KatieLoeb

OK - this sounds like WAY too much fun. If Holly decides to go a'eatin' thereabouts afterward, and I could bum a ride northward either to Philadelphia or another major metropolitan area that has a train connection to said city of Brotherly Love, I am all over this Pigfest weekend. I will happily sing out of tune, help bus the crap to the trashbags, and play bartender for the weekend to earn my keep. And I do mix a fine cocktail if I do say so myself...

Andrew: Only if you were dressed in satin boxing trunks and Beth dressed like a "round girl" could this have flown, so to speak...

I just had a dream the other night where I was in the company of several women that I haven't seen since high school, a goodly twenty odd years ago. For some reason they were all working as waitresses in this restaurant where I saw them. They all looked pretty much the same except for one of them who was deathly pale and heavily made-up, almost like a giesha. Very bizarre. One of them had a customer with a wine question and she didn't know anything about wine, so I walked over and helped the customer choose a glass of wine to go with his dinner. But then they all got pissed off at me for helping because I didn't work there. Then I woke up! Any clues??? I can't even begin to fathom what this might be about.

Jersey shore girl, here. Fudge, Salt Water Taffy. In excess.

Promise it will be hush puppies and I'll do my best to be there. I suppose a side of fried chicken would be pushing things. Holly: If you're driving down from Philadelphia I'll share driving duties, gas and tolls with you! Sounds like a pretty good time to me... Perhaps we could bring Tastycakes?

Cinghiale: I just realized that you were talking about Taqueria Veracruzana NOT La Lupe! For some reason I got the mental picture in my head of the sign taped up to the door on Federal Street, and from there on in, it was downhill all the way. No wonder what I said wasn't making sense. Well - it made sense to me in my geographically misplaced illusion, but never mind. My bad.

Except there's NO sales tax in Delaware! That's why a lot of Pennsylvanians will buy large purchases like appliances and automobiles just down the road in Delaware.

Hi all: Normally I wouldn't stick my neck out this way, but a good friend and former co-worker has just left here at Striped Bass and is considering re-locating to the D.C./Virginia area. How's the restaurant job market down there right now? Does anyone have any hot leads for an extremely professional and well trained manager? This woman possesses a degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management from a top school in London, is extremely gracious, well respected by staff and upper management and is probably the most professional restaurant manager I've ever worked with. Not to mention her fabulous British accent. She was always 'the Voice' on any of the corporate "on hold" announcements just because she sounds so great! Since so many folks here are restauant professionals, I thought I'd give it a try and see if there's any openings that may not have hit the papers yet. Please P.M. me the appropriate contact information and I will pass it along to my friend. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi David: Freisa is one of my faves too. We used to carry the La Zucca Freisa at Moore Bros. and it was known as the "pizza wine"! That strawberry nose, slight bit of spritz and refreshing nature made it a great wine for folks to take home and have with pizza. And inevitably that's how they'd ask for it when they came back after deciding they loved it. I've never tried the Bonny Doon, but if it's up to the usual standards of their wines, I'm sure it's delicious.

Tommy: This may be true in (what I hope are) extremely isolated instances, but don't you think the customer has a responsibility to be pro-active in A) attempting to fix their problem and B) in allowing the restaurant an opportunity to provide good customer service? This sort of reminds me of the "if you don't vote, you can't bitch about the politicians" argument. It's one thing to have a legitimate complaint that HASN'T been addressed appropriately by the restaurant and another to simply refuse to allow the management and staff the opportunity to try and fix the problem, be it because of "embarrassment" or some phobia about having your food spit in. Especially if you LIE to the staff when they try to help you. I agree that a well elucidated letter is often the answer. But this should be AFTER the other options have failed. My point was that the letter writers are often the very customers that insist nothing is wrong, when clearly it is. Maitre'd, floor managers and waiters can be quite accomodating, but they aren't clairvoyant, and they aren't in a position to force their customers to take their "solution" to the problem either, even when they know there is one. Any professional I know would much rather return a plate to the kitchen for reheating or replacement, not charge someone, comp dessert or drinks, or any one of a number of other solutions, before letting that customer walk out the door unhappy. But the need the opportunity to DO that.

Jeez, I just wanna beer w/my tacos, Katie. Dunno why they changed. I ride my bike thru the Market at all hours, and I don't know what you're talking about w/yr formula Under what law are the police allowed to "prevent a trend"? What "drunken idiots" are you talking about? "Law-abiding folk"?????? What ARE you talking about? I asked a harmless question about BYO policy and my belief that that is the realm of the LCB. BYOing a bottle of beer offends you? BTW: TV and La Lupe close @ 11 (La Lupe maybe 12). I guess I'll get my al pastor to go next time... WHOA! You have obviously completely misunderstood my post. I was only saying that the police have their hands full already with the lines that are twenty people deep and blocking the intersection of Passyunk & Federal. You clearly haven't seen the loud and intoxicated folks that I have, but if I head down to that area any time after midnight, it's packed with them. I'm sure Holly was correct when he said there's been plenty of calls about drunk and disorderly down there, and having La Lupe ban BYOB was probably the result of that. Whether it was done through the PLCB or not, I have no idea. I'd much rather be able to go into La Lupe and bring a few beers or some wine with me. I actually have brought wine with me in the past. Your shock and dismay over the prohibition of liquor in the restaurant may not be shared by me, but I sympathize. It just doesn't shock me.

Hi all: The Falanghina is the Fuedi di San Gregorio 2002. Very good stuff if you can find some. Of course you're always welcome to have a glass at the bar at Striped Bass Craig - I think I was right. I had tried the Mastroberardino elsewhere. Also very good. There's a class here in Philadelphia on Thursday evening on lesser known wine varietals. I'm considering attending just to see what they show.

Hi Ellen: Yup - I love this place too! There's one in Cherry Hill, NJ about 15 minutes over the bridge from Philly, and one in the far Northeast part of the city. The produce is incredible and CHEAP! The variety of Asian mixes, canned goods and sauces is beyond belief. And the place is spotlessly clean. I never get out of there without at least two very full bags, and usually more. The rice cakes are the best! I like to buy a pack and munch on them as I shop. If I didn't eat something I'd buy the whole store. This is a dangerous place to go in hungry.

Being in the restaurant biz, and working/having worked at numerous high end establishments, I have to say that there is NOTHING worse than getting a nasty letter from a customer after the fact, that when the situation is investigated, you find out repeated told the server, "No, no. Everything is fine.", even as they are disgustedly pushing their meal around their plate. The meal goes back to the dishroom virtually untouched. The manager asks if everything was alright. "Oh, yes. Just lovely thank you." Etc. "May we get you something else? Perhaps dessert or an after dinner cocktail with our compliments?" "Oh no. I couldn't possibly have another bite, thank you." You see where I'm going with this. Some customers are just passive/aggressive, or just too shy to say anything AT THE TIME, WHEN THE RESTAURANT STILL HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO FIX IT!!! This drives me nuts. They are perfectly happy to go home and write a three page MANI-FRIGGIN-FESTO about how you screwed up their anniversary, birthday dinner, embarrassed them in front of an important client, etc, they will NEVER patronize your establishment ever again, blah-blah, but will do absolutely nothing at the time to give the restaurant staff the chance to fix the problem that we are either clairvoyantly supposed to sense, or are are flat out LIED TO about by them. Grrrrr..... On the flip side, it IS, as Holly stated, good will and good karma to try and make this as painless for the customer as possible, be that painless economically with no charge for the offending dish, or painless with comped dessert, drinks, whatever. Restaurants DO screw up. Sometimes waiters get in the weeds and don't pick up their food. Not every restaurant has the luxury of having food runners, expediters, etc. The structure varies depending on the establishment and what their payroll and volume considerations will allow. Soemtimes the kitchen messes up. Doesn't matter which. It's better to send that person out the door happy, if they have the sense to let you KNOW something was not pleasing about their experience. This assumes you don't have Passive/Aggressive customer outlined above.

cinghiale: You don't think there's enough of a DAPSI (Drunk Assholes per Square Inch) ratio down at that corner and the next one over with the kitty-corner cheesesteak joints? I'm sure the police are just trying to prevent a trend in the customer base down there where the already drunken idiots demand being allowed to BYOB yet more alcohol because "that Mexican joint up the block does it." It's a shame for us law abiding folk, but I can see that being a serious bone of contention with the already belligerent "just-got-out-of-the-bar-at-last-call" types that seem to be in abundance down there at about 2:05 AM.

I've always wondered why men have so much more, how shall I say this, range, than women seem to in this regard. I've seen/heard women belch like frat boys (in fact I have a co-worker who's notorious for it) but have never seen or met a woman capable of the four octave fart quite like men seem to be. Or at least one who would admit it, perhaps. Any thoughts on this Mr. Methane?

David: You are correct. As the supplies of natural cork dwindle, prices go up, and winemakers try to avoid loss through "corkage" (the bacteria for which thrives on the organic natural cork), many more winemakers will turn to the screwcaps or to the synthetic corks that are now so popular (and such a bitch to get out of the bottle at times! ). Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon is one of the first U.S. winemakers to go with this trend. He's always been known as a bit of a rebel. His newsletters are a combination of staggering intellect, incredible writing and WTF??? Check out their website HERE and tell me if you don't agree that the asylum is being run by a brilliant but bizarre leader. For what it's worth, I've always used a well rinsed out screw topped Snapple bottle, on the truly rare occasion that there's half a bottle of wine leftover. I always try to transfer the "leftovers" to a smaller container, be it the aforementioned Snapple bottle, or an empty 375ml bottle I keep for the same purpose. You can imagine how rarely this "leftover wine" phenomenon occurs in my household But the screwtop IS airtight, so it serves it's purpose.

What he said. We'd be delighted to show you around. We were just discussing how much we'd like to meet some of you Chicagoan eGulleteers with Tommy and Mrs. Tommy the other night. All this is true. I'd come to see an exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Currently there is a "Degas and the Dance" exhibit until the end of the month, but there are usually two or three BIG exhibits per year. The Book & the Cook festival can be great if there are specific chefs and/or restaurants you are interested in. You can get an idea of what that's like at their website Book&theCook The Philadelphia Wine Festival was also great this year and I would hope would be equally good next year too. I posted about that HERE And again, this is a great city with tons of history. There's plenty to do and see even if there isn't a "special event" going on. Just ask Tommy. You can come here and just eat for four days!

groan. Sorry - I couldn't resist!

Ever since Robert Bennett left and opened Miel, the level of professionalism in their presentations has gone down, IMHO. I remember some of the truly DAZZLING displays that were put together for Le Bec at various food events in years past (most notably the annual S.C.A.N. benefit) that were just stunning to look at, and to taste. Your picture is a far cry from that. How truly sad Ohmigosh - that poor dude in the crab suit must have been DYING in there in today's heat and humidity. I was working indoors at a wine tasting and I thought I was going to melt! Ack! I'm surprised the poor guy didn't need mouth-to-mandible resuscitation!

When my cousin got married, I gifted her and her new hubby with a fondue set (they had registered for), a couple of inexpensive fondue cookbooks, and a bottle of Chasselas, the perfect wine for cheese fondue. This is also do-able with a bread machine, slow cooker, pasta maker, wok, etc. Makes for a nice gift that shows the giver put some thought into it, and also gives the newlyweds an excuse to have company over and show off their new kitchen toys. Your original idea is also very nice. The Penzey's "Wedding Box" is a great present, that I've both received and given. I really love the Julia Child Way to Cook. You can't ever go wrong with Julia! And I always turn to my vintage Joy of Cooking. Good heavens - there's an illustration on how to skin a squirrel in there! Yes - it will answer vurtually any question anyone might ever have! And Jaymes' idea, is of course pure genius. What a nice way to welcome someone into your family!

Hi Craig: I'll check on the Falanghina producer on Monday and post back. You might be right, but it also may be that I tasted the Mastroberardino at another recent tasting and you might be influencing my memory just by saying it. My quote on the mix of varietals in the La Segreta is what I remember the sommelier telling me last night. Could be the vintage we have is different, or it could be that I'm simply confused 'cuz I'd already tried a couple of glasses of it when he told me I'll check on that as well... Nonetheless, both wines are VERY tasty! Even if I am confused

Hi Tommy: Hope you had fun while you were here . I don't think you'd take your jeans off on a first date...then again you were dressed a little nicer when I saw you, so perhaps that statement doesn't apply It was very nice to meet you and the venerable Mrs. Tommy. Hope you made it back to your hotel and the awaiting soft pillows well enough after Herbacidal and I poured y'all into that cab. I had a great time and I hope your trip to Reading Terminal was all you expected. How was Morimoto? Do tell about the rest of the wide swath you ate through Philly...

We just got two interesting new whites by the glass on our list, both of which are very tasty. The Falanghina (Sorry - I'm blanking on the producer)reminds me of the weightiness of Chardonnay but more refreshing. The Planeta "La Segreta" is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Gavi and a little Viognier. Very refreshing and summery with a little bit of floral nose from the Viognier! Yummy!

Tommy: When is your ressie at Striped Bass? PM me if you see this before hand so I can make sure they know you're a "special" guest/FOK (friend of Katie). I assume it isn't under "Tommy", right? We just got some interesting wines in today. Ask to speak to Jason, the sommelier, and he should be very helpful. Have a nice dinner! Katie