Charles Smith

I won't comment on the Opus tasting as I am not a fan of those wines, but the Beaucastel event could be worth attending, depending on the vintages poured and the ratio of wines from the chateau vs. wines from Tablas Creek. 1998-2000 are all excellent southern Rhone (all of Beaucastel's holdings are in the south) vintages with unique characteristics- a comparison of the wines across these vintages would be a lot of fun- older vintages of Beaucastel can be thrilling wines- I've yet to drink a vintage (going back to '64) that was truly over the hill. Tablas Creek, despite it's ownership, doesn't thrill me yet- the vines aren't old enough to produce wines of great depth, and whether or not that terroir is best served by those varietals is an open question. could be a lot of fun though- Cheers, Charles

Vivin- I had a similar experience (recounted earlier in this thread) at babbo three years ago, but in my most recent visit, my inquiries were met with deaf ears- good to hear that it still happens to some diners. Best, Charles

Many restaurants will "reward" a serious or special interest in food with VIP status for a night, and then reward it again in subsequent visits. In my expereince, it often starts with the wine service when you order a gem that gets the sommelier excitied- about 2 years ago at San Domenico I ordered a bottle which thrilled the sommelier (who told me he had hidden that bottle on the list) , who then sat with us for 10 minutes or so discussing Italian wine, and our desserts were comped- I've had similar experiences when ordering offal, or recognizing a unique fish at a sushi bar. - It is a matter of upping the level of response when a particular interest is shown. Not everyone does it, but it makes a huge difference when it happens.

The Maury producer to look out for is Domaine du Mas Amiel- whose older vintages can be steals - $25-$40 a bottle. If you like the spice characteristics of these wines, look for the dry versions- Mas Amiel was just purchased and is looking to dramatically increase it's % of dry wines it makes from it's grapes.

Cabrales- I took it to mean that it was live until very close to eating it and was then "cooked" by immersing it in the vinegar/soy marinade. Cheers, Charles

My wife and I had another terrific meal at Jewel Bako last night, which I wasn't going to write up, but a few things changed my mind- 1. JB is onto a third head chef- Yoshida Kazuo, who is pictured and quoted in many of the articles concerning JB is gone, replaced by ?- (didn't get his name), who previously had assisted Yoshida-san. 2. Three new (at least to us) dishes - -"live" jellyfish served with marinated seaweed in vinegar, alongside fresh (as opposed to farmed) herring roe served in a block sandwiched around seaweed. -steamed anago wrapped in seaweed wrapped alongside savory plum jelly, both accented by a sweet-ish sauce. These two dishes were remarkable in three ways- the "alongside" pairings were incongruous except for the similarities in texture- the herring roe and the jellyfish were chewy, almost tough (in a good way)- the steamed eel and jelly were baby-food in texture. Each were delicious and having the soft served after the hard was an excellent progression. - these were all the work of the new chef- a nice beginning! The final dish was a four tropical fruit "gateau" baked by Payard. light and simple, with distinct fruit flavors- a great end. The rest of the meal was "normal" JB- wonderfully fresh fish, great hospitality etc. It's safe to say that Jack and Grace have worked their philosophy into the next chef and the results are outstanding. Cheers, Charles edited since I freaked out and posted this b4 I was finished.

Is there still an issue with Mad Cow and true bistecca fiorentina?

This is similar to my last experience at Babbo- I was eating alone at the bar, and asked the bartender if there was "something special" to be poured with my truffle dish. 3 or so years agao, when I had my best meal ever at Babbo, we ordered a "gem" that caught the attention of the sommelier and he gave us some pretty special tastes of wines other diners had with special menus. At subsequent trips, this had worked well again- this time however, no movement at all- did I expect it? no. does it make a difference in the meal- absolutely, even if it's just some thought on the part of the bartender. It's disheartening to see that a restaurant that can be so good has lapses in terms of the basics.

Mogsob- Clearly you need to work with a distributor, or distributors, to make the most of the wine list. Anyone who uses Rosenthal has made a decision to NOT have their distributor put their list together- rather, they've chosed one of the most, if not the most reputable importer/distributor in NYC to work on a wine program together- big difference. I'm talking about the myriad of places who let their distributors (Southern?) write their list for them, which is sure fire way to get an insipid list. Those lists are easy to spot- and a sign that wine is not a priority.

She done Sauv Blancs under the Turley name

I've not had a great bistecca fiorentina, only good versions, but I wouldn't miss Fuori Porta- a wine bar, Via dei Monte all Croci, 10 Tel.: 011-39-55-234-2483- Just outside one of the old city gates- one of the best wine lists in the city, with good hearty food-

OK!!! time for some hard core geeking out on Italian wine!! Amarone and Valpolicella are the made with the same varietals with markedly different ways of making the wine. Valpo is vinified in the "normal" way- when amarone is made the grapes are dried out for weeks on straw mats prior to making the wine, so that the wines are essentially made from raisins. recioto della valpolicella is made in the same fashion, but fermentation is stopped before all of the residual sugar is turned into alcohol, making it a sweet wine. the legend is that amarone was a mistake by a wine maker who let a recioto ferment completely. most, if not all of the best producers have been listed previously- if you get a chance to drink any of Quintarelli's dessert wines (recioto or amabile) they are tremendous. Cheers, Charles

Depends on your wine merchant.We work with our merchant writing our wine list, and also on Wines of the Month.We have had a relationship for the last 7 years, and i am happy to use there knowledge to our advantage. I wouldn't think our wine list was "easy to spot", just because it was written with a big input from the supplier.It is in his interest to make my customers and me happy with a well balanced, thought out list. Obviously, a shady wine merchant would write a list that suits him best, but thankfully not all wine people are the same I knew I should have said something about this being a statement that applied to the US only- my bad.

Toby- Wow, your version sounds amazing, as do the other two recipes. Thanks!! Cheers, Charles

This may be obvious, but it depends on your list. Any wine prgram needs a part buyer, an organizer, a marketer and any number of salesmen. A good wine director or sommelier is the lead for all of those roles- If your list gets to be above 100 selections, I think you need at least a wine director to do all of those things well.

It's an interesting list- some very good producers, in not so great vintages- I'd be very interested in tasting the following- '67 Barolo- (very good to great vintage) '37 Port '92 Ramonet '62 Bordeaux' you should also try all of those earlier before your palate is impacted-

If you miss a reservation at Craft, you're timing for Next Door will be off- later on the wait gets very long- Le Zinc is a great suggestion, Lupa is a good choice if you like eating at bars, as is Babbo, although the wait there might be pretty long as well.

One thing you're missing here, IMHO, is the filter for Food Geeks. My mother would be much happier at BH, and therefore have a better meal, if ordering off the menu, even if the salmon is 2 days old, as long as that what's she wanted- she wants to know, in advance, what's coming. I think this group is more adverturous, a little jaded, and wants to be wowed.

So? My experience has been the opposite, with great staff seeming thrilled that we chose to trust the chef and the staff. And if they're just acting, fine with me as long as the service is up to snuff.

My thanks as well, Steve- Frankly, I'm thrilled that Guigal won- After a string of very good to great vintages in the north and the south it was time for a Rhone to win (A 2000 Bordeaux will win next year- Lynch Bages? Gruaud Larose?) and they picked one in which I'll never buy anyway. Cheers, Charles

Yep- that's it. You'll eat better than if you choose off the menu. Is there any argument that your best bet at any top sushi restaurant is omakase? Isn't that what we're talking about here? Menu items are selected to sell the most possible inventory- that doesn't mean that they're bad, but often when you order "off the menu" the chef will choose new items, of dishes that he/she has been experimenting with, or is is inspired by that aren't going to sell on the menu- The porchetta I had a Lupa last week was "bombing" according to the waiter and it was the best thing in the house that night- The staff knew I'd like to be adventurous and steered more towards it- isn't that all a special menu is? and you should also be asking about the wines not on the list ;-)

I'm jealous- you can eat better for less in Rome than anywhere in western Europe!! definitely get Gambero Rosso if you can- I've inserted a post of mine from a year or so ago, in addition, don't miss the musuem at the Villa Borghesi-it's been re-opened- you need to make a reservation in advance. Out of the places below, I've been back to Cul de Sac and Ferrarra and both remain excellent choices- also check out something in the Giudeca (Jewish ghetto)- the best of Rome is in it's wine bars, which are great options for nibbling on cheese/meats and drinking some wine. We then took the train to Rome, the final stop on the tour. We tooled around in the afternoon, threw coins in the Trevi Fountain, walked up the Spanish steps- I used miles for our hotel and it was great- the welcoming gift was three bottles of Extra Virgin Olive oil! We wanted to try a real Roman pizzeria, so we headed to one that had been recommended, only to be very disappointed by the look of it, so we decided to see what we could find and ended up with an experience- We saw an unnamed Trattorria and looked at each other and knew that it was the place- It was Mom in the kitchen, with help from the daughter (who also did the checks, cleared plates and took orders), and Dad, who ordered the women around. It was loud, simple and boisterous- a lot of fun- There was a menu, but the daughter wouldn’t let us see it- she recited the dishes, and we ordered- boy was she annoyed when I ordered artichokes (one of the dishes she had to cook!) The food was average, but the scene was awesome- The father, probably 70-75, sat tables and took care of vini. This is the home of the “Super Roman” meritage- The quartinos and mezzos were being poured out of massive jugs- Bottles were also available. On numerous occasions, the father would not quite fill the carafe from the jug and would sigh, and them fill it with someone’s leftover bottle!!- The whole scene hysterical to watch- the family screaming at one another and them hugging, people flirting across tables, etc. We mostly only spoke Italian in restaurants- always a good plan, with multiple dividends, but here it actually saved us some money- there was a single diner across from us who only spoke English throughout, not trying Italian at all- this clearly annoyed the daughter/accountant and his bill was L55,000. We had virtually the same meal and ours was L60,000! Served the guy right for not trying if you ask me! After that, we spent the next day at the Vatican- umm, just a few things to see there! We headed to Trastevere for dinner- Enoteca Ferrara, highly recommended in WS as a stylish wine bar. Absolutely not a wine bar- this is a very trendy place, filled with beautiful Romans decked out. (Rome is an extremely well dressed city). Great list, but one of the most annoying I had ever seen- each page had one wine’s label and then a list of the available vintages next to the label- not necessarily the same as the vintage on the label- Cool to see all the labels, but very hard to keep track of the options, IMHO. I wanted to try something from Piedmont, as we had had nothing from the north on the trip, and the sommelier guided me to the La Spinetta ’97 Pin- She was basically saying that nothing else was ready, and that this was awesome (or at least that’s what I understood, grasping at Italian)- and at $32, I couldn’t really complain. With great relish she brought over two HUGE glasses, with a lip (probably 40 oz.) and poured the wine. I’ve read extremely varying remarks about this wine- It was excellent. Extracted, but balanced, more black fruits than red, with nice mint and anise notes on the nose, mouth filling, soft tannins, drinking well, but serious life ahead of it. This was our first Super Piedmont, and it was excellent- Dinner was very good as well- goat cheese involitini with eggplant was a highlight, as was the rabbit ragu pasta. The place was lively and a lot of fun- very stylish, with cool sliding racks for the wine surrounding the dining area. The next day, our last in Italy, was spent at the Campo Fiore market, the Forum and the Coliseum. If you go to this market, do not miss the “fornos” that are on the edges of the square- excellent warm tomato “breads.” We wanted something more down market for our last night, so we headed to Cul de Sac, the polar opposite of the previous night- communal tables for four, with racks of wine (and safety nets) above your head- killer list- I went for the ’95 Sammarco- Currants and chocolate- the cab really showed through- still tannic- good stuff. Dinner was a series of nibbles: cheese, salami, etc. and a dish of pasta for each of us. We then walked slowly back up the hill to the hotel, stopped for some gelato, and said goodbye to Rome.

A simple cranberry moustarda- it was a nice foil for the pork- we also had squash and escarolea alongside. I'll check out some of those recipes. (edited to add sides)