iamthestretch

This one is going to haunt you when you run for higher office, Mark. Although, if you're right, I guess you can't really aspire to a more elevated position anyway. (PS: How about changing my bottle of Deer Park into that '89 Chave Hermitage your designated devil keeps banging on about?)

Wait, there are sparkling Shirazes? (Shirazii?) Must admit, I love the stuff in non-carbonated form, maybe because I philosopically incline toward the big, blowsy and straightforward in other things, too. But this is entirely new to me. Can't argue with the following serving suggestion here, though: "Once called 'Sparkling Burgundy', this style of fizzy red is uniquely Australian. One of life's greatest gastronomic experiences is to pair this wine with mushrooms, bacon, eggs and black sausage for breakfast." Got to love the Aussies. "You can stuff your shonky chablis and oysters up your clacker for starters, mate. Bloody oath, that plonk's as dry as a nun's nasty."

Already hit 2Amys for lunch (the current special pizza with chanterelles and the sweetest orange cherry tomatoes is really, really good), so I'm cooking at home tonight. I think it'll be chicken cacciatore and one or other of the assorted bottles that just arrived in the mail. I love the delivery part of online wine shopping, it's like getting a cool present from yourself. "Dear Me. Enjoy! You deserve it, you big lug, you. Love, Me. (PS: Let's not tell Her, OK?)"

Experience is hard earned, right? I'm afraid it is a general rule that a reporter, when reviewing notes of an interview, will almost always select the single pithiest quote provided, whether or not it is one that best reflects the finely-nuanced point the subject spent half an hour trying to make. This is why so many of our public figures have perfected the art of speaking for long periods of time without saying anything remotely memorable. (I'm looking at you, Greenspan.) It is also why many people who have actually worked as reporters themselves adopt a simple and rigid strategy if they're ever caught on the wrong end of a TV camera or radio mike or telephone. It's called: "No. Piss off." And it works like a charm. End digression.

Dispute over back taxes forces move. The restaurant will stay open for now. "Oh my God," patron Joe Heflin said upon hearing the news. "I just can't rave and scream and burp enough. This is just such a shame." (Edited to add: I'm not ragging on you, Joe, it's just a great quote. You made that reporter's day.)

Mad props to the Ken Forrester recommender. Another good choice for South African chenin blanc (more commonly called "Steen" in that country) is Mulderbosch's "Steen op Hout" bottling, made from 40+ year-old, dry farmed bushvines. It's a very polished wine and a steal at around $10 online (though the 2003 vintage, a good one, appears largely sold out) and $15 or so in stores. The estate is one of South Africa's most consistent when it comes to whites -- their Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are both also worth a try.

On the plus side, it's given me a great idea for naming the bakery I've been fixing to open. You all come on down to Honky Whitebread's now, you hear? Can't miss it, it's right next door to Jarad's puppy place.

Oy. At this rate, a temporal paradox will soon manifest in Ray's reservations system. In order to secure a table, you will have had to reserve it three weeks before you ever heard of the place.

Yikes... Ok, fine, it takes the other business lunch options by the hand and gently shows them how to make foie gras good. Man, I hope that's not a euphemism, because otherwise I'm really going to miss the duck liver...

Many thanks to the Plymouth recommenders on this thread. I found some the other day at one of my wine haunts and it is very much to my (admittedly unsophisticated) taste. The only problem is I've now fallen into a habit of fixing myself a G&T most evenings. If that's a problem.

The wineaux's right. The lobster duo at the modest French place on M St. is fan-freaking-tastic. And if you start with the foie gras three ways, they actually get together to put on a special la savate exhibition in your stomach.

Mad Hatter, you say? I notice, again, that the preliminary meeting venue just happens to be cheek by, um, jowl with some of DC's other fine "mens' clubs." Not that there's anything wrong with that...

I'm also for the 7th, if only on the principle of: "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Because, if you really like it, then you can do it again tomorrow."

Nah, I'm betting Sietsema's gonna saddle up this dead horse.

Not to mention models and actresses...

I'm definitely in for one. PM me if you want to know where to park.

Count me in. Since I live right round the corner, it would be positively rude not to stop by to say Hi. Generally flexible on dates.

I ended up making it 7 for 7 and gaining a roughly equivalent number of pounds in the process. But I didn't have a single bad meal and it was totally worth it. All the boring day-by-day details are back up the thread, but it broke down as: Mendocino, lunch. Butterfield 9, lunch. Poste, lunch. Melrose, dinner. Signatures, lunch. Yanyu, lunch. Bombay Club, dinner. Taking unfair advantage? Probably. But five of those places were new to me, and I'll definitely now go back to each. In the meantime, I've already steered friends to a couple of them, which semi-validates the marketing objective, right? Anyway, while it's clearly unfair to compare lunch to dinner at +1/3 of the cost, the one place I'd queue up overnight if necessary to get back into was Melrose. Place I most wish I'd wandered into years ago: Yanyu/Mendocino (tie). Place I'm most likely to skive off to to get drunk on half-price wine on the next quiet Friday afternoon that comes along: Signatures. Who says RW isn't a learning experience for all concerned?

That's an entirely unfounded allegation. The video is grainy. It could be anyone.

I do almost all of the cooking in our house because my wife does almost all of the earning money to purchase food with, so it seems only just. Plus, I really enjoy it. I do not, however, readily admit to how much I enjoy it, because then I would have almost no "hand," in the Seinfeldian sense. I also do laundry and clean -- within reason -- but do not broadcast this as it seems to make other guys want to kick me in the fork for setting a bad example. And yes, I do check occasionally to make sure they're still hanging there, and they are.

Don't forget this requirement if you do track one down: (from Rocks' link) "Traditionally, the croquembouche is served by hitting it hard with a sword, with the bridesmaids catching the pieces in a tablecloth." Now that would be a display of brio, boy! I wonder if you do it before or after you whack the neck off the first bottle of Krug and carve a flourishing "Z" into the mother of the bride's corset?

Had a thick, refreshing tomato gazpacho with lots of basil oil at Mendocino Bar and Grille last week, although it was a restaurant week item and I don't know if it remains on the current menu.

If you do get the tasting menu and you're wine drinkers, definitely let Vincent the sommelier match your courses. Though, at 105 lbs, your wife better not be planning to drive home afterward...

The best sidecar (okay, sidecars) I have had were at the bar at Palena. I do not know why theirs are so good. Perhaps they are made with extra lurve?

Yeah, that's what I want to know, too. Say Ritz-Carlton called tomorrow and said: "Italian's so over. We're having Fabio deported for Patriot Act violations involving suspicious panna cotta. The room's yours, the budget's essentially unlimited and you can hire anyone you want for crew." What would Maestress serve?