Done like Dundee... Gone like Gandhi...

Next Song for the Jukebox

2012-02-04T00:38:00.000Z

DLDGLG Goes Griswold: First Day In Paris

2012-01-25T02:13:00.009Z

The following post is part of a series called "DLDGLG Goes Griswold" highlighting my recent trip to Europe from December 19th to the 30th. Stay tuned for additional posts in the coming months...

“Forget Paris,” Ahmad Wright wrote, undercutting my romantic impressions of being a writer.

I was struggling with my work and coming to terms with my life’s ambition when I began corresponding with Wright, a thriving freelancer.

Seeking his professional advice on becoming a successful freelance writer myself, I was hoping Ahmad would steer me in the right direction. He continued:

“I don't know if you've been there, but I haven't. I will no doubt, but the notion of the expatriate writer making millions off of novels and socially conscious, hip articles, while seducing the women of the world is the dominant literary fantasy […] okay well maybe it's mine (smile) but it will not help you get published. Forget lattes and big bottles of wine.”

As I prepared for me and Nic’s trip to Europe, I considered the experiences that I’d be trying to capture. Yet, I couldn’t get this advice out of my mind.

At least, I couldn’t erase the notion that the reality of something is often a far-cry from the fantasy.

Would I be able to resist the shiny veneer so often placed on “The City of Lights” by other writers like Gertrude Stein or Ernest Hemingway? I was sure I’d be capable.

And yet, I can’t “forget Paris” now that I’ve been there. I’ve seen their world with my own eyes. I can only express what I saw, fantasies and clichés be damned.

When Nic and I landed at Paris-Charles de Gualle Airport, we were half asleep and groggy. The pocks of Nic’s eyes opened carefully like little morning glories. It'd been a long trip.

When we exited the jet airliner, we dragged ourselves and our luggage through the airport to the metro train.

I sunk into the metro seat, soaked in jet lag, but happy to be at our destination.

We arrived at the Saint Michel-Notre Dame stop in the center of Paris and the city opened up before our eyes like a kid’s pop-up book, with the overwhelming and gothic Notre Dame Cathedral filling our view.

It’s was early and brisk. It was also a workday for Parisians who were scurrying along, business-as-usual.

We pushed on, down a handful of busy blocks absorbing the beauty of the architecture along the grand boulevards: sagging roofs, Beaux-Arts balconies, neoclassical columns and sculptures.

Our hotel, Jardin de l'Odeon, was a stylish auberge that sits in the bosom of the Latin Quarter.

It was cozy from the start as we checked in to a smiling and warm concierge. Since Nic and I were early and our room wasn't available they stored our luggage and we were free to survey the city.

So to kill time, Nic and I continued our exploration of Boulevard Saint-Michel while meandering back towards what became the de facto first site of our tour, Notre Dame de Paris.

We settled us down at Cafe Saint Severin just down the street from the cathedral and immediately ordered cafe au laits.

Nic's mother insisted we have the caffeinated treat when we arrived. But, more importantly, we needed one to give us both a little jolt.

Starving, I devoured a flakey croissant filled with rich almond frangipane and littered with almonds slices. The pastry felt like the first of many rewards for having traveled more than three-thousand miles across the globe.

Nic munched on a freshly baked baguette with ham, cheese, and slabs of butter - a combination that seemed to be ubiquitous among street food in Paris.

The streets were filled with store fronts featuring beautiful meats, breads, seafood, and delicate fare.

Passers-by included young women in tight trousers with high heeled boots, old ladies with shopping bags filled with morning groceries and aged-men with equally aged furry companions.

When we reached the cathedral, Nic and I studied the colossus frame and ornate design which was the product of over a century of construction.

Now, back home I had promised myself I wouldn't be tempted to overdo my writing of these memories in some ostentatious magnum opus.

(And as I write this, I continually draw back the reigns of the keyboard, governing the narrative toward calmer waters. So take my words with an appreciation for that effort.)

But, the rose window, among other sites on this trip, appeared beyond this world.

After a brief tour of the Notre Dame’s haunting exterior, Nic and I walked back down Saint-Michel towards Les Jardins du Luxembourg.

We circled the Luxembourg Palace, past the Medici Fountain and up along towards the basin with the Eiffel Tower quietly peaking through the background.

The garden grew yards of grapes, persimmons, and other fruit.

By this point, our caffeine rush began to crumble and we arrived back at our hotel just in time to access our room.

The accommodations were modestly sized with a closet, double bed, bathroom as well as a dicephalus entertainment center that served as both television and Apple computer.

Our room looked out from the fifth floor and down the street to Odéon Theatre. Nic and I poked our heads out of the window and studied the city around us, eyes drooping from exhaustion.

Then, we slept hard, tired from the trip and a long impromptu walking-tour we’d just completed.

In the evening, we made our way across the Seine River, staring at an active and sparkling Paris skyline.

We walked up through to the main plaza of the Louvre to La Pyramide.

The famous glass structure stood out of the ground like a giant, half-buried jewel. Camera flashes added glitter to it.

We made our way towards Place Vendome and the streets glowed and hummed with chatter.

The mixology world doesn't look to Paris for the newest cocktail creations. Still, I wanted to see how the European sensibilities interpreted classic drinks.

Nic and I entered the Ritz and headed towards Hemingway Bar, a renownd cocktail bar, which we soon found out was already full.

But we made the best of our situation, hovering creepily around an unguarded bottle of Louis XIII de Rémy Martin and what appeared to be ancient bottles of eau de vie.

With cocktail hour scuttled, our hunger got overwhelming. So Nic scouted our options on the street and chose a little restaurant called Le Bis Repetita.

We sat outside facing the avenue warmed from above by a heat lamp with a bottle of Chateau la Borie 2009 Côtes du Rhône.

The exotic aromas opened up the cherry and raspberry tones very nicely when it got past the lips. This wine just soiled the tongue.

Nic ordered their chateaubriand with a fois gras emulsion and sauteed potatoes.

The slab of savory fois covering the beef had that signature flavor delivered in its familiar rich and creamy texture.

The lightly seasoned potatoes were starchy and plump.

I ate a juicy entrecôte bérnaise accompanied with crispy pommes frites.

Needless to say, there was nothing left in the wine bottle or on our plates.

Walking back past the Louvre, filled with food but still unsatisfied thanks to our failed visit to Hemingway Bar, we decided to stop by another tavern on the way home.

Weeks ago back in the United States, I had stumbled across GG2P, a blog for Paris tourists, through Travel Onion (one of the sites I use to research food and drink within vacation destinations).

Le Fumoir had come highly recommended and, based off of the description, felt like a good fit for a night-cap.

We entered the lounge. It tilted towards the tourist clientele with tunes that reflected an early twentieth-century Americana, which had withered away long ago, and images of famous expats.

Still curious of what I'd get for a cocktail, we both reviewed the menu's alcoholic beverage section. I ordered a Negroni. Nic requested the Champagne Cocktail.

Nic's drink, which was beautifully garnished with some sort of brandied berry, had that mild sweetness and robust bitters essence that is quintessential.

My Negroni had nice balance but it was served on the rocks.

I wasn't quite thrilled with that dilution of water into the cocktail, which basically drove out most of the Campari flavor (my favorite ingredient) from it by the end.

And yet, there was an authenticity in the product that often seems missing back home.

I realized that while food and drink continues to improve in many parts of the States, many more experiences simply allow for unforgivably bad imitations of authenticity.

After another round, Nic and I paid our tab and made way back to our boutique hotel. We both lurched toward the bed and quickly slipped into deep sleep.

Tomorrow we would be venturing farther into Paris.

Nic and I would need all the rest we could get.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

The Capital Grille Chevy Chase Invites DLDGLG To Lunch!

2012-01-14T01:32:00.014Z

True Story: the last time I was at The Capital Grille downtown, I literally almost ran into Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota. But that's just the kind of place downtown Washington D.C. is.

I haven't spent a lot of time at the Pennsylvania Avenue location, but Nic has. She’s spent more time at that location than some of the wait staff employed there.

One thing’s for sure - we both love the atmosphere and wouldn’t miss a chance to eat there again.

So I was intrigued by an invitation I received to visit Capital Grille Chevy Chase for a taste of their new "Plates" lunch menu.

For $18, guests can select three plates from nine options - a soup or salad, a sandwich, and a side dish. I don't get out for lunch often so I was excited to make the reservation.

According to the Sales and Marketing Manager, Shelly Goorevich, this Capital Grille opened in 2009 just before Thanksgiving.

In those two years, Chevy Chase has tried to distinguish itself as a location where DC-area folks can enjoy the same high-level Capital Grille experience without making the trek downtown.

As we entered the dining room, Nic immediately noticed the abundance of space that this location had. Paintings of various celebrities and icons hung at nearly every turn.

Shellly explained that each picture featured an individual who’s had a strong association with the state of Maryland, such as Howard Hughes or Jim Henson (who went to University of Maryland).

The friendly hostess seated us and provided menus. After a minute, it was apparent that the menus had calorie information listed, which Nic appreciated.

Montgomery County, which had passed legislation requiring calorie counts on restaurant menus, carefully tested various menu prototypes with customers to help determine the best format.

The layout we were looking at tested the best.

After some intense negotiations, Nic and I ordered. (It's practically a crime for us both to order the same dish since we're so communal with our food.)

Nic ordered a glass of the Bella Glos 2009 Pinot Noir, which we shared. I got a dark cherry nose with sweet, peppery notes to the taste. We hoped it would be an adequate fit for most of the flavors that were going to be coming at us.

My first order was the New England Clam Chowder and I was happy to find the texture much heartier and chunkier than most clam chowders one usually encounters.

Nic's Roasted Red Pepper soup gently captured the smokey, grilled flavors that were likely extracted from the skin rather than the meat of the pepper itself.

For my main course, I ate the Wagyu Burger with a green bean salad. The burger's greens were fresh and leafy. The egg, as requested, was nice and runny.

Luckily, I was careful picking up my sandwich as the warm yolk from the egg jettisoned out the side. I was just fortunate that the rich yellow mess simply went away from me as opposed to on my lap.

The beans, which were mixed with sautéed onions, had a delicious crunch and a satisfying flavor to them.

Yet, in the final analysis, it was clear that Nic's Mini-Tenderloin sliders stole the show. Delicately cooked at Chef's choice with just a dab of Borsin cheese and mushroom spread, I could have eaten an entire platter of these little guys.

Nic's Roasted Root Vegetables also hit all of the senses in the just the right way. This little side dish was an earthy medley of parsnip, sweet potato, carrot, and celery root that made you feel comforted.

To close things out, we devoured an Espresso Cake and finished up the last few sips of wine. The cake had a deep rich brownie-ish quality that was fun to run through a raspberry syrup.

It couldn't have been a more perfect ending to the lunch.

In the end, Capital Grille Chevy Chase ensured we left with satisfied stomachs. Whatever they do, they do well and, I suspect, there’s another lunch there in our future.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

DLDGLG Embarks On Its First Event With CSOWG For The 2011 Drink.Write Conference

2012-01-12T04:59:00.004Z

You gotta love booze bloggers...

The Cocktail & Spirits Online Writing Group (CSOWG) held their 2011 Drink.Write Conference in Washington D.C. last December, and boy was it a blast.

Hosted by the incorrigible SeanMike Whipkey of Scofflaw’s Den, the conference encompassed a weekend of events designed to bring like-minded writers together for their appreciation of “the sauce” in whatever form that may take.

Among the Drink.Write attendees: Marshall Fawley III, Whipkey’s co-editor at Scofflaw’s Den; Chris Hwalek (a.k.a. DJ Hawaiian Shirt) of Spirited Remix; Matt Browner Hamlin of A Jigger of Blog; Courtney Randall of Cocktail Quest; Stevi Deter of Two at the Most.

The event launched at PS7's in Chinatown, where Mixtress Gina Chersevani and Chef Peter Smith summoned a flock of flavors that sent our taste buds flying.

This culinary duo didn't hold back.

Gina opened our dining adventure with a delectable Prosecco and Aperol mixed drink garnished with a Meyer lemon wheel holding up a fresh sprig of rosemary.

From what I could tell, this tipple served as a nice representation of the Aperol Sprtiz that's gained some popularity in The States these past few years.

One received quite the orchestra of aromas after sticking a nose in the over-sized wine glass.

But the flavors - mildly sweet and dry fizzy wine with a fruity and lightly bitter aperitif - made you fall in love with Gina's drink.

The choice of fare? Among the antipasto: Italian Wedding Soup with house-made sausage, Insalata de Rucola with house-cured Lomo (which, in turn, yielded a stimulating conversation with Chef about the art of curing meats), and Rice Balls nested in a ricotta schmear.

PS7's pasta and entree dishes included: Fettucini ai Funghi, Linguini with White Clams, Potato Gnocchi, Veal Saltimboca with house-cured ham and Chicken Francaise.

As one can see, it didn’t take long for an encampment of plates to occupy our table.

There are many details about the evening which would perfectly demonstrate the magic we experienced that night.

But it was Gina’s colorful tale about visiting family in Italy and her embarrassing attempt (and failure) at milking a goat that made my evening.

After a few shots of Averno Sambuca and B. Lo Nardini Acquavite di Grappa Rue, Gina unveiled her prized bottle of Eau-De-Vie Chartreus.

Bottled in France prior to the Nazi occupation, Gina stood fast and wouldn't open this handsome relic despite our eager pleas.

The circus continued further as the bartender at PS7's, who had finished for the night, unleashed his juggling skills.

He was slinging bottles and stalling them on his arms like they were acrobats in some Russian circus.

DJ Hawaiian Shirt and I logged in some quality time after almost a year of correspondence.

DJ's a George Washington University graduate who left the Foggy Bottom womb just as Tonic at Quigley's Pharmacy opened its doors.

He and I anticipated finally getting the opportunity to meet each other in person. DJ was, in fact, the only reason I even knew about Drink.Write.

Eventually, most of the Drink.Write attendees had to hit the road. But SeanMike, Courtney, and myself continued to carry the torch and made our way to The Passenger.

We secured the end of a pleasant evening with a few more cocktails and beers.

Needless to say, the next morning was rough.

As planned, the next evening called for a loosely formatted show n’ tell session in the private dining lounge at Jack Rose.

A small army of imbibers huddled around the medium-sized bar as guests unleashed their possessions.

I counted more than twenty bottles of varying categories perched on the bar which were open to anyone who wanted a taste.

Each bottle’s owner presented his or her reasons for bringing their booze in addition to any nifty facts about the liquid inside.

When everybody had their say, the attendees were let slip to sampled whatever spirit peaked his or her interest.

Among the guests in attendance, The Ministry of Rum’s Edward Hamilton, who I first met two years ago at the 2009 Craft Bartender’s Guild Repeal Day Ball at PS7's.

A year later, Ed, Nic and I picked up where we left off when we returned to the Repeal Day Ball at the Maison Biltmore Mansion in 2010.

He clearly hadn't forgotten us and reignited one of the warmest friendships that we’d established in the craft-cocktail world.

Jake Parrott of Ledroit Brands was also among the other past Repeal Day friends that I encountered again.

Little did I know, we would continue to run into each other in the coming weeks (but that's for another post).

As the main event closed at Jack Rose, the remainder of the evening played itself out again at The Passenger, where a congregation of bloggers and cocktailians landed.

The Drink.Write attendees continued their discussions while swimming in some of the best mixed hooch Washingtonians can buy.

The next morning, SeanMike had secured a Washington D.C. Temperance Tour with Garrett Peck.

(Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the informative expedition this time. I'm hopeful I can take advantage of it at some point in the near future.)

While I spent my afternoon at Susan Soorenko and Carla Hall's media event the Drink.Write attendees primped for the 2012 Repeal Day Ball.

Nic and I had determined months ago that, with our trip to Europe only a couple of weeks away, we would have to skip the ball this year.

But, as I understand it, the ball was a gas.

Sunday brunch took place at Bourbon in Adam’s Morgan. All of the attendees, save Courtney and Matt, were there attacking their brunch and laughing it up like a bunch of kids.

I partly wished I could share in the memories of the ball with the group. Yet, I felt content enjoying rich breakfast food and listening to their stories.

To finish things off, SeanMike brought us back to Jack Rose where Nic and I witnessed our first Speed Rack - a women's bartending competition that raises money to fight breast cancer.

I was hardly prepared for the apparent role reversal built into the format as some of the best craft-bartenders in the business mixed it up while wearing women's clothing.

The sum of these events left me excited to join my brilliant new friends again in future boozy events.

A week later, as Nic and I flew out to Paris, I couldn't help but reflect on the new writers I'd met and how lucky I am to be involved with such interesting folks.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

"There’s something strangely satisfying about incorporating booze into your cooking, isn’t there?"

2012-01-11T06:05:00.002Z

DLDGLG writes for DC Füd about its first five ideas for booze in desserts!

"This convenience store may be the oddest place in North America to enjoy some of the best beers around -- a quirky testament to Seattle's redoubled passion for the frothy stuff..."

2012-01-06T16:26:00.001Z

"Convenience stores occupy a strange niche in our landscape. We're always grateful for them when we need them -- that midnight run for smokes, or cough syrup, or overpriced milk for the baby. Yet who doesn't feel a small relief to escape their racks of porn and their late-night flourescent melancholy? You don't linger at the mini-mart. Their whole raison d'être is speed: You get in, you get out.

That's why perhaps the most interesting thing about Super Deli Mart isn't the beer at all, but what beer has wrought: community."

Off to Europe... See You Next Year!

2011-12-19T16:19:00.000Z

I'm off to Paris, France and Bad Ischl, Austria for the holidays with Nic. When I return, I'm sure to have plenty of material to cover from my trip (as well as some items I meant to report about before my trip). Hopefully, I'll be drowning in great French wine and traditional Austrian beer.

In the meantime, if you're interested in what I'm up to you can follow me on Twitter. I hope to dispatch a few tweets, if not several, while I'm in the old world - particularly when I'm in Paris.

Au Revoir and Auf Wiedersehen!

Next Song for the Juke Box

2011-12-17T20:59:00.000Z

Susan Soorenko and Carla Hall Want You to Meet Alchemy & Moorkeno's

2011-12-16T01:12:00.000Z

Carla Hall and Susan Soorenko are crafting sweet dreams in Silver Spring, Maryland right now.

Tucked away just outside of The District's city limits, you will find a factory rendering a vision of the good life through treats.

If you aren't familiar with Susan, you should be familiar with her clever brand of ice cream, which can be found in sixteen Whole Foods locations in and around Washington D.C.

You can also find her products in various other independent or organic markets.

Anyone who has watched the past few seasons of Top Chef knows Carla. She's vivacious and funny.

Since the competition, Hall's become a point of pride for locals in the restaurant and food industry. Currently, she's one of the hosts of ABC's daytime food show, The Chew.

Susan launched the original Moorenko's Ice Cream Cafe in McLean, Virginia but has since moved her operations to Maryland. Moorenko's website reads:

"Lovingly local, and frankly, fabulous. That pretty much sums up the frozen desserts made by Moorenko's Ice Cream in Silver Spring, Maryland. Our artisanal ice cream is made in small, carefully monitored batches (that means we have to taste every batch, but we're willing to make that sacrifice for you)[...] Our goal is to spoil our customers for any other ice cream!"

Warmed by her passion for ice cold treats, Susan lures her customers to a world of frozen food that most people wouldn't think possible.

Carla's developed her own line of cookies with Alchemy and hopes to win over not just your sweet tooth, but also your savory tooth. Alchemy's website reads:

"Our artisan cookies are baked to perfection and contain only the finest ingredients – European-style butter, organic sugar, flours, couverture chocolate, artisan cheeses, fresh nuts, seasonal fruits"

Mexican Chocolate Chip. Hawaiian Wedding. Goat Cheese with Dried Cranberries.

There were few containers where I didn't pull out a cookie bite packed with flavor.

Some of Moorenko's perks include a seemingly endless catalog of flavors and, more importantly, allowing clientele to customize ice cream to whatever flavor they desire.

Of course, if one chooses to do so, he or she would begin consultation and coordination with Susan to ensure, collectively, that a high quality product is crafted to satisfaction.

Moorenko's flavors that stuck out for me: the Campari and grapefruit sorbet as well as the prune and Armagnac ice cream (naturally - this is a booze blog).

The Campari and grapefruit had a bright and cleansing taste. The Armagnac ice cream blended bits of prune in with each rich brandy-flavored scoop.

Hall urged us to pair many of her sweet petite cookies with the hot tea being served - and this proved to be a delicious combination that didn't overload the tastebuds with sweetness.

Carla's savory cookies were paired with Syrah from a winery called Vint Hill.

Want to make your own vino? Vint Hill will set you up with grapes. You craft your own wine complete with a customized label.

Also, accompanying the cookies was a port-style wine made by La Grange Winery in Haymarket, Virginia called Snort (seriously).

By the end of the media event, I found myself charmed by both women and their products.

"Happy Days Are Here Again!!!"

2011-12-06T00:38:00.000Z

Happy Repeal Day everyone! Make sure you pour yourself (and at least one other person around you) a glass of beer, wine or spirit to celebrate your Constitutional right to booze!

Cheers!!!

Booze Exploding at 8900 Frames Per Second

2011-12-01T04:38:00.000Z

Phantom Cocktails from Ty Migota on Vimeo.

Cinematographer, Ty Migota, filmed the opening credits of something called How To Get Laid.

Then, he took the unused clips and produced an entertaining short called Phantom Cocktails.

I think about that famous scene from...

I N C E P T I O N

where everything explodes. Watch it and prepare to be mesmerized.

(h/t: DW)

Spirited Remix Improves Upon The Improved Cocktail

2011-11-18T04:19:00.003Z

I'll be attending the Cocktails & Spirits Online Writers Group (CSOWG) event Drink.Write this December in D.C. At this event, I'll finally get a chance to meet DJ HawaiianShirt of Spirited Remix. I'm continually impressed with his blog and often find new things.

Recently, one of those new things was the Improved Cocktail.

"2 oz spirit
1 dash simple syrup
1 dash aromatic bitters
1 dash Maraschino
1 dash absinthe

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist."

DJ loves this easy tipple and it's not hard to understand why. He writes:

"It doesn't sound like much, but [Jerry] Thomas knew what he was doing when he codified this thing into the printing press."

Now, like me, a thought that DJ has grappled with is unintentionally creating a cocktail that might already exist. No decent person would plagiarize and anyone could suffer from cryptomnesia.

Making things worse, the craft cocktail movement has progressed to the point that stealing has become a significant discussion. At the end of the day, it leaves an amateur like myself wondering what the most prudent course of action would be. One could certainly scour the internet for the beverage in a Google search - or at least give it the old college try.

DJ finds peace of mind from some fellow cocktailians:

"Since then, I've gotten encouragement to shed humility by going ahead and naming cocktails that I've made, even if doing so seemed a bit exorbitant."

And the original remix that DJ formulated?

"Oklahoma

1.5-2 oz Cruzan Black Strap rum
heavy dash simple syrup
heavy dash aromatic bitters
heavy dash Maraschino
heavy dash absinthe

Build over ice in small tumbler. Garnish with orange twist."

Cheers!

NEW: Darcy O'Neil has some guidance.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

"When [Emily Alexander] moved to Massachusetts in September, she said, she was 'very surprised' to find out happy hours were forbidden here."

2011-11-16T00:23:00.000Z

"'I’m a grad student; I can’t afford a bunch of drinks,' said Ms. Alexander, 23. 'So I’d love it if they [lifted the ban]. I have a ton of friends in D.C., and that’s what they do after work."

Indeed they do.

(h/t: Reason)

A FIRST LOOK: Hellbender Brewing Company Breaks into D.C.'s Craft Beer Scene

2011-11-13T20:17:00.010Z

Image: Hellbender

Church had let out and cars began filling Florida Avenue in Northeast Washington D.C. as I walked up to Patrick Mullane’s apartment.

I could see water was boiling in a giant pot outside his door and NFL football sounded from the television inside.

Patrick poked his head out and smiled.

“Perfect timing” he said. “I’m just about to pour the grains into the lautertun. I could use your help.”

I rolled up my sleeves. I wasn't expecting to do manual labor but this was a visit with one of The District’s newest breweries, Hellbender Brewing Company, and I considered it a privilege to make beer with them.

The brewery, which goes public this coming week before Thanksgiving, will be the fourth that I tallied within the capitol city's limits.

Patrick and his business partner, Ben Evans, who've lived in D.C. for around two decades combined, began the endeavor.

Since DC Brau hit the scene earlier this year, The District has been on the threshold of a local craft beer explosion.

Emerging from this local brew revival are other businesses like Chocolate City, and Three Stars - each attempting their own distinct beer making philosophy and style.

Hellbender's first beer release will feature three flagship products – a Kölsch (ABV 5.1%), an IPA (AVB 7.2%), and a Red Ale (ABV 6%).

They also plan on doing seasonal brews similar to a pumpkin ale I had helped Patrick make when visiting his Northeast D.C. apartment.

Why did Hellbender choose a Kölsch style as one of their products? For one thing, there are not many Kölsch beers in this city.

Ben and Patrick also feel like many of the products out there either miss the mark or are weak imitations of the traditional German Kölsch.

Hellbender hopes their Kölsch brew is in a category all its own. Tasting it for myself, I found it fits right into that style yet appears a little darker and comes off a little dryer than the German Kölsch.

Ultimately, I feel like it's a winner and reflects these brewers' philosophy - traditional recipes realized with domestic ingredients.

As for the ales, Hellbender likes them with fruity aromas and brews them to reach universal appeal as opposed to others, which they feel are either too sweet or too watery.

Hellbender’s IPA has a forward hoppiness and not a lot of caramel malt. The layering of hops renders the beverage bitter but without the hard landing that one can get from some IPAs.

With each sip, one gets more of a sense of how much care these guys put into their work.

Over the course of four years, Patrick and Ben have envisioned an enterprise that reflected all of those things that the two love about local craft beer.

“Our idea of success is to be in the best local beer in D.C.” Ben said. “We both really got into beer because of local, hand-crafted brew and we just want to bring that same experience to this community.”

By the time Ben and Patrick met each other, both were brewing their own beer with regular success.

Eventually, they would get together with a sampling of their own suds, tasting and comparing what each other had done.

“We’d literally be throwing a party and, while the rest of our friends were having fun drinking our beer and getting blitzed, Ben and I would be sitting in the corner critiquing each other’s brew,” Patrick said.

I asked them if they accepted the term “craft beer” for what they were doing, they both agreed. “For us, it all just boils down to good ingredients, good practices, and good imagination,” Patrick said.

So, how did they choose "Hellbender" for the name of their brewery?

With Chocolate City, DC Brau and Three Stars, Washingtonians don’t just simply have a local beer to drink, they also have a sense of gratification when holding a bottle or can with a namesake that relates in some way, if not ironically, to the District of Columbia.

Ben is a biologist and has always admired the Hellbender Salamander.

Indigenous to this part of North America, the Hellbender also happens to be nearly threatened, if not endangered despite being one of the largest salamanders in the world. If nothing else, it helps bring attention to one of his favorite animals.

It also helps that "Hellbender is a pretty kick-ass name.

Ultimately, though the science never strays too far from the beer with these guys - and that's a good thing. Yeast is a living ingredient and Ben knows how to work with it.

“He is very meticulous. He’s obsessive compulsive about the health of the yeast.” Patrick said while also revealing how Ben will take the occasional sip of their yeast for quality control purposes. He's obsessed with growing and feeding the buggers.

But that's not a bad obsession to have. Waste happens when you don’t know what you’re doing. Many brewers who are just starting out rely on their own money to make beer.

Gallons of product can be easily wasted if, say, the yeast isn't quite right.

Subsequently, what you realize is that other aspiring brewers might not have been able to bend their learning curve as easily as the guys at Hellbender have.

And the brewery's ambitions don't stop at yeast.

This past year, Ben has been growing seasonal hops on his parents’ land in upstate New York, which he hopes to use in Hellbender’s products in the near future.

The Evans property, in fact, still contains feral hops that are over seventy years old.

It seems before the late 1920s, New York State produced a substantial amount of hops for the market. Then Prohibition came along and wiped out nearly the entire industry.

Fast forward to today and Pacific northwest states like California, Washington and Oregon dominate the hops industry in this country.

Ben’s planted ten different hops varieties amounting to a total of thirty plants. The varieties that he planted will allow him access a wide spectrum of beer styles.

Unfortunately, the plants are still pretty young and Hellbender won’t be able to produce enough hops for harvesting until the second year.

So as D.C.'s craft beer market continues to expand there's excitement in the air. Hellbender plans on energizing the field even more with their products.

As I finished the interview, I reflected on how great this brewery will be in The District, where craft beer is gaining attention and appreciation that is long overdue.

With my next sip of beer I looked into my glass, realizing I was drinking the beer I helped Patrick brew a few months earlier. It was a tasty pumpkin ale.

"Lordy," I thought to myself, "that's good beer."

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

So DC Is Making Beer Now! But Wait... Why Aren't We Getting Cheaper Prices?, Cont.

2011-11-03T02:31:00.001Z

Jeff Alworth of Beervana isn't so impressed with Tammy Tuck's City Paper piece, which I wrote about last week:

A magnum opus on beer pricing, and we come up with no real explanation. My guess is this: craft beer is in its novel, exotic phase in DC and there isn't a huge amount of competition. As a consequence, the small group of consumers who are supporting the local breweries are willing to shell out a huge premium on a price of beer. If the market were healthier, bigger, and more competitive, those prices would drop like a stone.

If that's true, it seems beer-loving Washingtonian entrepreneurs need to get to work opening up more breweries.

Food Bloggers Gettin LOOSE!!!

2011-11-01T03:36:00.000Z

It's the first Wednesday of the month again and the DC Food Bloggers will be holding their happy hour at Hill Country Barbecue Market.

Elena Brent Rosemond-Hoerr of Biscuits and Such will be hosting. The event starts at 6:00 pm.

"[Eli Lehrer] argues that 'molecular gastronomy' will be the ruin of fine dining in the District. He singles out my restaurant, Rogue 24... I would like the chance to respond..."

2011-10-30T18:45:00.000Z

"All cooking is essentially manipulating molecules and any first year culinary student who has watched bread rise knows this to be true."

Next Song for the Jukebox

2011-10-30T18:33:00.000Z

So DC Is Making Beer Now! But Wait... Why Aren't We Getting Cheaper Prices?

2011-10-29T19:27:00.000+01:00

Tammy Tuck of City Paper tries to understand why the prices of local craft beers are so high in the District compared to notoriously expensive cities like San Fransisco:

"Ask craft-beer folks about prices and they tend to stress their product’s artisan quality. Of course you can find some cheaper swill, the logic goes. But it’ll be made with rice or corn instead of barley and other fine grains. A can of National Bohemian, for instance, will set you back just $3 at Smoke & Barrel—and a mere $2 at the Raven. To craft devotees, that’s like opting for a McDonald’s burger."

Ok, so good things cost money. But, surely it wasn't always like this, right?

"The modern craft beer movement began in California. Pioneering breweries, like Anchor and Sierra Nevada, have been in operation since the late ’70s and early ’80s, when lower-priced mass market brews set the tone for the industry. In contrast, D.C.’s beer scene came of age much later and grew out of the rising popularity of Belgian beers, which tend to fetch higher prices to begin with."

But what about the global brewing giants? It's not unusual for a mega-corporation to exert influence in the market. Tuck explains:

"Another big factor impacting the price of craft beer at the distributor level is the bigfooting influence of Big Beer [...] In other words, when the price of Blue Moon, a Coors product, goes up a buck, your beloved Bell’s Two Hearted Ale may suddenly suck up another one of your singles, too."

Ah, so maybe if we examine the distributor level of the business we can find some answers for consumers. What about them? Aren't they being a little greedy?

"Craft aficionados, of course, love to gripe about the middleman. And it makes sense: The distributor isn’t anyone’s beloved local beer bar, and he’s not anyone’s innovative craft brewer, either."

Unfortunately, the new wave of establishments that we love and which bring vitality to so many Washington D.C. neighborhoods may have a part to play in the price:

"every one of the complaints leveled against wholesalers and distributors could be leveled in other markets too. To understand D.C.’s price situation, it makes more sense to look at those snazzy, beer-focused taverns that have sprung up here over the past decade"

Not surprisingly, the upward trend ultimately rests on the consumers themselves:

"The District’s neighborhood politics—which make it very easy for local residents to get in the way of liquor licenses, adding new costs for retailers—also pushes prices above where they’d be elsewhere. Washington may have seen a gastro-pub population boom, but many of those births required tavern owners to hire pricey lawyers to navigate Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, who are able to wring sometimes costly concessions from new establishments. The overall effect also reduces competition."

As a former bartender at Tonic at Quigley's Pharmacy when they spent a year struggling for a liquor license, I had a window into the political side of all this. DC's ostensibly grass-roots neighborhood governing system presented more than a few hurdles for Tonic's owners in 2008.

And while few people openly complain, there have been comments made mostly by tourists and out-of-towners in Tonic about the cost of fare and booze seeming a bit excessive. But what are the owners going to do when they have more than a year's worth of legal bills?

Hopefully, I'll be able to bring a little more perspective on the District's growing beer industry in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Mount Pleasant's Tonic Fills Up to Take A Bite Out of Breast Cancer

2011-10-26T03:47:00.001+01:00

Lightning struck again for Take a Bite Out of Breast Cancer last Tuesday evening. Only this time, the crowd filled Tonic in Mount Pleasant - sister to Tonic in Foggy Bottom.

Once again, Lisa Shapiro of Dining in DC made it through along with Rick Amernick and his DC Captial Striders Running Group. The group, which often gets involved with volunteer or charity races and events, has over three thousand members.

I haven't seen the numbers from that night yet. But it seemed like every corner of Tonic was occupied by customers.

There's a heap of pictures posted for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

And I want to thank everyone again for coming out to both Tonic's for the Take a Bite events. Thanks for showing your support.

Foggy Bottom's Tonic Welcomes Take A Bite Out of Breast Cancer

2011-10-15T16:39:00.004+01:00

If you were one of the unlucky ones who didn't get a chance to visit Tonic at Quigley's Pharmacy this last Tuesday for Take A Bite Out of Breast Cancer, all I can say is that you missed something special.

Dining In DC's Lisa Shapiro, who is the Chairwoman and founder of the campaign, was among the many guests who participated.

Others bloggers included Kate Michael of K Street Kate and Bindesh Shrestha of Desigrub. Bindesh actually served as the co-ambassador to Tonic with me and came through with a congress of friends who were a pleasure to meet and dine with.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.

I've compiled pictures of the evening after the jump.

Oh, and if you missed this past Tuesday's event you still have an opportunity to contribute through Tonic in Mount Pleasant this coming Tuesday, October 18th. That day, 25% of sales (including alcohol) will go towards the charity.

There are other restaurants and bars participating throughout the rest of the month. So if Tonic on Tuesday doesn't work for you check out the other participating restaurants at the Take a Bite Out of Breast Cancer website.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

Bad Tipper Summons Internet Wrath... What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

2011-10-14T17:11:00.003+01:00

Image: Victoria Liss via Facebook

There's an amazing story that's been circulating on the Internet these past few days that highlights the kind of unnecessarily malignant treatment of service-industry workers - a topic DLDGLG feels a duty to discuss. Unfortunately, this drama quickly pivots, almost predictably, to a demonstration of the hazard of misguided Internet mobs.

A bartender named Victoria Liss received not just a heartless gratuity on a check but also a vicious tip regarding her weight while working at Bimbo's Cantina in Capitol Hill, Seattle. The customer, identified on the credit card receipt as Andrew Meyer, wrote, "P.S. you could stand to loose [sic]a few pounds" in addition to leaving no tip.

Clearly, this patron's dietary advice is the definition of an ad hominem attack.

In her anger, Liss decided to turn to the Internet, essentially releasing the kraken. Using Facebook against the previously anonymous Meyer, she posted a picture of the scribbled insult. Solidarity with her begins to form around the Internet.

Taking it a step further, the west-coast bartender decided to single out her nemesis on Facebook after some research. From there, her swelling audience was provided a target for their ire. It's at this point that our tale of comeuppance goes viral:

"The story made its way to the Seattle Weekly, Stranger, Gawker and Jezebel, hitting a nerve with fellow bartenders. There was talk of 'waiter rage,' 'wanted posters' and enlisting techie friends to help unload 'haterade' on the 'douche.' Angry messages were sent to the man, depicted as the cheapest, meanest customer ever to have stepped foot in a bar.

Except there was one problem. It was the wrong Andrew Meyer."

Whoops!

Since then, Liss has apologized for her hasty accusations and wisely increased the privacy settings on her Facebook. Dan Savage, who had previously contributed his own colorful perspective on the incident, seems to have replaced his fiery words for a similarly apologetic response (which he calls "The Great Andrew Meyer Pogrom of 2011").

Unfortunately, a lesson in human dignity in the service industry and the inspiration of basic human solidarity became completely lost to a lesson in Internet bloodletting.

A collective face-palm could be felt around the Internet these past few days. Particularly, among bartenders, who saw an opportunity to expose some of the callousness that they confront day after day.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

Washington DC Foodies and Drinkers Will Be Taking a Bite Out of Breast Cancer in October

2011-09-29T17:22:00.003+01:00

In the month of October, DLDGLG will be proudly participating in the Take a Bite Out of Breast Cancer campaign.

Take a Bite partners with Washington D.C. area restaurants and bars to help raise money for Pink Jams! - a DC-based non-profit that helps bring awareness and advocates early detection for both women and men.

Individual restaurants and bars will take a day, week or more and donate a portion of their sales to the campaign.

Lisa Shapiro of Dining in DC is the chairwoman for Take a Bite and has been working tirelessly to organize the month-long effort.

She's gathered her fellow food bloggers to help spread the word. In doing so, each blogger will be tethered to a participating establishment acting as an “ambassador."

When Lisa approached me, there was no question I had to get involved.

Two of my aunts, Liz and Annie, as well as my grandmother, Mary, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. My grandmother was a twenty-year survivor but not without having gone through life-altering surgery.

In September 2008, my aunt Annie went through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. In 2009, her doctors discovered that both of her BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes tested positive. With this knowledge she elected to undergo major surgery.

Since then, she's had numerous operations between March 2010 and June 2011, and is still undergoing reconstructive procedures.

My aunt Liz was diagnosed in 2008 and underwent chemotherapy, radiation and surgery that year. In August 2011, the cancer returned and she underwent major surgery again this past September. She too will be enduring major reconstructive procedures like her sister.

Despite it all, both Liz and Annie have remained steadfast and courageous.

As you can see, there was no question that I had to contribute to the Take a Bite campaign.

Like my aunts, countless individuals around the country must interupt their lives in order to save it. I believe participating in this charity can help others beat this cancer.

And if Take a Bite accomplishes it's mission with only one person, without a question it would be worth it.

As an ambassador, I will be bringing my own readers’ attention to the contributions that both Tonic locations are making (Foggy Bottom on October 11 and Mount Pleasant on October 18).

Friends and acquaintances are encouraged to visit the other restaurant locations that are participating as well.

View Take a Bite Out of Breast Cancer in a larger map

So next month, please help drive up sales and, thus, increase the amount that particular eatery or saloon will be donating. It's a worthwhile cause.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

Next Song for the Jukebox

2011-09-29T03:05:00.000+01:00

Apparently, California Wasn't So Infusiastic About a Craft-Cocktail Trend, Until Last Wednesday

2011-09-28T05:24:00.001+01:00

New York Times Diner's Journal writer, Robert Simonson, has been on the case. I call this "Jacob Grier bait":

"On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown of California announced that he had signed Senate Bill 32, which overturns a legal vestige of Prohibition that made it unlawful to infuse alcohol with fruits, vegetables, herbs or spices. Such infusions have been popular in the country’s best cocktail bars for several years, and the old rule became a nuisance early last year when State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents started warning bars like San Francisco’s Bourbon & Branch that they were breaking California law with their house-made tinctures and bitters.

To bartenders, the sudden enforcement of the obscure rule was alarming."

Obviously, cracking down on liquor infusions is just asinine.

“More than anything else, it’s similar to developments around the country where cocktail culture has outpaced the legacy of Prohibition laws that exist,” observed Frank Coleman, senior vice president of The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., a trade organization representing distillers that spends a lot of its time trying to strike down obsolete, antiliquor laws."

Libertarianism and mixology collide.

(h/t: MixCo)

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

MxMo - Local Colors: The Vermouth Cooler with Sloop Betty

2011-09-26T06:18:00.002+01:00

For Alcohol Alchemy's Mixology Monday theme, "Local Colors," I chose a Maryland-based distillery which produces Sloop Betty vodka. This theme made for great timing because Sloop Betty will be visiting my bar, Last Exit, for a tasting on Thursday, October 13th. And I am currently thinking of ways to utilize this local spirit.

When I drink Sloop Betty I get a ethanol nose but the taste and texture is very smooth. I even get a very slight creaminess.

According to the website:

"Sloop Betty was an historic ship that sailed the Chesapeake Bay. The name appealed to us because of our love of Maryland's history, as well as her amazing location right on the ocean and Bay."

The cocktail I chose to mix is called the Vermouth Cooler. I concocted this little ditty based on the recipe I found on CocktailDB. I couldn't find anything bad to say about this tasty sipper and so I submit it to my favorite monthly cocktail party, MxMo.

The Vermouth Cooler

- 2 oz Dolin Rouge vermouth

- 1 oz Sloop Betty vodka

- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice

- tspn simple syrup

- splash of soda water

Glassware: Collins glass

Add vermouth, vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup into shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a Collins glass with fresh ice. Top with a splash of soda water. Garnish with a lemon twist. Enjoy.

BTW - If you are in the Mount Pleasant area on Thursday, October 13 and would like to taste the Vermouth Cooler for yourself (or another drink with Sloop Betty), pay a visit Last Exit. And if I'm there, make sure you let me know you read about it here.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

“Tucked away on a quiet stretch of Mt. Pleasant, is a cocktail lounge which looks like the inside of Al Capone’s private jet...”

2011-09-26T00:55:00.000+01:00

Girl Meets Food meets Last Exit. Mary Kong, the distinguished DC food blogger, visited my bar a few weeks ago and provides her readers a glimpse of our little cocktail lounge.

"When Boccato co-founded [Dutch Kills] in 2009... he wanted the place to be self-sufficient in ice production... This past spring, however, Boccato, 35, made good on that dream when he co-founded Hundredweight"

2011-09-08T08:16:00.000+01:00

Richard Boccato is getting some attention from Forbes Magazine:

“'Economists call what Boccato did 'backward integration,'” says Susan Clark Muntean, assistant professor of entrepreneurship and management at Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. Clark Muntean defines it as going back one step in the production process and claiming control over it. For example, she says, instead of buying tires from a supplier, an automobile manufacturer might decide to buy a factory that makes the tires."

They say Boccato is clearly a serial entrepreneur and an astute one in the craft cocktail world:

“'Although all entrepreneurs should constantly be on the outlook for increasing their revenue streams, it’s often serial entrepreneurs who can spot opportunities because they’ve had more experience,' says Joel Shulman, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, who also owns and manages EntrepreneurShares, a publicly traded mutual fund.”

“'Serial entrepreneurs get better at cutting costs, such as buying refurbished, rather than new equipment, and exploring new ways to make a profit,' he says.”

Mixology Continues to Revive History with Soda Fountain Cocktails

2011-09-03T23:47:00.000+01:00

I first heard about Darcy O'Neil's book Fix the Pumps in the Columbia Room about a year ago. At the time, I had a sense for where some of this stuff was going even without having read the book.

This past week, NPR had an interesting piece focusing on this trend that's been emerging in D.C. mixology. America Eats bartender, Owen Thomson, and PS7's mixtress, Gina Chersevani, are featured in the report. Keep your eyes peeled for this stuff.

"'Why do bartenders drink Fernet?' Her interlocutor ventured that 'in terms of shots, it's not as harsh on your throat as whiskey...'"

2011-09-03T14:26:00.000+01:00

"adding, in a whiskey-stained voice, 'and it really does settle your stomach.' The fact of the popularity of Fernet Branca among professional drinkspeople was, to Sophie's mind, a proof of the cult-inspiring nature of amari in general."

Food Bloggers Gettin LOOSE!!!

2011-08-26T14:27:00.000+01:00

We'll be getting a taste of China's Sichuan Province next week because Jason "Foodgeek" Yaskoir of DC Füd is hosting September's DC Food Blogger Happy Hour at Mala Tang in Arlington. If you write about food/drink or simply love to talk about it, this event will feel like home. The festivities begin at 6:00 pm sharp. And don't forget to bring your business card.

Kitty O'Shea's: “Saturday, August 27, is our last day of operation..."

2011-08-26T01:18:00.001+01:00

"Feel free to express your displeasure with Schupp Companies – Park Street Development.”

(hat tip: ARLnow.com)

Next Song for the Jukebox

2011-08-22T23:36:00.000+01:00

The DC Craft Bartender's Guild Presents The 4th Annual Rickey Competition at Jack's Rose: "Don't Drink Too Many..."

2011-08-12T01:13:00.000+01:00

Image: David Wondrich via Twitter

Jack's Rose in Adam's Morgan hosted this year's DC Craft Bartender's Guild's Rickey Competition. Each drink from each competitor could have been the winner and the finale took place in one beautiful saloon. Last year, Alex Bookless became the district's queen of the Rickey. This year, Gina Chesevani went home the champion.

A couple of personal favorites for me were Julia Hurst's Rubarbra Streisand and Alexandra Nichols' Riquitita.

Congratulations to Gina for her winning drink, Rapture of the Rickey! She had a wonderful cocktail and continues to churn out delicious tipples.

Slate's Farhad Manjoo Is Sick of Your Restaurant's Terrible Website

2011-08-11T16:56:00.010+01:00

Farhan Manjoo really wants restaurateurs to bring more common sense to their restaurant's web presence. He begins his Slate piece (titled "Overdone: Why are restaurant websites so horrifically bad?,") by chopping at Fleur de Lys' obnoxious website. He writes:

"The first thing that pops up when you visit the website of the San Francisco restaurant Fleur de Lys is a nearly full-screen animation of celebrity chef Hubert Keller's autograph. That makes sense—when I'm choosing a restaurant, the first thing I want to know is, Can the chef sign his name?"

BURN. Read up on the other scathing website critiques by Manjoo as well as those websites that he gives a solid passing grade. They are quite entertaining.

"The pisco people believe that a rising viscous tide will lift all ships..."

2011-08-11T04:11:00.000+01:00

"In that spirit, Peru's de facto pisco ambassador to the United States is one Johnny Schuler, who is hustling Pisco Portón as an 'ultra-premium' brand and product-placing bottles adjacent to Shakira's authoritative writhing in music videos. This is not to slight the efforts of Peru's actual ambassador to the United States, whose office is helping to promote Macchu Pisco and who, just the other night, plied the noted trendsetter Antonin Scalia with pisco sours."

Our Adventure at Iberostar's Grand Hotel Rose Hall Resort in Jamaica. "Ya Mon!"

2011-08-04T02:38:00.005+01:00

Thousands of gallons of water pressed down and around me at the decompression stop. Bubbles rushed around my face from the air regulator in my mouth. I was feeling ill but calmly designed a plan of action in my mind for the moment I couldn’t take it anymore. “How did I get here,” I thought to myself as that moment approached. My eyes, sealed behind a diving mask, frantically locked with Nicole’s only a few feet away. Here I was, scuba diving in the middle of the ocean in Jamaica, and we were a long way from home…

The Arrival

We arrived at Sangster International Airport on the island of Jamaica around noon, Greenwich Mean Time. As the hum of the jet winded down the passengers were making that unmistakable fidgeting sound. Safety belts started to unclick. Sleepyheads woke up. The seats crinkled with stretching and moving bodies that had just been safely pressurized in the airplane’s cabin.

The island nation was the home of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and Dennis Brown. Ian Flemming wrote his famous spy novels at the Goldeneye estate in Oracabessa. Johnny Cash had even spent significant time and money there. And now, Nicole and I were here on our first tropical vacation for four days and three nights.

After passing through immigration and customs, Nicole and I emerged from the airport looking for the Jamaican Tours shuttle that was headed to the Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall resort where we were staying. The airport sits just on the lip of east Montigo Bay and the resort is less than five miles away along the northern coast.

View Iberostar Rose Hall Beach All Inclusive in a larger map

Instead of taking the shuttle, we nearly burst with excitement and jumped into a cab. The locals (who attacked us with "Ya Mon!") had practically begged Nicole and I to patronize one. Our driver's name was Baba.

Baba was an older gentleman who looked like he could have been any one of the old-timers stooped out along Columbia Road in Washington D.C. He seemed eager to set the tone for our trip.

Nicole and the driver chatted away as I peered out the window. My eyes absorbed colors of verdant foliage, sparkling aqua and bright rust. I noticed Jamaica's generally depressed appearance.

I knew about (although I hadn't quite expected) the island's dream-like beauty juxtaposed against its relentless poverty. Piles of trash littered some of the streets. Locals sluggishly strolled along or across the busy Jamaican interstate.

Eventually, Baba's taxi drifted leftward into a turn and large iron gates slowly opened. When we arrived bellhops scooped up our luggage and welcomed us with another "Ya Mon!" “They must be saying this for the tourists,” I thought to myself as I paid our cab.

(Later, we discovered this expression was not an act as I had suspected. Nicole and I actually came upon a couple of Iberostar employees - who didn't even know were were there - talking to each other and saying "Ya Mon!" with every other word. Jamaicans used it almost the way an American teenager says "dude".)

At the service desk Nicole and I were greeted with two chilly mimosas.

The receptionist asked us if this was our first visit to Jamaica and we replied that it was. She then informed us that our rooms were going to be upgraded to a beachfront view. We weren’t quite sure why but I remained silent so as not to disturb our fortune.

The Accommodations

The accommodations at Iberostar Grand Hotel were impressive. The bathroom was spacious with an ice cream white Jacuzzi-style bathtub for two. Next to the tub was an extended stall with a "waterfall" shower head that streamed down on you from above.

The security safe in the closet was big enough to fit a twelve to fourteen inch laptop and more. That same closet housed a mini-fridge stocked with an assortment of sodas and juices.

Of course, a pair of Red Stripes and a gang of airplane bottles were handy along with a couple of "grab-bags" of chips (presumably for late-night munchies).

I had read on blogs from Travel Onion or online forums that front-row beach seating at Iberostar was cut-throat. Our butler seemed to confirm this information while introducing us to our room.

But, Nicole and I found beach chairs mostly vacant. Why? Because we were in the Grand Hotel instead of the other neighboring Iberostar resorts. We had chosen our destination wisely.

In fact, while we were allowed to tour any part of the extended Iberostar resort shore, outsiders to the Grand Hotel were restricted from our particular stretch of beachhead. And many of those outsiders were kids. Their distinct wrist bands indicated that they had limited access, unlike ours.

Nicole and I headed for a spot on the beach once we were settled in our room. It was time to do what we had come to Jamaica to do: relax and soak in the Caribbean sun.

The Beach (and The Cocktails)

We settled into a shaded spot on the beach. Iberostar staff seemed to sense our presence because a wonderful server named Raquel appeared out of nowhere and introduced herself to us. She was a skinny thing with a genuine, bright smile.

She was our favorite attendant and we got to know her more than anyone else at the resort. Nicole and I also made sure we were Raquel's best tippers.

We'd often found ourselves sitting in front of the beach gripping sand with our feet and sipping the last ounces of our cocktails. Suddenly, we’d see Raquel following up behind us with another round, more towels, or more sunscreen.

As cocktails go, Iberostar served what I expected: tropical potables like mojitos or rum punches as well as frozen drinks like dirty bananas or daiquiris.

The frozen drinks came from prepackaged and preserved mixers which were thrown into a blender and spun into a perfect icy frappé.

I ordered each "boat drink" until deciding it was best just to settle on the tastiest one.

After a while, Raquel, who was fascinated with my dabbling in mixology, told me she was an aspiring mixologist too. She disappeared for fifteen or twenty minutes. And when she returned she carried a bright green drink filled to the brim.

I tasted the concoction. It was an attack of melon and rhum flavors.

"Nice work," I said, visibly adjusting to the potent spirit within the drink. Raquel smiled. As the buzz from the liquor quickly began to kick in, I realized it was time to eat something.

The Gastronomy

On the first day, Nicole and I had made the recommended reservations to four restaurants on the resort. The rest of the time we ate at the daily buffet that faced the beach.

I noticed that much of the seafood we had in Jamaica was rubbish. We figured out by the second day to stay clear of shrimp. We would later have a lobster experience that was delicious - but that seemed to be the exception.

In fact, some of the food was questionable and we resolved to make rather simple choices with room service. One guest we befriended claimed that the omelet he had received one morning was rather rank and inedible.

Some food was quite delicious. The jerk chicken, which is a native specialty, could be found in that buffet and was cooked perfectly.

The first restaurant Nicole and I visited on the island was a Teppanyaki-style place that opened in the evening. Guests sat at a table encircling a standard iron griddle with other couples. The chef was firing off of cacophonous rounds by hitting his spatulas on the surface of this large iron plate.

Our entree was a fried-rice dish with a choice of protein. Nicole chose lobster. I chose beef. We were happy to find both plates a success.

Our next meal was a surf and turf restaurant where we were served a filet and lobster dish. This experience was not a disaster. But it was unremarkable.

On one hand, the lobster was some of the better seafood we had tasted on the island. On the other, we seriously questioned the overall freshness of the plate.

The third restaurant produced a gourmet seafood platter that offered similarly weak results. The food simply wasn't fresh enough to pass.

The final meal was Italian-style which hit just the right notes. This food rivaled the Teppanyaki house from the first night. We ate fatly stuffed tortellinis that were full of flavor and Nicole was happy it was our last meal in Jamaica.

We took great care in evaluating other hot plates before actually consuming them. The rest of our food choices centered around the lush fruits that were available at the resort such as mango, melon, and guava.

Overall, we managed with our options. But some of the food in the resort should have been summarily deep-sixed into the depths of the ocean.

The Dive (or How I Almost Drowned, Twice)

We could have gone para-sailing or snorkeling. I wanted to go scuba diving instead. Had I really internalized the seriousness and commitment of this activity? Not really. Not even when the release forms were right in front of me.

To make matters more interesting, Nicole and I elected to get Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certified. The PADI dive center, Dressel Divers Club International, sat at the end of the Iberostar beachfront property.

Our first instructor, Tristan, was a handsome and likable fellow with an aussie accent. Our second instructor's name was Arnaud. He had a smaller frame and an accent as well - my guess was French.

To say the least, performing a barrage of exercises and procedures during a vacation was challenging, particularly for Nicole. Ultimately, she chose to not do the second dive and, thus, not complete her certification.

I, on the other hand, believed enduring a few hours of instruction for the experience would not matter once I was hovering on the ocean floor. My mind was fixated on that goal.

If I were really lucky, I thought, maybe I’d even see a shark.

Our first dive began a little awkwardly. We started our tour in a spot called Jamaica Reef. It took us a little time adjusting to the disorientation of the ocean current and our buoyancy.

Finally, we relaxed and enjoyed the view of rocky coral, swaying vegetation and tropical fish. The lionfish was a spectacular aquatic animal to view in its habitat, as poisonous as it is.

Tristan (perhaps in an effort to distract us from any discomfort we were probably feeling) herded us together and placed a strange little crab into our hands. The tiny crustacean danced around in my palm first, then Nicole’s.

Unfortunately, our trip almost ended in a nightmarish fashion while decompressing.

I had already felt slight nausea from the ride out to the dive spot. The motorboat had vigorously bounced off the choppy island waves taking us out there. The sick feeling stayed with me while we explored the bottom of the sea floor.

At a decompression stop, I looked up to judge how much farther we had to ascend with Tristan before it was safe. I could see the light of the sky undulating.

Eventually, after locking eyes with Nicole, I lost control and was forced to vomit ten to fifteen feet underwater.

During the ordeal, so that I did not asphyxiate, I had to rip the air regulator calmly from my lips and allow everything to go. When I finished, I jammed the regulator back into my mouth and reset it before finally returning air to my lungs.

We reached the dive center and my entire body chemistry felt as though it had been turned inside-out.

Secretly, I worried I had decompression sickness. The inert gasses that had been trapped inside my body as a result of ambient pressure could have rendered me demented or paralyzed.

I immediately consumed a can of cola in our room as recommended by Tristan. It seemed to be a quick and easy way to help rebalance the gases in my body. I spent the remainder of the day recovering. Eventually, I found myself making light of the ordeal while eating dinner with Nicole.

Would I quit? Absolutely not. The next day, I returned to the Dressel dive center eager to complete the rest of our scuba training.

We practiced a series of standard and emergency dive procedures in the resort pool. Then, later that day, we made our way back out to the deep blue waters to a spot called Rocky Shallow and descended down amongst the coral.

Having taken Dramamine the previous hour, the nausea that I had felt the day before was held in check. I had also revised my behavior to ensure I did the activity with more safety and efficiency. Yet, despite my caution, another perilous situation emerged.

During the final stage of our tour, our instructor, Arnaud, checked my air gauge and seemed alarmed by the amount of air that remained. My tank was running low sooner than expected.

My heart raced as Arnaud rushed to Tristan with the remaining time I had. At this point, I began to review the emergency procedure I had been taught only two hours earlier.

When Tristan arrived, I quickly tethered myself to him using his secondary regulator. We then began to slowly ascend while Arnaud, still at the ocean floor, gathered the rest of the trainees.

Tristan signaled, “You ok?” I signaled back in the affirmative. I was shaken but I was fine. After a few minutes we finally made it back to the boat.

On the boat, I kept my eyes on the Jamaican shore nearly a mile away. Once everyone was on board, all I could feel was the engine vibrating the entire vessel as it headed back to the dive center.

I had completed the final exercise for PADI certification and my diving experience in Jamaica was ending. I reflected on the two dives and felt lucky. I still do.

Even now, when dreaming about the two incidents here at home, my breath shortens a bit and I recoil. Yet, despite those unfortunate developments the entire activity was priceless.

In the final analysis, I had taken my body to extreme levels of pressure and unfamiliarity to experience something I would normally only have seen on television. Being in the deep, as well as Jamaica, had taught me something new about myself.

Final Thoughts

Moving forward, I hope to gather information from a gastronomical perspective. I hope to take some time, form a plan, return to the island and search for more authentic local fare.

In the end, Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall was a fitting introduction to the island of Jamaica. The resort had certainly secured a slice of paradise there. And, while some aspects of the vacation were less than perfect, Nicole and I were very satisfied with our stay.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

Everybody Loves Rickey

2011-08-01T05:45:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow night they announce the winner for the DC Craft Bartenders Guild's annual Rickey Competition. The party is at Jack Rose on 18th street in northwest at the edge of Adam's Morgan and it starts at 6:00 pm. I'll be very excited to try some of the new approaches to DC's native cocktail. I'll also be interested in checking out Jack Rose which has gained a healthy buzz in the city lately.

The DCist posted the finalists which I've reposted below.

- Riquitita, Alexandra Nichols (Estadio)
- Rapture of the Rickey, Gina Chersevani (PS7's)
- Plum Rickey, Jason Strich (Rasika)
- August Rickey, Chantal Tseng (Tabard Inn)
- Rhubarbra Streisand, Julia Hurst (The Passenger)
- Summer Lovin' Rickey, David Fritzler (Tryst)

Congratulations to all of the finalists and good luck.

Readers can look for my report on this event in the coming days.

DC Food Bloggers Gettin LOOSE!!!

2011-07-30T18:25:00.003+01:00

Lisa Shapiro of Dining in DC is hosting the next DC Food Blogger Happy Hour at J&G Steakhouse on Wednesday, August 3rd at 6:00. I got excited just a minute ago while reading Lisa's blog and seeing the delicious fare being served. I am a big fan of crab cakes. I am also a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc drinking fool.

Political rant of the day: incidentally, it should be an interesting evening considering legislators on Capitol Hill will probably not have agreed on a debt ceiling compromise until late Tuesday night.

If a deal isn't struck, the United States government will be postured to default of its debts for the first time in its history.

Arguably, it may not be absolute Armageddon - but it will certainly be the topic of the day (besides food and drink, of course).

But I digress...

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

Next Song for the Jukebox

2011-07-27T06:30:00.000+01:00

"I always loved the outsiderness of the restaurant world."

2011-07-27T01:53:00.000+01:00

Chef Sara Jenkins of Porchetta and Porsena in New York writes an interesting article in The Atlantic. This piece provides not only an interesting window into the life of someone working in the restaurant industry (albeit successfully) but also touches on a perspective that I think Anthony Bourdain was partly trying to convey.

My favorite and most revealing quote about the industry:

"We work long hours trying to give people a joyful experience, and afterward we want to relax and unwind. But it's 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, and the only people still up with energy are our co-workers. We dissect the night over a couple bottles of wine in the restaurant or in another bar. We argue about the weirdo at table 53, discuss whether or not the kitchen could have timed things better, and fret about what we could have done differently."

And here's the quote I think Bourdain in particular would appreciate:

"But I want to experience a normal social life as well. I am no longer so enamored by the outsiderness of it all. I want to be inside too."

Market Bar in San Francisco Seems to be Offending Scores of Guests

2011-07-27T01:26:00.000+01:00

"NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!"

- Soup Nazi, Seinfeld

A couple of newlywed friends immigrated to San Francisco from Washington D.C a couple of months ago. Let's call them Lauren and Derek.

These two decided to meet up with friends at a restaurant called Market Bar for one of their first dining experiences. It sits just around the corner of the Embacadero side of the Ferry Building.

Unfortunately, Lauren and Derek's experience at Market Bar wasn't just unsatisfactory, it was horrific.

They shared their surreal story with Nicole and me a few weeks ago. But one enraged friend from the group jumped on Yelp and provided highlights of the ordeal:

"A group of us went in about 6:40 to get some cocktails and dollar oysters. We sat down around 6:50 and the waiter took 10 minutes to get to us... We know because the clocktower went off as he was taking our order. He said they couldn't do our 2 dozen order because happy hour was over. We asked if we could talk to the manager and explain we had been there for 20 minutes. Manager comes over and couldn't have been ruder. No apologies for the wait. No "Sorry, we just can't". It was, "Just leave if you don't like it"

Fine, it's a free country, so we decide to finish our drinks and leave. As we're leaving, a girl tells the manager we'd come to get dinner, drinks, spend some money, but because he was rude we were going to leave. His response....." F'ing leave you F** B****". The manager! Her boyfriend who hears this walks up pissed. THE MANAGER GRABS HIS GLASSES AND THROWS THEM AT ANOTHER TABLE, BREAKING A GLASS. He then repeatedly calls me to my face and our group F*****Ts. Yes, again, this is the general manager is yelling this!!!!"

For a second, leave aside the obvious insanity of a berserk restaurant manager spewing derogatory and offensive nonsense at guests. What kind of psychopath grabs someone's glasses and throws them across the room? Where else, aside from in a Bravo reality TV show, does an adult explode into a tantrum like that?

Others who witnessed the ordeal jumped onto Yelp to share their stories. (My emphasis added).

Sunny J writes:

"This place is blessed with an amazing location, especially for after work drinks and small plates on a nice day plus $1 oysters. Seems like a home run right? WRONG, because the manager here is crazy, I've never seen anything like it before. He completely snapped at a fairly large group that was complaining, and when I say snapped I mean he went loco. Cursing, throwing stuff...I can't put into words the awkwardness. Something that you might see on a ridiculous SNL skit or some prank TV show, except this was no prank. I don't know what happened that led to this, but I'm surprised this guy didn't get his ass kicked."

Holly K writes:

"First time I've felt compelled to review (Holly's husband here), because of the absolutely rotten treatment we just received. I'm sitting here fuming and typing. We sit down at 6:45, waiter comes over at 6:50, we order drinks. He comes back at 7 on the dot, we order a dozen oysters advertised as $1 from 3-7pm on the menu. Waiter says he can't do dollar oysters anymore, despite us being there earlier. We ask for the manager. He's inflexible and downright rude. You'd think they'd care about our business, apparently not. He says last call for $1 oysters is 6:45. Menu says 7pm. He doesn't care at all. I say hey, work with us we're probably going to order a lot of food and drink. He says 'probably?' We said not with that attitude. He said fine, I don't have $1 oysters for you. None of us have ever been treated worse at a restaurant, much less by a manager. Shameful"

So, there are plenty of other negative reviews shared by others regarding this establishment and its management. I've compiled some of my favorite complaints below.

Peter G writes:

"My brother ordered a cobb salad and politely asked if he could get it without blue cheese and with a different dressing (one offered on the salad one above on the menu). Our waiter seemed taken aback by the request, but offered the vacant response, "Well, I hope they can do that." So did we, but apparently this request was out of line. A few minutes later, we witnessed our waiter being lectured by the manager, who noticed us watching, pointed at us, and told the waiter to shush. We were then informed by our waiter that changing the dressing would be impossible because the restaurant was too busy and it would be too confusing for the kitchen. Really? I wonder if they're also too busy to wash their hands. The manager was certainly too busy to speak to us in person."

Wes M writes:

"At this point I went to the hostess and she said she was not allowed to distribute menus until 3 pm. At this point I will freely admit I gave the, you can't be serious look and returned to my seat. Now i get you can't order food till 3 pm but we can not even look at the menus? To add insult to ineptness a mid-level manger I can only guess as he did not introduce himself, said he had done us a favor by giving us the one menu and now we were causing drama for his staff?"

Tamara A writes:

"As other reviews have mentioned, Market Bar is in a beautiful location, and is convenient to the Ferry Building. Unfortunately, the service was pretty terrible. The manager, in particular, was angry and inappropriate."

Dean T writes:

"The ONLY reason to ever venture into this dump is if you're looking to get some sun. The food is overpriced, the hostesses are brainless and the manager, Armando is a complete prick....just ask the wait staff. Horrible experience with some coworkers on Cinco De Mayo, and I will never return."

Shelly M writes:

"Well, I have to say, after reading the reviews on this place, I feel a bit more validated on what I'm going to review...After a weekend in the city, My two friends and I decided to head to the Ferry building for a late breakfast, then head on home. We were greeted with a friendly hostess, seatted outside, and had a nice waitress, with attentive service...However, during our wait for our food, 5 tables got seated around us, and they ALL got their food before us. We understand these things can happen, we mentioned it to the waiter, politely, she leaves. The manager, Alfonso, or Alberto, whoever, came over and started talking.....Horrible, he immediately went on the defensive, said to us. Well, "don't look around".....What??? He was a total jerk. If we would of had a man with us, I doubt that would of happened. Had a verbal altercation right at the table! the food came, luke warm, and my poached eggs were hard...Never, never going back, I can't believe they employ such a greasy, snotty manager.......Yuk, stay away from this place!!!"

This next review seems almost unbelievable...

Ethan K writes:

"Midway through the meal the manager (?) comes out and tells us that they can't have any food dropping on the ground, and they then took away my child's meal."

The next few reviews appeal to the ownership to jettison this bum from their business.

Erica L writes:

"I went for a networking event. First off, there was no host greeting people as they came in. Then, after I asked a woman where I was to go to get signed in, I put my coat, scarf and umbrella on a chair at a table. I walked to the bar to order a drink. A man then informed me quite rudely that I didn't need to stand in the bar to order a drink, to go back in the other room and someone will take my drink order. I went back to my seat, looked over and the same man was talking with a waiter and pointing at me. I figured he was telling him to take my drink order. Instead the waiter came over and told me I couldn't sit there, that I needed to stand and mingle. I stood up, said ok, grabbed my belongings and left. I felt very unwelcome and embarrassed by the whole event. Needless to say I will not go back. Not sure why they treat paying customers like the plague. On top of that when I tried to email them to complain the email bounced back."

Lynn S. writes:

"I can understand the policy of forbidding outside food, but the manager's delivery and tone were extremely rude and reflected disastrously on the restaurant. We happen to be a biracial couple and I certainly have my suspicions that this may have been racially motivated. Either that or the manager enjoys humiliating his patrons by going on power trips. Whatever the cause, the outcome was the same, us being extremely disappointed with the rude service. If the owners are reading this I would encourage you to take action; the manager is male, about 5'7", dark gelled back hair, light skin, medium build, wearing a very bright blue vest over a white collared long sleeve shirt, and black pants. We will never dine at this restaurant again, and we have thoroughly informed our many friends to do the same."

And the complaints just keep coming...

drew k writes:

"Since we've decided to simply walk out of the place before the food arrived, I can't comment on the quality of their dishes.
But I can assure you that their management is absolutely treacherous.
And judging by the reviews here, I am not alone."

Andrew W writes:

"Do not go here unless you like to eat crap and pay a ton for it. The staff is snooty. Make sure if you see the manager out on the patio while you're walking down Embarcadero you flip him off. When my expensive terrible food did come it had a curly brown hair in it which the manager refused to replace with a non-curly brown hair dish. Beautiful."

Sheila Y writes:

"Worst management ever!"

m p writes:

"whatever, i am never going there again. and im sure mr manager Arnando (or whatever he calls himself) is a very lonely man."

I'm sure many people have enjoyed themselves at Market Bar. But what's clear is that the establishment retains a manager who fits the definition of a loose-cannon.

If you are visiting or live in San Francisco, you may dine there. But apparently you dine there at your own risk.

Washington Man Takes Notice of DLDGLG

2011-07-22T23:34:00.000+01:00

I am man, hear me roar.

If today's your first day, it may surprise you to know that gentlemen are big fans of booze. So naturally, Washington Man, an independent capital area online magazine for chaps, kindly recommended DLDGLG to its readers this week.

Today, I compiled a list of notable quotes made by famous blokes (or commonly attributed to them) about alcohol. And they've been arranged by their approximate time period.

(Did I miss a good one? Share a quote in the comments below.)

"Wine is sunlight, held together by water."
- Galileo Galilei

"Better belly burst than good liquor be lost."
- Jonathan Swift

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
- commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin

"Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew."
- Charles Dickens

"Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune."
- Giuseppe Garibaldi

"Wine is bottled poetry."
- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
- Oscar Wilde

"The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober."
- William Butler Yeats

"A woman drove me to drink and I never even had the courtesy to thank her."
- W.C. Fields

"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water."
- W.C. Fields

“A horrid alcoholic explosion scatters all my good intentions like bits of limbs and clothes over the doorsteps and into the saloon bars of the tawdriest pubs”
- Dylan Thomas

"I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me."
- Winston Churchill

"Yes, madam, I am drunk. But in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."
- Winston Churchill

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
- Ernest Hemingway

"Don't you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure. When you work hard all day with your head and know you must work again the next day what else can change your ideas and make them run on a different plane like whisky? When you are cold and wet what else can warm you? Before an attack who can say anything that gives you the momentary well-being that rum does? The only time it isn't good for you is when you write or when you fight. You have to do that cold. But it always helps my shooting. Modern life, too, is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief."
- Ernest Hemingway

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day."
- Frank Sinatra

"I'll stick with gin. Champagne is just ginger ale that knows somebody."
- Hawkeye, M*A*S*H 1973

"You can't be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline -- it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER."
- Frank Zappa

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.”
- Hunter S Thompson

"If you are young and you drink a great deal it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat - in other words, turn you into an adult."
- P.J. O'Rourke

"Alcoholism is the only disease that you can get yelled at for having."
- Mitch Hedberg

"Beer is the cause and solution to all of life's problems."
- Homer Simpson

Visit WM often and keep an eye out for DLDGLG content in its continuing coverage of the exclusive interests of dudes.

"In 'Medium Raw' you write about your attempts to make your daughter hate McDonald's. I am curious to know how that is working...", Cont.

2011-07-17T21:53:00.003+01:00

Anthony Bourdain answered the top ten questions posted in an AMA on reddit as I mentioned a few weeks ago. The whole segment is embedded at the end of this post.

My guess is that the video was produced in anticipation of the new episode of No Reservations in Cuba which aired last week.

I had an opportunity to watch the response before it was taken down for audio adjustments. During that time, I thought about an unexpected answer to one of the questions posed to Tony (at 16:51). This reddit user asks:

"Who is Anthony really? You mock the Food Network and loath the culture that it has created around food, yet you appear as special guest Judge on multiple Top Chefs. You despise 'Foodies', yet you are one of the main inspirations for a new generation of 'Foodies'. Is there an internal struggle? Are you ever on the verge of saying 'fuck this', and opening a restaurant under a pseudonym (so the food, not your name, speaks for itself), where no one is allowed in the kitchen, and sous-chefs sign a non-disclosure form? Do you still have the passion to develop and experiment with new recipes?"

First, reddit fans around the world were probably thrilled that the chef expressed in the video an appreciation of the inquirer's username, "Drink Alone," which is an obvious reference to the "Forever Alone" rage comic meme.

Second, and more notably, Tony's response reveals either his full assimilation into the craft of television or a visceral revulsion to the inner-workings of the restaurant industry itself.

I also see the motivation for this response as being due in part to the crushing pressure of industry critique.

Certainly, Bourdain could pursue both endeavors and conceivably find equal success. Tom Colicchio does - among others in the industry. It's a shame that he's not interested.

But Tony seems to confirm the ambivalent feelings regarding ownership of an establishment in the service industry. For some, it's rewards don't seems so rewarding. It's difficulties seem so uncompromising.

Anyway, the video returned this past week. Watch the whole response and catch the critical quote which starts at 19:24:

"Listen... twenty-eight years standing on my feet in the restaurant business... I mean I'm a good chef at best and a good solid cook. But you don't know my name 'cuz of my food. I had twenty-eight years of it, I'm fifty-five now. I'd be kidding myself, and everybody else, if I pretended to really have much to offer in the way of cuisine. So no, I think I will live with this self loathing, the indignity and all the other stuff that comes with whatever it is I'm doing. I will take the bad with the good and go forward. Cooking? No, If I learned one thing about the restaurant business at twenty-eight years in the restaurant business it's that I never want to be in the restaurant business as an owner of any venture involving food."

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

Food Porn FAIL

2011-07-13T01:19:00.000+01:00

Terrible form with the bowl but textbook duckface.

Cheers!

(Hat tip: reddit)

MxMo: The White Trash Mimosa

2011-07-12T05:00:00.005+01:00

For July's MxMo, Cocktail ~~Virgin~~ Slut is graciously hosting this month's theme: beer cocktails. And while I'm sure everyone else is fashioning a well-crafted cocktail that involves some ingenious method of incorporating beer, I'm going shamelessly low-brow.

Despite this cocktail's empty calories, obvious lack of nutritional value and convenience-food quality, the general response from imbibers is that its delicious. The recipe is simple and the ingredients are available in most major supermarkets.

As a result, many customers who became fans of the drink have returned to my bar to boast that they now make them at home. Who am I to second guess the satisfaction of a customer?

The Background

Sometime between December 2007 and January 2008, a new bar in Foggy Bottom, Washington D.C. called Tonic at Quigley’s Pharmacy won approval to serve alcohol by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC).

But the approval was initially only for beer and wine. Spirits would not come to the bar until approximately four months later.

At the time, Tonic's management decided to create a set of beer and wine cocktails (or “mocktails”). One drink, which apparently sprung from one of the twisted minds working there, soon became an unlikely outlier. Its name seemed to come from a familiar scenario; a snarky comment that sticks and becomes the best possible cocktail name.

The White Trash Mimosa

- Miller High Life "The Champagne of Beer" (get it!)

- concentrated Tang

- ice

Glassware: pint glass

First, I'd advise mixing a little water into some Tang powder to make a concentrated syrup. Add ice to the pint glass. Add either a spoonful or a couple ounces of concentrated Tang to the glass depending on your desired level of sweetness. Fill with the champagne of beer. Lightly stir (the glass can get very sudsy). I added an orange peel for garnish. Enjoy.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.

Travel Onion Returns with a New Sheraton Hotel Tour

2011-07-09T21:29:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago, Travel Onion, which aggregates and indexes blogs for traveling consumers, had graciously asked me to attend another Sheraton group event which was showcasing two of the hotel's properties in the Washington D.C. region.

Only this time, Sheraton focused the group of bloggers on the path of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project which is laying track and adding Metro stations for the so-called "Silver Line" to Dulles International Airport.

Each hotel provided a tour of their guest spaces and amenities. Their approach - ensure the properties feel “warm, comforting, and connected.”

So escaping the grueling heat and embracing the cool climate controlled hotel lobby, I joined the tour group which was initially dispersed around the bar.

Some folks wrote blogs that primarily focused on food - writers such as Jason Yaskoir of DCFüd and Daphne Domingo of Go Gastronomy (writing for Dining in DC this time). And then there were others such as Kate Michael of K Street Kate and Anita Hattiangadi of Greg's List.

We all began at the Sheraton Premier Hotel near Tyson Corner in Northern Virginia and were later shuttled to the Sheraton Herndon Dulles Airport Hotel just a few miles down the road.

The hosts described the projects within the twenty million dollar renovations that would be happening at the Sheraton Premier before the end of 2012. Major renovations would be occurring ostensibly in anticipation of the completion of the Metrorail project in 2016.

Various elements of the facility will be changing, from the layout of the lobby and restaurant areas all the way down to the design of the furniture in the rooms. Our hosts guided us through the numerous features intended to enhance the guest’s experience such as “grab-n-go” food counters or the pod-style front desk design.

As with the other tours, each hotel greeted us with complimentary food and drinks. We all had an opportunity to chat with the staff and each other as the servers passed out Cosmopolitan-like cocktails called "the Sheratini" (naturally). As I sipped, our hosts listed off the ingredients - citron vodka, Chambord, triple sec, cranberry, and lemon. Platters of hors d'œuvre were passed around for us.

In Herndon, our hosts surveyed the facilities with us, going so far as to adorn a conference room with a banquet of sweets and treats for the bloggers. Bottles of red and white wine were served while Sheraton management conversed with their blogger guests. I indulged in several glasses of the Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio that was being served.

By the end, we were given, among other things, a complimentary bottle of Hob Nob Pinot Noir for our time. For those unfamiliar, Hob Nob is a darker Pinot Nior that wine-amateurs, such as me, tend to enjoy thanks to its sweeter profile.

Both hotel experiences were informative and entertaining. Starwood continues it's push to transform their properties into a different kind of hospitality experience. And as Northern Virginia adjusts to the coming metro expansion, Sheraton is there, ready to give consumers (and commuters) a hotel striving to stay ahead of your expectations.

You can catch my write up on the last Sheraton experience which was posted earlier this year at Dining in DC.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.

Next Song for the Juke Box

2011-07-07T03:14:00.000+01:00

Drinking With Hemingway

2011-07-04T21:24:00.012+01:00

On July 2nd 1961, standing in the doorway of his Idaho home, Ernest "Papa" Hemingway slid two cartridges into his favorite shotgun, placed the barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. Since his death, there have been hundreds of riveting stories about Papa and how he lived.

Just recently, during a visit to New York City's PKNY (of which I'll be posting about sometime soon), I chuckled when I saw an old beer ad featuring Hemingway in his Key West home. And these days, I can't help but reflect on his reputation as a writer as well as his reputation as a drinker suffering from mental illness.

According to A. E. Hotchner (and often gloriously retold by Christopher Hitchens), Hemingway use to read obituaries every morning while sipping on a cool glass of champagne. That particular story has always stuck with me as I came to study the author in college - understanding the person behind such classics as The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and The Sea.

This year, before the anniversary of Papa's death, in a fascinating New York Times op-ed, Hotchner reveals his thoughts on the paranoia that consumed Hemingway later in his life. Paranoia that turned out to be justified - the author had been tailed by the FBI until roughly 1961. Hotchner writes:

"Decades later, in response to a Freedom of Information petition, the F.B.I. released its Hemingway file. It revealed that beginning in the 1940s J. Edgar Hoover had placed Ernest under surveillance because he was suspicious of Ernest’s activities in Cuba. Over the following years, agents filed reports on him and tapped his phones. The surveillance continued all through his confinement at St. Mary’s Hospital. It is likely that the phone outside his room was tapped after all.

In the years since, I have tried to reconcile Ernest’s fear of the F.B.I., which I regretfully misjudged, with the reality of the F.B.I. file. I now believe he truly sensed the surveillance, and that it substantially contributed to his anguish and his suicide."

And on the heels of this revelation, Salon.com published an excerpt from Marty Beckerman's book The Heming Way: How to Unleash the Booze-Inhaling, Animal-Slaughtering, War-Glorifying, Hairy-Chested, Retro-Sexual Legend Within... Just Like Papa!, clearly satirizing the American icon. Before delving into Hemingway's "rules" for imbibing, Beckerman writes:

"These physical and psychological maladies suggest that imbibing is a bad thing -- with negative consequences -- but Hemingway told us in 'The Sun Also Rises': 'It seemed out of place to think of consequences during the fiesta.' Alcohol takes years off your life, but he told us in 'A Farewell to Arms,' it 'always makes you happy,' like a well-marbled steak drenched with blood and butter. (And with bourbon.)

Anything worth doing is more worth doing blitzed ..."

That may seem to be how Hemingway lived but it essentially cost the author his life. And the unfortunate circumstances of his mental health and alcohol abuse didn't allow even his closest friends to see this act of domestic surveillance being perpetrated by our own government (how's that for an Independence Day message).

Anyway, as Hitchens says, alcohol "is a good servant and a bad master." Make sure the booze remains your servant this 4th of July and have a safe holiday.

Oh, and if you're drinking, have one for Papa today.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.

Three Words: Free. Beer. Fountains.

2011-07-01T21:25:00.001+01:00

Do we have anything like this in the United States? If so, get me there straight away.

(emphasis added)

"One of the highpoints of the Bavarian Beer Week is the opening day, the Bavarian Beer Day, when the Bavarian Brewers Federation dispenses free beer to the public from a specially designed open-air beer fountain in front of the Federation’s 'Brewers House' in downtown Munich."

(Hat tip: reddit)

Food Bloggers Getting LOOSE!!!

2011-07-01T05:29:00.000+01:00

Hosted by Girl Meets Food.

Cure Bar and Bistro. Wednesday, July 6 at 6:00 pm. See you there.

"I'm not a chef... but probably neither are you..."

2011-07-01T03:56:00.003+01:00

Chris Rivest is onto something....

I don't know where this schtick is going. But it is hard not to laugh at what you are seeing. I just wonder if his cooking is legit.

In this episode, Rivest starts off by mixing up The Caesar. I hadn't heard of The Caesar before and, at first, didn't believe it existed. But I did find another website called The Daily Meal that featured the recipe. And Walter Chell really did invent it.

Similar to the Bloody Mary, The Caesar is apparently fit for hangovers but with a Canadian twist. By the way, I've never really been a fan of Bloodies. They are usually something I would take two sips from and then lose interest. It would go a long way with maybe a shrimp cocktail.

Anyway, watch Rivest mix it up (recipe below). Then, take a tour through The Rivestaurant's other hilarious videos.

(Probably NSFW - language)

The Caesar

- 1 1/2 oz vodka

- 4 oz clamato juice

- 2-3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

- 1 dash of Tabasco sauce

- celery salt

- 1 Lime

- fresh pepper

- fresh celery stalk for garnish

- ice

Glassware: pint glass

Combine all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Rim the pint glass with celery salt. Pour the mixture into the glass. Garnish with a celery stalk.

I'll be making one of these at Last Exit this weekend so if you're feeling adventurous come in and try one out.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.

"In Medium Raw you write about your attempts to make your daughter hate McDonald's. I am curious to know how that is working..."

2011-06-28T06:25:00.003+01:00

An Anthony Bourdain AMA has been posted on reddit. Supposedly, Tony will be answering the highest rated questions on video next Wednesday after midnight EST. The video will be posted the following week. I, for one, will be very interested to hear the chef's answers.

Parenthetically, I noticed a minor discussion about a complicated moment that happens to be one of my favorites from No Reservations. Bourdain was in Haiti after the earthquake. A segment captures the chaos the chef caused trying impulsively to feed hungry Hatians. A redditor named tuftington quotes Tony's narration in the thread:

"What happens is both predictable and a metaphor for what's wrong with so much well-intentioned aid effort around the world. Hungry people anywhere behave like hungry people. When you've got big kids and small kids, young people and old, many of whom haven't had a meal in days, in the real world, outside of the commercial in our heads, people get whacked with a belt. A struggle to keep order against the natural forces of the world, the strong against the weak."

The scene was heartbreaking but provoked some healthy reflection. It's those moments, among others over the years, that make the show stand out.

I look forward to viewing Bourdain's AMA video response next week.

(Hat tip: Marcus)

UPDATE #1: Anthony Bourdain made a video answering the top 10 questions. It was posted but then taken down because of technical difficulties but will be back. A new post on this video will be coming soon.

UPDATE #2: the new post is up.

"Liu wrote that the restaurant served food that was too salty..."

2011-06-27T06:13:00.000+01:00

"The judge also ruled that Liu should not have criticized all the restaurant’s food as too salty because she only had one dish on her single visit."

Taiwan jails a food blogger. True story.

(hat tip: TDW)

Is There More Than Meets The Eye in Tipping?

2011-06-24T03:34:00.000+01:00

NPR ran a segment yesterday that attempted to get at the heart of American tipping culture. Planet Money's Caitlin Kenney examines the more visceral questions that are typically underlying the discussions about gratuity.

Bartenders know all-too-well the various forms that question can take, such as, "why, for the love of all that's holy, do some customers give less than 15% tip on perfectly good service?" At first, Kenney seems interested in providing an answer here:

"Studies show that the size of the tip doesn't have much to do with the quality of service. The weather, how sunny it is, what kind of mood people are in, these factors matter just as much as how satisfied the customers are with the service they receive."

Jessica Gibson, a waiter at an Irish pub in Tulsa, Oklahoma, believes that the harder she works, the greater her tips are. Yet she also admits that when she's a customer, she always leaves a 20% tip, even if the service is terrible.

Like most people, Jessica tips pretty much the same amount no matter what."

This revelation is not new. Anyone in the service industry can tell you that seemingly frivolous circumstances can have a disappointing result on one's tip jar. That's why many seasoned FOH staff in restaurants across the country likely bank his or her income on a synthesis of great service and customer volume.

But Kenney isn't actually interested in how clientele tip. She really wants to know:

"if we don't tip to get better service, why do we it?

"Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration and [I love this] a former waiter at Pizza Hut, says there is another explanation: We tip because we feel guilty about having people wait on us. It's a way of saying: 'Here, have on drink on me when you're done working.'

This is the social pressure theory of tipping, an idea first put forward by anthropologist George Foster.

This theory explains why we tip some people but not others. We tend to tip in places where we're having a lot more fun than the people who are serving us: bars, restaurants, cruise ships. But we usually don't tip in grocery stores or dentist's offices."

That last part made me think back to the scene in Resevior Dogs where Steve Buscemi's character, Mr. Pink, refuses to leave a couple bucks for the waitress and Harvey Keitel's character, Mr. White, attempts to convey a sobering perspective to convince Mr. Pink otherwise (NSFW).

Incidentally, who the hell drinks six cups of coffee? Anyway,the implications of Foster's hypothesis seem to suggest that guilt, empathy, or even pure altruism, was a significant element to the formation of the tipping culture Americans are familiar with today. That would seem to contradict the idea that the market forces influenced the American tipping system (i.e. good service begets a good tip).

What are your thoughts on Foster's theory? When you stop to think about it, do you truly determine the appropriate gratuity based on some instinctive performance evaluation at the end of the meal? Is it even possible to keep a full tally of mistakes or exceeded expectations during the visit? If this theory is true and you worked in the service industry, would this change your perspective on why you are tipped in the first place?

The Home-Made Bitters Experiments: Cola and Malta

2011-06-22T01:03:00.008+01:00

After several months of false-starts and procrastination, I finally concocted my own home-made bitters. I spent a little too much time making the necessary arrangements. But once I acquired the more obscure ingredients the project was fairly easy to undertake.

My mission was to create two types of bitters for my first solo attempt: a cola bitters and a malta bitters.

Making Home-Made Bitters

I painstakingly gathered the ingredients that were listed on the literature that Derek Brown passed out to us at the first class in The Columbia Room. Naturally, he provided some insight as to where these ingredients could be found. One location that he mentioned was a Chinese gift shop in Chinatown. The other was online at Mountain Rose Herbs. I utilized both for this project.

Some minor variation made its way into the process but I tried to follow the instructions as best I could.

Last year, I mentioned that Brown’s method of making bitters suggested two types of blends: a bitter and an aromatic blend. Creating both blends gives one more control in balancing the ratios between the two.

In the basic bitter blend, I used:

- 1/2 tbsp wormwood

- 1 tbsp quassia bark

- 1 tbsp dried dandelion

- 1 tbsp gentian root

In the basic aromatic blend I used:

- 1 tbsp cassia bark

- 1 tbsp anise seed

- 1 tbsp caraway

- 1 tbsp coriander

- 1 tbsp dried lemon peel

- 2 tbsp dried orange peel

I put each set of ingredients into a jar with 25 ounces of 100 proof neutral grain spirit (Absolut 100 vodka).

First, I let the basic bitter blend steep in vodka for 48 hours. Then, I removed the ingredients from the vodka and cooked them in water for 3-5 minutes. Once cooked, I returned the ingredients to the vodka and allowed everything to steep for 48 more hours.

For the aromatic blend, I let the ingredients steep in vodka for 10 days. Then, I removed the ingredients from the vodka and cooked them in water for 3-5 minutes. Once cooked, I returned the ingredients to the vodka and allowed everything steep for 5 more days.

Once both sets of ingredients had macerated to their prescribed point, I strained both liquids. The result was two jars of bitters, basic and aromatic, ready for production.

Not content in simply creating a generic home-made tincture, I set out to add the flavors.

To do so, I simply reduced each soft drink in a pot and added the syrup into the bitters, adjusting as needed. The malta was very tricky because it hardened quickly. But with enough persistence I managed to make it work.

Why cola bitters? First, cola is a relatively unique flavor to utilize outside of its typical purpose as refreshment. Second, I did so admittedly because it was very easy to reduce a soft drink and deliver it to a bitters solution.

Why malta bitters? After realizing one could formulate cola bitters I immediately looked to the more obscure cousins of the ubiquitous American soft drink. I had, after all, been looking for an attention-provoking application for this somewhat unfamiliar product.

So what is malta? Malta is an non-alcoholic malt-beverage primarily enjoyed in various Caribbean islands - most notably Puerto Rico. According to an unidentified source in Wikipedia, some consider the modern day soda pop to be a descendant of this drink (which is something I had never heard before but found fascinating, if true).

I am particularly familiar with this product because Goya’s malta was once a favorite of my father who immigrated to the U.S. from the unincorporated territory as a teenager.

But I was also reminded a few years ago of malta while watching the fourth season of Top Chef. Fans of the show may remember how Richard Blais utilized the rich and molasses-like beverage for his pork dish which was featured, along with the other cheftestants' dishes, at a Puerto Rican villa.

From an initial thought, I can image there may be fruitful combinations made with either one of these concoctions if applied to rum or rhum. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

In the end, I am glad I stayed focused on the objective and followed the process as I had intended. I’ll be testing out the new bitters flavors in cocktails as I am bartending at Last Exit so please don't hesitate to stop in and challenge my skills.

City-Slicker Bloggers Visit The Plains in Northern Virginia for a Taste of Vintage Ridge

2011-06-14T07:24:00.008+01:00

The first Sunday of June, our little group of bloggers and non-bloggers eagerly found our way to Vintage Ridge Vineyards in The Planes of Northern Virginia for an educational wine tasting and food pairing experience. Harness Your Kim Chi and Wine Josh both led the way out of the Washington DC metropolitan area to the depths of the commonwealth countryside. It was an early morning but everyone seemed awake, ready for something new.

The welcoming party of farm dogs huddled around Josh's legs sniffing and licking his toes and fingers. The day was overcast but I knew the clouds would break and we'd get a little sunshine. The vineyard opened up with rows of grapevines basking in the morning sunlight. We made our way to the tasting area tucked away behind a barn at the top of the property.

The hosts brought us to our table outside overlooking the breathless landscape of Piedmont region at the lee of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The sun was just starting to come out. We couldn't have asked for a better day to sip wine outside.

For $18 ($14 with a Wine Club membership), guests are treated to five Vintage Ridge wines and a harem of tasty bites. Folks could also simply receive the wine tasting without the food for $10. To me, the cost seemed entirely reasonable.

Winetrailtraveler.com, who did a very nice write up, visited this enterprise headed by a retired husband-and-wife team and revealed a secret behind the overall theme and design:

"The reference on the back of the bottle is attributed to the myth of The Merry Maidens in England. According to legend, 19 maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. Vintage Ridge wishes to free the maidens by showing them dancing on the wine bottles..."

In fact, greeting you inside a very open and naturally lit tasting room are paintings and large metal drums. The figures in the paintings seemed to look either like dancing maidens, troubadours or jesters. Clearly, Vintage Ridge likes to keep these dancing images close to their wine wherever it's stored, almost as if to keep that spirit close by.

Virginia and Josh lead the wine talk. I took interest in the conversation. And it evoked my appreciation for being with people on the same frequency of booze-speak. Here and there I absorbed bits of information that altered my understanding of some aspect of wine culture. I thought to myself, this group clearly has an admirable passion for the vine because who else would randomly get together just to carry on as we were. And we were carrying-on quite a bit.

Servers attended to the group, pouring a few ounces of wine while they explained the characteristics of the drink and pairing. The first tasting featured Vintage Ridge’s 2009 Maiden Voyage which was a nice play on the aforementioned Merry Maiden theme. The name also felt appropriate in light of this being my own "maiden voyage" to a vineyard.

This white wine blend had a crisp and delightfully acidic fruit profile. I got a ripeness and soothing nose. I was already excited about where we were going with all of this.

I took a bite of a grilled onion and bacon crostini. The combination was good and I went for more. And I (a grown-ass man) had to be reminded to leave food for the other wines.

For the next tasting I sipped the 2008 Merlot. It was fruity in the flavor and peppery in the nose. I munched on another fresh crostini draped with a roll of prosciutto topped with a dab of strawberry whole fruit jam. The strawberry finish of the Merlot perfectly accompanied the jam. The pairing of pork with the Merlot also made for a tasty combination.

Our hosts returned with a 2007 Syrah. This wine seemed to be the most balanced of the experience with spicy and dark fruit notes. The flavors fit well with the spicy pecans in front of us. They brought a warm nuttiness, dark chocolaty-ness, even smokiness to the wine.

We ate little cuts of savory salami with spicy mustard. I sank my teeth into one of the dates fleeced in smooth, milky-white goat cheese and almost melted in my seat. And if the dates weren’t your thing, there was a side of manchego cheese slices with a spicy plum chutney to enjoy.

The next wine was another first for me. They served a 2007 Cabernet Franc. I got the taste of raspberries and plums. I paired this wine with that mustard-dipped salami and then finished off with that delicious manchego cheese. The manchego brought a delightful creaminess to it.

One half of Vintage Ridge’s husband-wife ownership, Bill Edmunds, strolled by and visited the table with a little curiosity and conversation. He seemed like a great guy and took pleasure talking to folks who seemed so loudly interested in the product of his hard work. I could see Josh's eyes and how much he wanted to follow Bill around like a one of their farm dogs. He just wanted to absorb as much as he could (Josh did eventually corner the poor guy before we left).

Bill wished us well and we turned our attention to the 2009 Summer Night. Light and easy, this wine had a noticeable pear profile to it. The date complimented the sweetness of the wine. I popped a few spicy pecans into my mouth altering the flavor a little further. By now, I was simply adding a new bite to taste a little different flavor with the vino.

When we finished, everyone at the table all agreed that we could go for more food and drink. So we bought a bottle of the 2008 Petit Verdot with another assortment platter of cheeses, chevre devils and finger foods. The carnival of savory and sweet began all over again.

I waded into this wine. It had a lot to work with on the tongue, was chewy and got a little more interesting with each sip as it opened up. Is Petit Verdot a perfect grape for Virginia's countryside? Vintage Ridge certainly believes so and doesn't let you down with their proof of concept. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.

Throughout the day I thought of Harness Your Kim Chi's trip to Napa Valley in California. More importantly, I thought how much I'd like to experience Napa now that I was having a picturesque Virginia wine visit. And yet, with as much as I felt I learned, I became all too aware of how little I still really knew about the grape. But then again, isn't that the way a majority of people feel about it?

We all seemed to be glad that the desire for a relaxed winery experience was realized. Looking to Kristin Murphy, who had suggested this particular winery, we expressed our graditude. Kristin was betting we’d love the encounter as much as she had and she was right. In addition, incidentally, to making great winery recommendations, Kristin also writes a blog called The Wrath of Demeter which focuses on climate change (go check it out).

We savored the final few ounces of the bottle between us, purchased a few extra bottles for the road, and debated about a run to Middleburg for a tasting-room crawl. Meanwhile, Josh had cornered poor Bill.

In the end, myself and half of the group split up to experience Middleburg. But we were definitely going to miss Vintage Ridge. It was a proper launch pad for a summer focused on wine and helped expand my knowledge by, hopefully, at least one more notch.

Say It Ain't So...

2011-05-28T20:16:00.000+01:00

One sight that I would liked to have seen was Sax lounge's blasphemous and taboo murals. I read the reviews and the place seemed devilish and fun.

Unfortunately, pressure forced the owners to tone down the vivid images significantly. I guess it was fun while it lasted.

Next Song for the Juke Box

2011-05-27T04:11:00.000+01:00

"Oh You Must've Been A Beautiful Baby..."

2011-05-24T02:03:00.000+01:00

Cause baby look at you now.

(hat tip: TG)