Ok folks...any final plans? Asking so I know if it is happening or not in order for me to say yes or no to a work-related activity. No problem if it is a no go...

Doc

I'm planning on it. If we can't do Palena, there are several other places we could go. I'll check Open Table for a few that can take a reservation for 6 people. Has anyone tried Palette? And in fact, Taberna del Alabardero can take a table of 6 that evening.

I'm sure we can get a dinner going. Thanks for taking point on checking for reservations, Alex.

I haven't heard back which is odd. I will call again. I would like to do it regardless of where it is.

I called again, left a message again. i still haven't heard back... at this late a date if they haven't returned my call we might be out of luck unless for some reason tomorrow is booking up slowly (maybe they haven't recieved anyones messages and it is show up and be seated deal?).

any ideas in case they are unable to seat us... if they have a 4 seater, my wife and i will drop out and i will give them James's name and number (ok james?)... we will be heading to corkages on saturday so i don't want to prevent others from having a great meal with some great wine and great company this week. My wife was realizing that her schedule was getting packed anyway and was thinking she might not be able to make it...

Hi everyone,

Thanks for trying to organize something, but it is beginning to look like people are dropping out due to work, time, etc. No problem. We can just cancel. I will be back in July, and we can try then?

Doc

I think that everyone is still in, but we have no where to go!

I'm still in - let me know where you guys decide.

Palena called back... she said 6 would be fine. the night was looking pretty open evidently...

7 or 7:30 would be doable. (in fact i said what time woudl be best and she said any).. I told her that we would like to bring wine, 1 bottle per, and she paused for a second.. (freaked her out), she said you can't spit in the dining room ( ), and she was worried about stemware. I said that we would be ok reusing stems... I told her would call her back... after confirming with you guys... Julie (mrs. AlexRed) will bow out,... that means we are 5 but if some other DC person wants to come we could do 6.

Doc, did you already sign up to do something work realated? Sorry that this took so long and became last minute.

I'm in. Maybe everyone should bring a box of 6 stems.

is Doc still available?

$20 Corkage too. but i think everyone knew that...

Wow..I really feel the love in the air. Given the "unpredictability" of this dinner, I made plans to attend the work-related event that I wrote about in another post. However, now it seems that the Palena thing worked out. Alas, I can't come now. Thanks for trying at the last minute, and let us plan for July! Thanks DC cru and have a blast at Corkage's. I am very jealous!

Doc

DC Cru, we have openings for 1-2 people. Does anyone want to take Doc's spot? No need to bring wine, we should have plenty.

right now we have 4 people in (Dinwiddie, Dave, jaimetown, and AlexRed) and a reservation for 5. (Might be able to bump it to 6, yesterday they said tonight didn't seem too busy)

Wish I could join you, but I'm working late

So how did it go?

I heard Dave was A Swirling Madman!

Food was great, wine was great, and we had pretty much the entire dining room to ourselves.... (table of 2 prevented us from having a private dinner... ahaha)

Dave was indeed swirling and swirling...

Ended up being 4 of us (Jaimetown, Dinwiddie, Dave, and me) Yes, we missed the guest of honor... we toasted to you though Doc.

99 Corton Charlie (forgot the producer began with B i think, the bottle was off the table)
02 Radio-Coteau Von Weidlich Zin
02 Match Butterdragon Hill
02 Wolf Family Cab


the Burgundy went very nicely with the lobster ravioli which was the 2nd course. it held a little back at first, but i am glad that it was decanted because it began to give up some wet stone, spice and some nice light fruit, again, wonderful with the ravioli.

the Zin was really nice. I am kicking myself for not getting any. Creamy, brambley, kind of a christmas spice on the nose...

the cabs were a fun experiment. they were very different... the Wolf was decanted at the table side, the Match was double decanted a few hours before... the Wolf was more elegant and had some dusty tannins on the back end to me. very tasty. The Match started out with a little more fruit in the nose and rounder tannins eventually gaining a bacon flavor. Dave found a lacking quality in middle of the palete at the begining on the match, but after some time in the glass and more air it came together very nicely...

The questions at the table consisted of ageing potential and style. I like the more fruit forward Match and it was a lot of fun as it changed a bunch through the evening... The Wolf seemed more classic and seemed to fit the bill for an ager.

it was fun because the match was kinda catching up most of the night and everyone wanted to see how good it was going to get... hence the constant reevaluation and swirling....


fun stuff.

Dude...how was the FOOOOOOD?

Can't add much to Alex's post. The Match was definitely overmatched at first, but as the evening progressed, it really opened up and gave the Wolf Family a run for its money. Both were absolutely wonderful to drink. I agree that the Wolf Family will probably age better (longer?) than the Match, but who could hold on to either long enough to find out?

The food was wonderful as always at Palena, and since we had the room pretty much to ourselves, the service was quick and efficient. Our server was very impressed with the wines when he tasted them, and when the other guy (somm?, manager?, ??)came over to taste the Zin, he seemed to be very impressed judging from the expression on his face.

I won't try to say which was the WOTN since they were all excellent. I loved the White Burg. but I don't have much experience with such and can't say how it compares other than to say it sure was good. Both Cabs were excellent, but at the price, a little out of the range I'm willing to pay considering the amount of wine I have in my cellar that needs to be drunk as it is.

Thanks to James for delivering the Toro's (boy those are heavy bottles) as I didn't have any and am looking forward to trying more than just the tastes I've gotten at other dinners.

Only problem was the fact that all of use were a little late due to traffic, and in my case, problems on the METRO.