Last night me a four of my college friends got together to reminise about the good old days when you woke up with a beer in one hand and a cute girl in the other. Tocqueville Restaurant – 15 East. 15th St. NYC was chossen by one of my friends. I called last week and they were kind enough to fax me the wine list. Its a good list but it is pricey. I asked for three bottles of 1998 Domaine Courbis Cornas Champerlrose (WS 93 TT 93+) to be openend right when we sat down. I have had this wine a few times before and I love the style...it is still very young but it was the best QPR on the list. I have about eight bottles in the cellar and will not touch them for two or more years. I didn’t see a mark on the wine glasses but I believe they were Reidels. The wine was very tight when first poured but opened up very well. The third bottle showed the best. To start, I had risotto with black truffles and pea greens and poultry jus which was good but it didn’t compare to the outstanding risotto at the Green Gables Inn tasting in October. I then had sixty second seared dry aged sirloin with toasted brioche and mill creek farm araucana egg frisée salad and mushroom jus. This is literally seared for sixty seconds on a very hot iron skillet. It is never flipped over and comes out medium rare. This was awesome...One of the best pieces of meat I’ve ever had. One of my friends who usually eats his meat well done couldn’t believe his eyes....Not sure what everyone else ate but all said that it was great. We finished out wine and I ordered a bottle of 1996 Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese Neusiedlersee Zwischen den Seen No. 3. (WS 88 TT 90) We ordered a cheese plate while our flourless chocolate soufflés were being prepared. My friends aren’t real winos but they all fell in love with the Kracher so I ordered another bottle but they were all out. The sommelier pronounced Kracher “cracker” I was like...isn’t it Kra share?? He smiled, I think he didn’t want to tell me that I was wrong...But I know for sure that its not cracker!!!! He brought over a bottle of 1998 Knoll Gruner Veltliner Beerenauslese, and suggested it. But I wasn’t familiar with it and I was a little hesitant after the “cracker” thing.He also said that the bottle of Knoll was his last...(a good salesmen?? or did he like us and want us to try something good??) So I ordered a bottle of 1998 Inniskillin Vidal Ice Wine. (WS 90 TT 93 TT friends 110). It was a beautiful golden brown color and it was much more intense then the Kracher, we all preferred it over the Kracher. The chef/owner walked around to introduce himself and check on everyone’s meals. It was an awesome dinner and I highly recommend it. I will definitely go back. After the bill came (ouch) we headed over to Anglos and Maxie’s Steak house, they have a small cigar bar in the back. One of my friends brought some Cubans.(romeo y julieta robusto limited edition ??) Don’t know anything about cigars and I didn’t care to try one. So we get to the cigar bar where we are seated and asked what we would like to drink. I ask to see a wine list and he comes back with it. List was expensive, and unimpressive. The waiter never came back to our table. He finally came over and says that he cant take our order....so we go over to the bar and buy some drinks...Five minutes later he is serving a table next to us....I call him over and I ask why he can serve them but not us. He said it was b.c they were already there for a while....I kinda got mad and wasn’t too happy...We hung out there for a while and then went home. Great time...

Sounds like a terrific evening BTW, I think it is actually pronounced 'craker'...

When I was in Austria, at the wine store I visited they pronounced it Cracker with that gutteral ch sound that I can't reproduce for my life. However, when I refer to them I normally do pronounce it cray-ker.