tjaehnigen

That is a good price. I'd buy it!

Gonna be up in a week and a half and planning on finding an Oyster Bar (been to the one in Grand Central already). What are your favorites?

I have no idea, but I might order it on Saturday night when I go there.

My one beef with Zaytinya is they don't take reservations past 6:30. But they DO allow BYOW with a reasonable (I think it is $15) corkage fee. Their wine list is very good -- not that it is extensive, but it covers wines from the regions where the food is all inspired from, so it all pairs well. And it is pretty cheap, too, markup-wise, IIRC.

Had this last night with the DC Crue at Butterfield9. This was the wine I brought. Here are the sketchy TNs I tapped into my pager... Very balanced and elegant, very fruit forward with a hint of sweetness to it (maybe this is the syrupiness that was mentioned by Rev and others?). I also got a sense of guinnea fowl and a wee bit of cassis. Great finish. Certainly not 'restrained', quite the opposite, but not like the gushing face of a child telling you about the cool dead turtle he found in the road, either. This is worth 92 TJ points presently.

The DC Crue had this last night at the mini-offline at Butterfield9. Here are the TNs, spotty I know, that I tapped into my pager during the meal-- Delicious brineiness, iodine and seaweed followed by reduced black fruits and cherry flesh. For me, it was a very unusual nose, not off-putting, just unexpected. I liked how the tannins had integrated and it had several different layers going on there. A really good wine. Worth 90+ TJ points.

Had this last night with the DC Crue at Butterfield9. Here are the spotty TNs I tapped into my pager over the course of the evening. A great initial nose of cherries (& pits) almond paste & vanilla. A slight peppery taste paired really well with the duck spring rolls. It eventually evolved into first butterscotch, then butterscotchy buttercreme, and then into a creme caramel followed by maple syrup. Plenty of delcious red fruits were there as well. The finish was quite good, too. My WOTN, too. Worth 93 TJ points. Now all we have to do is beat up jaimetown the next time he goes to his offsite storage locker and grab the rest of the 6 pack he has of this!

This was shared by Corkage at the DC Crue offline last night at Butterfield9. Here are my sketchy TNs I tapped into my pager... Restrained. Slightly muted but hauntingly good dark fruits. Yup, that's all I typed up. I really enjoyed this wine, it's my 2nd Viader. The 98 I had a few months ago was better, IMO. Still, this was really quite good. It was balanced and well integrated, but it took quite a while to reveal its inner workings to me. The last glass was the best and I think if we'd thought ahead and decanted the sucker for two hours it would have been a potential knockout. It had a nice earthiness to it, too. Delicious. Worth 90 TJ points. Maybe 91.

Melkor, those are some inspired suggestions. Kudos to you. Think of suggesting a new world riesling maybe? Perhaps from WA -- like the Eroica (retail about $17)? Might work. Or how about an Italian Primitivo? I like Felline, I've had 97 and 98 and both were great ($9 or so retail).

We stayed at Il Gaidello (be prepared for rustic and only one staff member who speaks English (the owner's niece). It was nice there though. Catena, the family producer, is just down the road (the SS9 towards Modena. Marthe, the owner's niece (maybe 40-ish woman) can call them to set it up for you. The younger woman at Catena does speak some English and she shows a good tour. They sell balsamico up to 40-year old stuff (over 100 euros for a quarter liter though). We picked up some 8-year old and 18-year old while we were there. This was just last month -- heck two weeks ago! Enjoy your trip!

I think Equinox is better than Butterfield9, having eaten at Butterfield9 last night. Butterfield9 was good, really good, but it didn't grab me as much as Equinox. Butterfield9's sommelier was nice, and we offered her tastes of all 6 wines we brought. You'd think we'd have gotten at least one of the corkage fees to be comped, given that. Nope.

Ideally, it'd be nice to know what types of wine will be there. Varietal alone would help, like Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Whatever it is, it'd be helpful to know so you can play with the menu. Another tip would be to serve lighter styled wines first and move progressively to heavier wines. A typical progression might be Champagnes, Sauvignon Blancs, Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs, Syrah/Shirazs, Cabs, Stickies (dessert wines). Another fun thing to do is to give everyone a theme -- like I did one for Bordeaux blends. I also told everyone to bring their wine wrapped in plain brown paper and we tasted the wines 'blind', which produced lots of fun. Plus, it can be surprising to you when you find out what you really like.

I do not exclusively go to restaurants that allow BYOW with a corkage fee. I do tend to spend my money at those establishments more frequently however. I am actually presently planning a small dinner of local wine-os to share some bottles next week. We don't bring our own stems, we don't bring our own decanters, we do buy a good bit of food and we always offer a taste of everything (though, interestingly, few people/places actually take us up on this) and we tip well. We also try to arange things to NOT be on a Friday or Saturday. When I go to Citronelle again, I am sure Mark will steer me right to a great wine at a good value pricepoint.

Not sure if you were asking me or Mark, Joe... But, I'll add my 2 cents anyway. BYOW is a personal decision. For me, I take advantage of it almost whenever possible as it allows me to dine out more frequently and it also allows me to drink wine that I think is ready. Many times when looking at a wine list, it seems not much thought was put into developing a list that is anything but only the latest vintages. I can understand this since it would be a somewhat expensive proposition. For places with excellent wine lists, this is generally not a problem and I have no problem ordering off of their list. BUT, as such, these restaurants tend to be pretty expensive, and I don't dine at them frequently or even regularly. They are essentially destination restaurants to me. If you feel more comfortable ordering off the restaurant's wine list in order to support them, well, that's certainly within your rights. For me though, I am much more into being able to dine out more frequently. And if BYOWing helps me do that, those estanblishments will get more of my dining out dollars.

Tourism is down in Italy, some say to the tune of 30% or more. While you wouldn't be able to tell that around the Duomo there, Il Ritrovo is seemingly not off the beaten path, but it is. We had no reservations both nights and had no problems being walk ins. Do remember that the entry leads you down a flight of stairs so it doesn't even appear to be a restaurant at first. It's almost a secret. Almost. heh heh

Bring your own wine. For $15 corkage per bottle it is a steal!

Il Ritrovo was a sublime and extremely enjoyable experience. We ate their twice while in Firenze. Marco and his wife, Rosetta, are the perfect duo to run this place. I would highly recommend seeking this place out. You will not be disappointed. I'll post details of the two meals when I get a chance.

Jaleo is definitely fun and good too. Yup.

I will generally put my money where my mouth is. If I find a given restaurants prices, of anything (wine included), I will look for either something else or see if I can find any well-priced hidden gems (especially on wine lists). If I don't want to pay 8 bucks for some bottled water, I won't order it. If I don't want to pay north of $50 or $100 for a bottle of wine, I won't. With destination restaurants being the exception, I will generally lean towards establishments that I can BYOW -- simply because I can drink wine with some age on it (or is special to me in some other way), it'll be cheaper for me (and it'll allow me to dine out more often (which I like!) and so on. But, I will always make exceptions to the BYOW thing, simply because there are restaurants where I can't do it either through policy or by law. Maestro is a perfect example. It is high up on my list of places to go and I know I will not be able to BYOW there. But I still want to go there!

Yeah, give em a ding. I am pretty sure that it is open -- Roberto often does double duty on some days -- a coooking course (hands on) followed by a cooking course (demonstration) followed by a mega dinner in the Laboratorio.

I'll second the suggestion of Zaytinya. It's a great place for a slightly larger than normal group of folks (anything bigger than 6, I consider bigger than normal).

Tj, You are pretty much correct as to how "reasonable" markups are figured. In many cases, though, the price retail stores pay for wine is lower than what restaurants pay, so saying 2X retail is misleading to a degree. I am lucky that my boss and the accountants agree with me that cash flow is more important than arbitrary percentages. No, I don't know the sommelier at Daniel. I do know Daniel, though. Mark-- Curious, why do restaurants pay more than retail shops for wine (ignoring the stuff you get at auction and the mailing list only stuff, of course)? And if you know Daniel, that is quite kewl! Been to two of his three NYC restaurants (Daniel still beckons as Cafe Boulud and db Bistro Moderne are already under my belt). Urp!

Mark, I do know about your restaurant's policy on no BYOW. However, I don't mind so much, since the restaurant you work for is very much a destination restaurant. So much so that the one time that I have dined there so far, it is one of the 2 top two meals of my life (the other being at Babbo, with the Laboratorio del Galileo and The Inn At Little Washington rounding out the top 4). When one dines at such a destination restaurant, one generally doe not tend to argue the points about BYOW. If everyone offered the quality and depth of your wine list, and marked up to a reasonable degree (by the way, what, in general, is your definition of a 'reasonable mark up' for a restaurant? -- I think 2x retail reasonable (with allowances for the cheaper wines to be a higher multiple and the very expensive wines to be of a lower multiple)?), I would not generally argue for the BYOW concept. I do enjoy having the opportunity to BYOW at many dining establishments here in our Nation's Capital. As I explained before, I am able to dine out more frequently as a result with generally better quality wines (or wines that aren't just the currently released vintage) BTW, do you know the sommelier at Daniel in NYC?

Mark, I think it is about both. I want to drink better wine than is typically on the wine list at many establishments I like to dine at. And, yes, it is about saving some bucks, too. The mark-up that most restaurants add to their wine lists is somewhat ridiculous at times. A $30 bottle at retail going for $75-90? A $50 bottle going for $150? An $85 bottle going for $210? I have seen this type of markup all too often. BYOW allows me to dine out more often, and often with much better wine than is available on a given restaurant's list. I wonder, would any given restaurant rather I dine out less frequently but at a more profitable pricepoint (buying wine off of their list)? Or would they rather I dine out more often, but allow me to BYOW (paying a reasonable corkage fee (say $20 or less))?

The best chicken ever (see below) paired with garlic & pecan couscouse and a 96 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay. Delicious meal that had Mrs. TJ raving. I like it when I make her happy as a little girl! Here's the chicken recipe c/o JonesWineNo1 from over on Vinocellar-- 45 minutes at 450 degrees for a slightly over three pound bird. The keys to success are: brine overnight, truss the bird, make sure the oven is at 450 before placing chicken inside, let the chicken come to room temperature before placing in oven, and let chicken rest for ten or so minutes under a tent of aluminum foil prior to carving. If the bird is bigger than three pounds then the increase cooking time. In the event the chicken begins to burn (very rare) then tent scorched area with foil and continue cooking. If you brine the bird, it is almost impossible to dry out the bird.