John W.

Dos mas... Poland's Gourmet Cuisine and Girardet.

One thing though, Tricia and I are pot-stirrers and instigators.

For real, how many people shall we expect? We ain't that big. Plus, I'll probably have to order more booze.

Jokes about the sauce are not jokes at all.

"Dry" meaning our humor folks.

When you see my kitchen, you'll be surprised there's room for me. Did we mention we are a "dry" house? Quite looking forward to meeting you guys.

Ummmmmm. Damn, I wanted join you guys.

Mmmmm...sounds nice. I'll have some. I've drinking (trying to at least) a lot of Duoros lately. The one that comes to mind the most is Chryseia, mostly Touriga Nacional I think. About $27 wholesale, I bought a case and will damn well enjoy seeing how it ages. Vinho Verde is a DOC and can be white, red or rose. But mostly is known as white here. Fun, light, summery. Never going to blow you away, but pleasant drinkin'. One DOC that has been recommended to me is that of Barreida, but have not come across anything since I started paying attention.

Anybody that serves beer as a food/beverage pairing must be the man. I think it was the beer that put me over the top. Anyone that greets you at the door as "here comes the ballers" is worthy of several Michelin stars. Lat night, we were, in fact, ballers.

Says it all, doesn't it?

I don't know either. Had a 1990 Williams-Selyem Rochioli Vineyard Zin that was so elegant and beautiful (didn't even know WS made zin) I could have cried. That coupled with a '95 Jackass has really thrown a wrench into the argument. I won't make much room in the old vinotech for zins, but damn those two were nice.

Melkor; Which do you like the best?

It's pretty damn good I think. The "Tres Sabores" name comes from a pretty cool concept. She has a small plot of vineyard just north of Far Niente winery, so the fruit is from one source, but she has three different winemakers to produce three different cuvees. Stylistically they are all quite different. I find that the Karen Culler Cuvee is quite elegant, nice bright fruit, not too Smuckers jammy. It's my favorite of the lot. As for when to drink it, today sounds good to me. I would throw it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, to cool off the alcohol. It might develop a little with bottle age, but as a wise man once said, "I'm not going to find out." Or, if you can find the two other cuvees, that sounds like a good excuse for some friends over. Tasting them side-by-side would be pretty fun. Drink it with something that has some weight to it. It's probably a little full-bodied for any fish except for tuna, pepper crusted steak or something like that. This from someone who doesn't like zin all that much.

add a few hoes (hoegardens folks) and you got a party. The conversation was quite lively last eve.

The potato-vanilla foam with caviar tastes like...(aah, it's not funny anymore). Potato-vanilla foam with caviar. That's what it tastes like. Guess what the foie gras cotton candy tastes like...(definitely not a Rocco beach party).

less than 5% of the conversation would be allowed on family-run websites.

Mark; I've heard about these nights. Who goes to such a thing?

Bilrus; It's a great time. The interaction alone with Kats and his two assistants is great - they do a really good job of explaining what's going on, but not in an overt, "hi my name is Bob and I'll be cooking your food tonight" manner. The experience goes by quickly, not at all painful to sit there for 2 hours or so. If it was only a cerebral experience, it would be quite boring after 20 minutes. The food actually tastes good. REAL good. What's not fun about eating a medallon of lobster and then injecting lobster stock with a tiny (I don't know), turkey baster into your mouth, or spraying a mojito into your maw with a spritzer? Or cotton candy with foie gras? I had an awesome time, maybe more than people who don't cook for a living because there is a whole hell of a lot of technique going on. I left giggling like a kid on XMAS morning. That said, there are a lot of repeated ingredients, but so what? If you don't like mango and jicima, maybe stay home, because you'll eat a lot of that. But if you eat sushi, you'll eat a lot of rice too. The repeated ingredients are still interesting and different. I am in total agreement with donrocks as to not going back for a spell, because they don't have plans to change anything for awhile. Which is fine. There's only six stools and a lot of people still to come.

Sorry. My original post got lost last night. $65 bucks. There are six stools, so I would make reservations. I would say they are required at this point. But I called the night before, so it's not that hard. Yet. Another thing I didn't mention was the pace. It's obvious that a lot of thought went into that as well. The pace was perfect. There is no more than seconds or a minute between courses (it seemed). We sat about 9:30, and were done around 11. As for the corkage issue, who knew? I think there is a whole unexplored avenue about the food and wine matches. Next time, it's riesling a-go-go. I was really thinking about stuff like viuras and the like, stuff that fits the Latino/Spanish concept. Oh well.

My man DonRocks and I went to the mini bar at Cafe Atlantico last night. Wow. We left convinced that it was the most important meal in the city last night. At least the most important to us. 34 little tastes. all relevant, almost a Japanese purity to a whole lot of the flavors. Most of the flavors are familiar too, just presented in a manner that is thought-provoking. Highlights: Chocolate truffle with foie gras and tamarind (sour, bitter, sweet). Conch fritters with liquid center. An injection of hot mozzarella soup and basil (caprese salad like not many people have had). Deconstructed clam chowder. To be honest, too many people practice this stuff without knowing what they are doing and it comes off badly. I've said this a lot, if you reach for the foamer, you had better have worked for the man. It's well known Jose worked for Ferran, but Kats (the kind of new chef) also spent a year with him. I look forward to seeing what that place will produce as it matures. Only knock (and it's just rocks and I being a pain in the ass) is that we where looking hard for riesling or something else. But it's not that big a deal because it's all about the food anyway. For the record, we drank a cava and a Sauvignon Blanc, which provided plenty of great inspired matches, but our opinion was that could have gone in a few different directions. Funny thing is, to finish my meal, I had a glass of Malbec, and the super-tobacco finish in the wine was like having a cigar after a great meal. That in keeping with the brain-pushing experience we had last night. Steve Klc, your desserts worked seamlessly with the meal, just like you like them. The mango soup with mint ice and pop rocks was killer. Go. Go now.

They forgot Morou's last name again. (Just trying to have a little fun folks).

Jim; Of all your posts, this is the one I would most want to attend. I really like that Valhalla syrah. What's not to love about Chambolle? What's not to love about mac-n-cheese? Have you tried any of the other Valhalla wines? Curious as to your opinion on them. I've had the Cornucopia (blend of Cab, Cab Franc and Syrah if I remember correctly), which I like as much as the syrah, but have found the whites to be really lacking in acidity.

Man; simply grilled stuff Japanese style can be mind-blowing. My ex is from Tokyo and traveled there a decent bit, so I either got used to it, developed an appreciation for it or just didn't have it properly in the states. But I always liked Makoto. And you have to drink sake with that stuff. Not much else (except maybe the Burgundy-umami combo) works. But I doubt they will let you cart in your Mazis-Chambertin as they won't let you drink tap water. I think you and I should take it upon ourselves to embark on a journey that decides that third place.

Rocks, that's a tough call...No car so I haven't made it to Maestro yet. Or Le Relais. So I can't speak to those. And after living in DC for the last 12 years, maybe I should go to see Roberto soon. I honestly think it's big tie for third...I have had killer meals at Marcel's, Tosca, Taberna (dangerous wine list) etc. Is your criteria based soley on big money rooms, or getting what they try to do exactly right? If the latter is true then I think something like Makoto is definitely up there. Inventive cuisine, or the total package including wine and service? There is too big of a logjam immediately after the Citronelle/Maestro combo (and I am comfortable assuming that Maestro is that good based on what I've read). This is not a Switzerland, on the fence post, I feel that there are a lot of people deserving of third place, and it's too tough to call right now. I would love to re-visit this in one year, to see how places new and old have matured. There's alot going on in DC that's (hopefully) raising the bar, so we can finally rid ourselves of that damn steakhouse label. What's your vote, Rocks?

Welcome to EG, Fa... I mean Alice.