OPJK

When I was a freshman in college, a floormate, clearly in a drunken stupor, scrawed the answer to your question on the notepad on my door: 18 beers is 3 too many.

I like to think that the concept was so attractive that McDonald's bought-out Chef Kaufman (who retired to the south of Atlantis where he continues to conjure-up special meals at his whim for the local populace). Unfortunately, as the restaurant was turned into a chain, the quality of the concepts started to decline, the empty caviar jars and wine bottles replaced with empty velveeta jars and coors light bottles, the menu made mundane. Eventually, the chain was quietly closed down. (However, several enterprising thinkers bought out a few of the local franchises where they continue to serve up ideas, albeit with a regional spin, despite the hard-to-miss trapping of a chain restaurant.)

Recently, I was matching some cheeses to Billecart-Salmon NV Rose for a pre-dinner course. One cheese that matched incredibly well and received great reception was the Ubriaco al Prosecco - a cow's milk cheese from Veneto that had been washed in prosecco must. It is a natural match to sparkling wine. Another favorite was the incredible Bonati Riserva Parmagiano Reggiano. It is an artisanal cheese made by the Bonati family with milk that they get from their own cows. They feed the cows a particulat diet, that includes, if I remember correctly, lots of hay and cornflakes, among other things. The result is a sweet, amazing cheese that makes me wish for a giant wheel of it sitting out on a counter at home. The other cheeses in the course were Humboldt Fog chevre and Hudson Valley Camembert. Yum. (After dinner, we had some Stilton, Crater Lake Blue, and a gruyere with d'Yquem!)

I can think of four scenarios whereby one can justify participation: 1- You love food and wine and are planning on dying very soon. 2- For professional reasons, it would be helpful to be able to say that you've tasted these wines (although I would find this to be a total misrepresentation, as there is no way you could appreciate or understand said wines. Plus you'd need $25k.) 3- You are a blowhard. 4- You are the organizer and are planning on pocketing a few hundred thousand dollars at the expense of the dying, the lying, or the obnoxious.

Now that's a problem I would love to have.

Just to make clear, I have nothig to do with Acker Merral (except to have purchased some wine from them). I don't think I could remotely appreciate all the wines being served and the bragging aspect holds absolutely no appeal to me. However, the idea of the grabbing a bunch of individual bottles of truly awesome wines, a couple of well-chosen compadres, and making a food mecca marathon weekend is quite tempting (and relatively economical)!

This was put together by the president/auction director of Acker Merrall & Condit, which is the oldest wine merchant in the country. It conducts a lot of wine auctions. I believe the invitation list came, in part, from a list of people who have participated to a certain level in the auctions. I think the impetus was simply an attempt to create what the organizer is calling "indubitably the greatest wine event of all time." In making some broad assumptions about the pricing of the wines and the dinners, it appears to me that there is an enormous difference between the actual financial cost and the $1mm in proceeds. (If you assume the wines average $1,000 per bottle and there are two bottles of each of the 144 wines, and that the meals are $200 each (remember, this price does not include wine!), the total cost is $320,000.) It is more the overall collection of wines that is stunning, combined with the bragging rights. That said, I will not be taking part for many reasons. However, the event was virtually sold out earlier this week, and, I assume, that it has since been completely sold out.

I recently received the following invitation. It is just boggling on many levels. Note the price at the bottom. javascript:emoticon(':blink:') javascript:emoticon(':blink:') TOP 100 WINES OF THE CENTURY The moment of truth has arrived. Between October 29th and 31st, 2004, in New York City, the greatest celebration of fine wine the world has ever seen will take place at four of New York’s finest restaurants: Daniel, Cru, Per Se, and Veritas. There are actually 144 wines…ish. Space is limited to 40 guests; the weekend is being offered as a weekend only; ie you cannot sign up for only one meal. There might be some special situations which will allow for emergency ‘substitutions’ for guests; however, those substitutions will not be initially guaranteed and will be taken off of a wait list. There will be a limited number of shared pours available; however, some of the venues do not support enough capacity to have shared pours for as many people that might request them, so we will not be able to guarantee shared pours for everyone for every event. There will be two bottles or one magnum of each wine listed below. I have been working for over six months on sourcing bottles for this event, working with a small amount of the world’s most distinguished collectors. Almost all of the bottles sourced have been previously sampled by the collector (and sometimes myself) from the same lot or case. There is a small chance that a handful of wines on the following list will change subject to their final inspection, but the list should be 95% accurate as to the lineup we will taste. Reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis and your payment will serve as your confirmation. There will be no cancellations accepted whatsoever, unless we can find a substitute for you in time. I look forward to sharing this spectacular weekend and the memories of it with you for years to come. FRIDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 29TH, 2004, 6:30PM WHITE BURGUNDY, RHONE, AUSTRALIA, CULTS AND GERMANS AT DANIEL We will begin our journey at Daniel’s, featuring the culinary genius of Daniel Boulud in a seven-course extravaganza. Champagne Reception Flight #1 1978, 1982 Leflaive Chevalier; 1986, 1989 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne; 1990 Lafon Montrachet; 1992 Leflaive Montrachet Flight #2 1966 Drouhin Laguiche Montrachet; 1970, 1978 DRC Montrachet; 1978, 1979, 1982 Ramonet Montrachet Flight #3 1969, 1971, 1978 Chateau Rayas; 1971, 1976 Penfold’s Grange Flight #4 1969, 1976, 1978 Guigal La Mouline 1949, 1959, 1961 Jaboulet La Chapelle; 1971 Chave Flight #5 1989 Beaucastel Hommage Perrin; 1990 Bonneau Celestins; 1990 Chave Cuvee Cathelin; 1996 Three Rivers Flight #6 1991 Dalla Valle Maya; 1992 Screaming Eagle; 1994 Colgin; 1995 Araujo; 1997 Harlan; 1995 Pingus; 1997 Dal Forno Amarone Flight #7 Three Germans TBD SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2004 12:00PM RED BURGUNDY, LOIRE AND ALSACE AT CRU The restaurant formerly known as Washington Park has a new chef, Shea Gallante formerly of Bouley, and a new name, CRU, and the same great wine list as before. It is fitting that we celebrate the wines of Burgundy at perhaps the country’s best wine list of Burgundies. We snuck a Chave Hermitage Blanc in as well! Champagne Reception Flight #1 1973, 1976, 1983 Trimbach Clos St. Hune; 1983 Chave Hermitage Blanc Flight #2 1937 Leroy Richebourg; 1937, 1947 Clos des Lambrays; 1949 Rousseau Chambertin; 1955 Leroy Chambertin Flight #3 1945, 1949, 1962 Vogue Musigny V.V.; 1959 Marey Monge Romanee St. Vivant Flight #4 1978 Dujac Clos de la Roche; 1978 Jayer Echezeaux, Richebourg, Cros Parantoux Flight #5 1929 Les Gaudichots; 1942, 1945, 1949 La Tache Flight #6 1959, 1962, 1971 La Tache 1959, 1962, 1971 Romanee Conti Flight #7 1985 Leroy Mazis Chambertin Cuvee Madame Collignon; 1985 Meo Camuzet Richebourg; 1990 Roumier Musigny; 1990 Ponsot Clos de la Roche V.V.; 1990 Dugat Griottes Chambertin; 1990 La Tache; 1993 Leroy Chambertin Flight #8 1921 Bredif Vouvray; 1947 Huet Vouvray Le Haut Lieu; & 1989 Trimbach Clos St. Hune VT SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2004, 8PM AROUND THE WORLD AT PER SE This evening will featuring the wines of classic California, Italy, Spain, Australia, and Portugal. Thomas Keller, of French Laundry fame, has landed in New York’s new Time Warner Center with a bang and quickly has one of the Big Apple’s hottest tickets. We will be ready to go Saturday night, after a quick nap, of course. Flight #1 1935 Simi, 1941 Inglenook, 1951 & 1968 B.V. Private Reserve, 1968 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Flight #2 1970 Ridge Montebello & 1971 Eisele, 1974 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard, 1975 Phelps Eisele, 1978 Diamond Creek Lake Flight #3 1925 Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva; 1922, 1942, 1953, 1968 Vega Sicilia Unico Flight #4 1947, 1955 G. Conterno Monfortino Riserva; 1955 Biondi Santi Riserva; 1961 Giacosa Santo Stefano Riserva; 1971, 1978 G. Conterno Monfortino Riserva Flight #5 1978 Giacosa Santo Stefano Riserva; 1982 Gaja Sori Tilden; 1985 Sassicaia; 1990 Sandrone Cannubi Flight #6 1927, 1935, 1945 Taylor; 1948 Fonseca; 1963 Noval Nacional; 1931 Noval SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, 2004, 12:00PM BORDEAUX AT VERITAS The restaurant that turned the wine world upside down is the perfect scenario for our grand finale, as chef Scott Bryan will tantalize our taste buds with his amazing cuisine. Flight #1 1900 Margaux; 1921 Cheval Blanc; 1926 Haut Brion; 1928, 1929 Latour; 1929 Ausone, Cheval Blanc Flight #2 1945 Haut Brion, Mouton Rothschild; 1947 Cheval Blanc, Lafleur, Petrus, Vieux Chateau Certan Flight #3 1949 L’Eglise Clinet; 1950 Latour a Pomerol; 1953 Lafite, Margaux; 1955 La Mission; 1959 Haut Brion, Lafite, Mouton Flight #4 1961 Latour, La Mission, Palmer; 1961 Lafleur, Latour a Pomerol, Petrus, Trotanoy Flight #5 1975 Petrus, 1982 Lafleur, Le Pin; 1982 Mouton; 1989 Haut Brion; 1990 Margaux Flight #6 1921, 1928, 1937, 1949 Yquem $25,000 per person

Ginger beer Ting

It seems to me that most people in the world are in some ways hypocrites. Whether based on the doctrines of established religions, general ethics, stated principals, etc., most people seem to exercise a certain level of easy virtue or flexibility in that they rarely absolutely adhere to their supposed philospohies, i.e., they practice hypocrisy. However, most people also don't aggressively attack these hypocrites. You just don't see people piling on so-called Catholics who engage in premarital sex or Jews who eat a tasty cheesesteak or, uh, ethical people who slightly cheat on their taxes. However, once the term vegetarian is used or misused, everyone gets an attitude. Granted, the non-Buddhist (cause Buddhists are trendy and cool and therefore generally above attack) vegetarians have frequently been annoying in their own aggressiveness, but if everyone applied the same approach to most hypocrisy as they do to this particular topic, society would collapse into anarchy in about 15 minutes. I say, let the part-time- or pseudo-vegetarians do whatever it is they're doing and get on with it already. In the end, it just means there will be a little more seared foie gras for the meat eaters.

For what it's worth and, possibly, as an indication of potentially mixed priorities on the restaurant's part, a friend of mine was at Morimoto last night. He had been there only once before, but at that time he hosted 12 people and is generally an aggressively generous diner/tipper. I heard his reservations being made and, once Morimoto pulled his name up on their computer, they were most accomodating. When he arrived, Morimoto-san came to his table to greet him and declared that he was going to make him and his guest an all-hamachi tasting menu. While I don't have the details, he said it was incredible. (He has the experience and palate to judge.) So, given certain kinds of motivation, it seems that Morimoto may have been capable of rising to the occasion for any given diner last night, but chose otherwise.

I enjoyed the general Bad Ass experience in Park City around 5 years ago. If I remember correctly, they knew how to make decent lattes and cafes au lait, and would let you hang out comforably and hassle-free. I'm not sure I'd rave about it, but I have a generally positive recollection. That said, I certainly have enjoyed better Kona-specific experiences, most notably bringing coffee home from Hawaii that had been given to me by a higher-up at one of the Koan growers associations. The rich, chocolately flavor was incredible.

Sometime around late 1996, Jim Quinn began contributing to Philadephia's CityPaper (where Holly Moore was responsible for many of my tasty and fattening forages). He wrote an article that was basically a review of both american restaurants and restaurant reviewing during the past roughly 40 years. It was incredibly interesting and informative and would be a great addition to this thread. However, I don't have the article and didn't find it in the Citypaper archives online. Anyone have a lead on this?

For me, guests = chance for experimentation, and the more the better. I find that attitude and presentation (together with basic cooking wherewithal and a few quick fix-it-up tricks) go a long way in creating a successful experience.

It has been I while since I've been to either, but I used to eat at both on occasion. I always thoroughly enjoyed my Mirabelle experiences. Its menu is certainly old-school french - innards, butter, fat - generally well-prepared in reliable bistro fashion. It is also very much a family-owned and run restaurant, which produced lots of home-y, friendly moments. The decor and setting, on the other hand, is unattractive. While I generally like Les Routiers, I have a memory of it as conveying a sense of having been better before, if that makes sense. The service was always professional and friendly, the food fairly well done, but overall it seemed, not run down, but just slightly tired. I would certainly recommend La Mirabelle.

I don't know which cheese that might be, but , from the sound of the name, it might actually be from Valencia as "val" is sometimes pronounced "bval". I'm unfamiliar with valenciaros as a construction, but, who knows?

Although I haven't tried this myself, I remember hearing that adding a raw potato would draw out some of the spice. Just remember to remove the potato before serving.

I strongly agree with Craig on this. I have a friend who loves pinot grigio. I was so put off by the terrible value that Santa Margherita is that it drove me to find some reasonable alternatives. Nothing exceptional, just a solid, affordable "house" pinot grigio for my friend. I ended up with Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio at about $9 per bottle when bought by the case (in NYC). There are many equally attractive alternative pinot grigios at much better prices.

NYC - $18-20.

Erminia remains one of the most romantic spots in the city, as far as I'm concerned. La Grenouille is also lovely. One if by land, etc is a nice setting, but don't eat there. Go somehwhere else first, then head to OIBL to get an afterdinner drink by the fireplace as the piano player plays. While I love L'Impero, I don't find it romantic. Too crowded and bustling. Asiate is not remotely worth the cost. If you are so inclined to go there, however, I would highly encourage you to reserve a booth, as they are virtually private and are lovely. The food just pales in comparison to the setting.

I ate at Asiate last night with three others. We sat in a fairly private booth, decorated with kimonos, colorful pillows, and smack up against the windows overlooking Broadway, Trump Intl Hotel and Tower, and bits of the park. Like many new restaurants, it seems, the tables are a comfortable size, making it impossible for those serving to comfortably reach the diners on the inside. So any filling of glasses, addition or removal of plates, cutlery, etc. requires the involvement of the diners. The basic menu is $65 prixe fixe. This includes an appetizer and an entree only. The table was served a plate of gougeres that were good. We also had glasses of champagne (Nicholas Feuillatte NV rose at a stunning $22 per glass - still cheaper than the bottle!). While billed as an asian-french fusion restaurant, I found that there were a number of asian-french collisions. The rolls, for instance, were basic and well-made french rolls, but had been shellacked with nori and that sweet soy-based (?) coating found on Japanese rice snacks. It took away from the roll's basic pleasure. The amuse bouce was a cold soup served in a small cup. It looked almost like a coddled egg, as it was a cream-based pumpkin and some other root vegetable soup. Very rich and tasty - not too sweet. Appetizers were large. I had rice paper wrapped crab meat with some shredded vegetables with a pomelo sauce. There were three of these and they were generally forgettable. The sauce was nice, the crab was tasteless, the garnish was tasty. One other appetizer was scallops that had been seared appropriately. I don't recall the sauce, but this were praised by all (largely for the simple food cooked simply aspect of it). Oh yes, we ordered a bottle of 2002 Morey Chassagne Montrachet (around $85-90). This was nice, if initially served a bit warm. (By the way, as you walk into the restaurant, you pass dramatic wall-to-ceiling glass wine shelves holding what must be a thousand wines bottles, mostly stored horizontally, with some sections vertical. It works.) Post appetizer, we were served "caesar salad soup." Very cool - Asiates' nod to el Bulli. Served in small, cup-like containers, there were beads, liquid, and a white foam, together creating a modified caesar salad-ish sensation. There was no anchovy (flavor or otherwise) in this, and the foam was bacon-flavored. My entree was branzino that had been pan-seared, served over mashed potatoes along with a verjus and a seared scallop. The scallop sat next to a glob of ponzu sauce that was completely unnecessary and, when given the chance, a bit overwhelming. The fish was very nice. Other entrees included salmon and lobster. There was an additional charge for the lobster (maybe $7, maybe $15 - I don't remember). Those eating the lobster were disappointed. I'm not sure how it had been prepared. Likewise the salmon-eater said it was fine, but not noteworthy. Desserts ordered included chocolate three ways (the one prep I rememebr was a warm white chocolate liquid -something between a hot milk shake and melted ice cream). I had a very tasty quince tart served with a basic chestnut ice cream. There was also a chocolate fondant that was well-received. Followed by an espresso and a cappucino, the bill was $650 (incuding tax, pre-tip). In the end, a pleasant meal, a lovely setting, decent service, with a few forced-fusions-for-fusion's-sake accents. And, in the end, just not remotely worth the price. (By the way, there was a funny/sad near-monologue by the server concerning one menu item. The menu includes wagyu beef. When asked what that was, the server said that "It is kobe beef." Then why isn't it called kobe? "Oh, it's from Washington state, but it's kobe. Kobe is just the grain and beer that the cattle are fed. Oh, and don't worry about it being from Washington. It doesn't have mad cow. It comes from a small farm that's really, really careful..." The inaccuracy about the kobe beef aside, it was a funny slide down into mad cow defensiveness in front of a group that wasn't worrying about it.)

Well!?!?! Don't leave us hanging? What was the secret? Is it the baking soda in the boiling water?

Interesting article. I remember reading an interview with a Starbuck's strategist who said that a basic premise of its expansion philosophy (which justifies the existence of a Starbuck's on every corner) is that "no one crosses the street to buy coffee." This seems to be supported if modified to be "no one crosses the street for inferior coffee" or even possibly "no one crosses the street for Starbuck's coffee" (depending on the availability of viable alternatives in the well-made coffee arena). As refelected in the article, clients of the established, quality java purveyors seem to continue to support those stores despite the Starbuck's presence.

With cocky bravado and jolly condescension, display how easy it is to use a friend's cheapie mandoline to make french fries. This friend being a very good cook and author of 6 cook books - she explained that the mandoline she owned just scared her. "HA!" I cried. "Stand back and let me show you how it's done!" After a number of successful passes (with what was definitely a device designed to maximize the chances for self-mutilation), the general consensus was that it was indeed an easy-to-use and convenient device. After a few more potatoes, I excused myself to use the bathroom, but, really to examine if the fleshy part of base of my thumb was in ribbons or just scratched. Foruntately, it was closer to the latter than the former. I returned to the kitchen to extoll the importance of fine knife technique, the undesirable features of the cheapie mandoline, and to exhibit the proper way to eat crow.

trying to count five switching over to seven seems to confound some.