

I'm suddenly thinking of Greek food... Melitzanosalata or hummus made with that lemony olive oil would be divine! Drizzled on a simply grilled whole fish with a little oregano. Mashed to a paste with rosemary, garlic and oregano and rubbed on a leg of lamb to marinate prior to grilling. Must have Greek food soon...

JD: I've been accused of being many things, but "indirect" has never been one of those... This study is absurd. Unless they were isolating the wine drinkers from the non-drinkers, timing everyone's cycles, and inseminating the subjects at identical intervals with, *ahem*, the same "sample", there's no way they can accurately state that conclusion. Too many variables to count, and the subtleties of what allows conception to take place are too ephemeral to begin to formulate a conclusion, no less attempt to quantify it.

Or maybe they just get knocked up more often because they're drunk???

I've often been known to refer to Pho Xe Lua as "The Soup Train" I got food poisoning from the Pho place at 6th and Washington and haven't been back since. Also, the place is FILTHY. Just look at the floor sometime. Pho 75 works well in a pinch, but since 12th & Washington and Chinatown are pretty much equidistant from home, I'll always go to Pho Xe Lua. Greg - try the Beef Satay soup there. Actually all the soups I've ever tried are quite tasty. The spring rolls are excellent as are the shrimp with sugar cane. Check the specials board, there's always some interesting preparations.

Don't feel bad. Tommy is a famous hater of butter bomb chardonnay. Come to think of it: so am I. Needless to say that besides Tommy and me there are a few hundred million people out there who seem to love the stuff. NeroW was drinking KJ and this HAS to be a step up! Thanks Craig. I feel a little better now. But really, I meant "butter bomb" in the nicest way possible. Just a very buttery and tasty juicy fruit forward chard. The aging on the lees really makes for an interesting and very rich tasting end result. And not in a "jam-a-railroad-tie-down-my-throat" sort of way. The story behind this winery is quite interesting. The proprietor is a former pharmacist that wasn't getting any satisfaction out of his day to day dealing with his clientele that were picking up their medicines and leaving, and picking up their medicines and leaving, so much so that, in his own words, he felt "like he was living the movie Groundhog Day". So he packed up the wife and kids and moved to Hunter Valley and started growing grapes. Then had to bottle and actively market the end product with no prior experience doing so. The wines he produces are quite good, and very fairly priced for the quality. I asked my salesperson for a sample of this having only read about it, and was very pleasantly surprised. The Alvahrino is really good. Who knew this varietal could do so well in that climate? End result is very elegant, and more importantly to me, absolutely perfect to accompany the majority of our menu offerings. Working in an all seafood restaurant makes buying the wines quite challenging. Although the list is quite "Chard-centric" with the white Burgundy and other global Chardonnay offerings, I'd like to believe we can offer some other less obvious choices that might allow our clientele to learn a thing or two about wine, food and the possibility of those pairings to be greater than the sum of their parts...

Yo Tommy - What's this about? Was it something I said? Have you personally had this wine and not liked it, or is this a swipe at my palate which may very well be different than yours? Dude, I thought we were friends...