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Mark Sommelier

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Everything posted by Mark Sommelier

  1. Yikes! I already sold the 2 cases I got of the '01 bottle by bottle. People raved about the wine. Tj: The glasses at Caucus Room are made by Schott-Zwiesel. They are very sturdy and very reasonably priced.
  2. I have been buying Togni's wines since the 1984 vintage. They are large styled with significant tannins. I currently own the 2000 and 2001. The '00 is still tight, but with huge fruit. Haven't tasted the '01 as yet, but will this week out of curiosity. He called me personally to tell me how great he thought the '01 was.
  3. Morph of Jose and Frank Rockwell, you are a dog. A dog, I say.
  4. I second this one. WWoW buys direct in many cases and doesn't have to play the local distributor games. Elliot, the owner, is extremely knowledgeable.
  5. I laughed at that too. I thought it might have been a Chinese phonetic pronunciation of Loyal. A few months ago, Nooshi (also owned by the same people) sent out flyers advertising their happy hour special which they called "Funky Sushi". All you can eat funky sushi...........
  6. The producers named are all bulk wine producers, both American and Australian. How sad. Of course, Riunite was the best selling wine in the world for many years. The fine wine trade accounts for 2% of the wine business in the world. Everyone can't drink Chateau Margaux!
  7. So I was spotted with my friends by several other eGulleters at Ray's. How come no one came over to say hello? Just curious.
  8. It sounds like the theory behind this is that the more people that vote, the more "finely honed" the ratings will be. Should we be looking for harmonic convergence with Washingtonian's reader polls sometime in 2006? "Honey! It's our anniversary next week!" "So where will we dine, snookums? I've been dying for some Asian..." "Hold on, let me go online!" <type type type> "Okay let's decide between Benihana and Tony Cheng's!" And what happens when the inertia of months- or years-worth of ratings establish a restaurant at a certain level ... and then the chef leaves overnight? Same problem with Zagat. Some joint in Florida ( a Red Lobster kinda joint) gets a 29 for food? Huh????? This stuff means nothing.
  9. Too bad you can't make it down to the Trellis in Williamsburg.
  10. At Yanyu, make sure to request a booth upstairs.
  11. I ate at RTS last night for the first time. In good company, I dined with the venerable JohnW and MoD. Calling a full 2 hours ahead, we were able to snag the table closest to the kitchen so the chef could play sommelier and generally kibbitz. The starkness of the decor focuses eyes on the plates. I suppose large paintings of happy cows gamboling in the field would detract from the seriousness of the cooking here. We had some really tasty apps: crab cakes, scampi, onion soup and caesar salad plus a surprise dish of scallops and jumbo shrimp. Steaks were uniformly perfect, as were the sides of mashed potato and creamed spinach. Best rib-eye I can remember eating. A good time was had by all.
  12. Poeler means to sear in a pan. A sauté pan in French is called a poele .
  13. Wow, Michael, Dude, I was breathless when I finished reading this! I'm cornfused, when you stuff 4 things inside of each other is that called a ballotine or a gallantine? We should get together and create a dish that is based on mulched pages from Food Arts and miso. Your newest acolyte, Mark
  14. Pork, Look in the Washington Post classifieds under restaurant equipment. There is a company here that buys fixtures from bankrupt restaurants. I forget their name. I think they are in Springfield. Adams Burch used to have a retail store. Also, check out Silver Spoon in College Park, MD. They have a store there.
  15. Hey Pork, Check it out: JB Prince Restaurant Supply
  16. If we go early enough, we can get half-priced oysters AND crabcakes! Not today for the 1/2 price deal on the shellfish, it's Monday-Thursday only. I'm going anyway because all this chat has stirred up a yen for some oysters! Ahhh.... today is Friday I am rarely at work on Fridays so I've been a bit confused all day. Guess my brilliant plan will have to wait for Monday. Ack! Didn't you read Kitchen Confidential? Don't east seafood on Monday!
  17. EGullet event there for $21 a person? Geeze, Michael, are you nuts or sumpin? I suggest we pick a Sunday night and take over the whole place. Could we please spend a tiny little more than $21? I'm talkin' rib-eyes! Rocks, you organize it.
  18. Three... I was hiding in the Lab with some ball'n doctors who take pity on me and allow me to share in their big boy wine. Dang! We missed you. It was fun sitting at the bar having food sent to us from the Osteria menu, Roberto in the Lab and Daniele in the kitchen.
  19. Mark Sommelier

    Chenin blanc.

    I recently tasted a delicous white Chinon made from chenin blanc, in the dry style. The producer was Couly-Dutheuil.
  20. What Rocks failed to convey, I think, is that everything that was served to us was INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS. I admit, its nice to have friends in restaurants you go to....I had the most perfectly cooked spaghetti ala puttanesca that I've ever had in my whole life. Toothsome spaghetti, slightest whiff of anchovies.... I loved it. We tried 10 things. Go there!
  21. I encountered one gentleman who wanted to know if we use 'steroids' in our wine, because he objected strenuously to the use of 'steroids' in winemaking! I dunno, seems like a fast way to get it into your bloodstream, and it would sure make lifting barrels easier . . . A few weeks ago, a customer called me over and asked me which wines by the glass I serve "don't have preservatives", because he can't drink wine with "preservatives". He seemed suspicious when I said none of them had what I would consider preservatives. A little knowledge........
  22. With viognier, I have to admit my bias toward Condrieu. Condrieu is in general not heavily oaked with the exception of Guigal's La Doriane, which resembles California viognier in its thick texture. The Condrieu from Pichon and Vernay are great examples of the floral bouquet and medium body wines that define this varietal.
  23. Ever go to a department store during a "sale"? Everything is 40-60% off. 40-60% off what? Full retail, of course.
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