Roll Call......

I'm to tired to post anything lucid at the moment. Details to come.

You better spill the beans! We want to know!

Go have some coffee and get back to me in 10.

I'm here, and when work gives me a break, I'll try to post something. However, my notes are sketchy at best. Of course, I'll never forget Swill's description, 7th grade locker room.

However, I have to say that this was one of the best yet.

Ruqaiyah, our wine server, was not only beautiful (definitley the hottest babe of the night) but extremely efficient. Never a dirty glass, and they comped us half of the corkage fees as well as providing us with a comp bottle of the '98 Chehalem Coral Creek PN. And what a meal.

More later.

Or Brix: "...and I woke up buck naked... in a stairwell in Berkley and I didn't remember how I got there or where my clothes were..."

As soon as DW gets the wine list up, I'll post more.

Oh come on, Corkage - you mean to say that's never happened to you?

Glad you guys had a good time!

ok I'm here.....I am tempted to comfirm that last night was one of the best nights but they have all been great...maybe they are just getting better. Ahh......the I woke up naked outside on a stairwell in berkley story....ya gotta love the classics. I would post more but I am off to lunch with Corkage in a few....

Sounds like I missed a good one. Any major headaches? No snow last night so there probably weren't any headers caused by snow and ice...can't say that the alcohol didn't cause any however. So what's on for February?

Gee guys. What a great evening. Entirely too much wine (just kidding) But it was a great meal, good company, and lots of great wine.

Our reservation was for 7:00pm and of course Swill and friend were late. But the restaurant didn't mind. When I arrived (I was the first) the receptionist said "Oh the wine dinner folks." They had set up a table for us with plenty of glasses.

Attending were: Corkage and friend (Brian?), Fred, JohnnyB, Swill and friend (Brix?),capitolkat (a great addition to the DC Cru), and myself.

It was Restaurant Week and the menu at Gabriel consists of "little plates." We were told we could pick any three (or three of the same thing) for $30.04. First a word about service. We arrived and set out the wine in front of Corkage and told him to choose the order to drink. He asked our wine server, an absolute fox named Ruqaiyah if we could have another small table to put the wine on and it appeared immediately. Fresh glasses were provided for each bottle as we went along. Ruqaiyah poured for each of us and at our insistance had a glass for herself.

The food:

Absolutely wonderful. Chef Antonio Burrell did a wonderful job. I had the crispy seared tuna with baby bok choy and sea urchin foam. It was followed by the surloin and then venison (the dish picked most often.)I added the bannana bread pudding later. Other folks had the shrimp with grits, seared scalops, mascarpone ravioli, among others. We ended with a couple of very good cheese plates and afterwards retired to the lounge for Cuban cigars (Bolivar's) that capitolkat provided. Everything was delish. As he was leaving Chef Burrell came out to talk with us and received a well deserved round of applause. He produced a wonderful meal.

The wines in the order served (my notes are sketchy at best and I wont attempt to rate the wines but all were excellent and deserved 90+ scores:

2000 Pax Syrah - lots of ripe fruit (cherry and cream)and game, nose with a scent of flowers, light tannins, very good.

2002 Shotfire Ridge Barossa Valley Shiraz - Fred said that it reminded him of a smoked turkey at Thanksgiving. great legs sheeted the glass. I got cherry, cassis and spice. Long finish. Very smooth.

2000 Chateau Charbonneaux - Wonderful White Burg. Not at all grassy like some Sauv. Blanc's. Eucalyptis (spelling?) notes. We had this when the first course came out since there was a lot of seafood in that round. Loved it.

2001 Clarendon Hills Syrah - notes of fat, bacon, spice and berry. Creamy and very satisfying.

2001 Hartford Highwire Vineyard RRV - 16% alcohol but not at all hot. Intense and rich with a vanilla nose. Notes of blueberry and mint. Almost thought it was an Aussie Shiraz it was so extracted.

2001 Rosenblum San Francisco Bay Carla's Vineyard Zin. - Fred said buttered popcorn and toffee. Lots of juicy fruit with a hint of vanilla.

2001 Martinelli G&L Zin - rasberrys and vanilla cherry candy. supple and balanced with a hint of chocolate. I like this better than the 2000 which I wouldn't have thought possible.

1998 Turley Alexander Valley Zin - What can I say, a great Turley Zin. Lots of jammy fruit and wonderful finish.

2001 Martinelli PN - Had that Burgundy funk that blew off quickly. This was the source of Swill's "7th grade locker room" comment. Intense flavor of sour cherrys and spice.

1998 Chehalem Coral Creek PN - A gift from the restaurant off their list. Notes of berry and cherry, spice and earth. Excellent.

Once we retired to the lounge for the Cubanos, Corkage brought out a 1998 Andrew Murray Hilside Reserve Syrah. By now I was flying and the cigars were going full bore. But a great wine. Game, spice and black cherry. Firm but not overwhelming tannins.

Swill was going to buy another bottle off the list for us but by then it was quarter of 12 and we had to rush to make it to the METRO before it closed down.

Great stories from capitolkat (next one at your house, warn the wife) Brix and Fred. What a fine evening. Lucky I made it home without hitting anything. Got home about 1:00am and fell into the bed and was out like a light. But 5:30 came around all too soon and I'm just now recovering.

Nobody fell, maybe a couple of staggers, but a great meal. And best of all, the restaurant only charged us corkage for 5 bottles instead of 10.

The Turley was my WOTN. What can I say it was awesome. Boy was that Highwire huge but it was so well structured that was a tie with the Martinelli.
I got Delacata Squash w/ Country Ham & Parmasean rissoto and I think I was the only one but you all missed out. It rocked!
I have to say I was a bit nervous when I first walked in but everyone at Gabriel did a fantastic job! This was easily one of the best. My only gripe was the stemware but Cest La Vie I would have drank out of the bottle if I had to. I would have had another one of those Bolivar's as well. I'm almost glad we didn't get a bottle of VP off the list, I think I would have been hurting big time if we had done that.

My line of the night.

Swill....."I never loose when I got to AC. I just figure I pay between $150-$300 for a beer"

Ciao

I agree with Fred, the Turley and the Highwire were my wines of the night but all were great. And wasn't Ruqaiyah a delight. Fun to look and she sure got into the spirit of the night.

Some of the cool things of the night:

-capitolkat is one cool cat, had great stories of his own, brought cuban cigars and invited us over to trash his house on capitol hill

-brix and swill are two peas in a pod, except brix is married

-the food was excellent and the chef came out after dinner to our table

-our server finally comp'd some corkage, 5 bottles I think, AND brought out a bottle of PN on the house, and toasted with us afterwards in the lounge and took our jokes lightheartedly.

My WsOTN: Martinelli zin, Turley and Pax

The Pax was a nicely done old world style of syrah. The Highwire was nice but I think you could light my breath on fire (16% alc). The Martinelli PN had that burgundy funk and was (at least initally) more burgundian in style than I would have imagined from a Martinelli. All in all, though, a great night. TJ, Travel and Jaimetown we missed you.

Our server at the end of the night: "So, how did you guys all meet?"
A chorus of voices "AA"

I forgot about the "AA" bit. That was funny!

Sounds like it was a truly most excellent night. Wish I coulda made it. Next time, I always say, next time.

BTB, I spoke with Laboratorio today.... The wheels, albeit slowly, are in motion. heh heh heh Now all we need is 36 of us to take it over -- think we can pull it off, gents?

Sure we can. I bet we could get some out of towners to show for this as well.

Considering the other conversation that was going on at the time, I thought Swill said "We're gay." (It is Dupont Circle after all.)

sounds like you guys had one kick ass time

as far as an offline and some barrel tasting in march, i'm game. just let me know the details.

...by the way dc winos, i am thinking of trying to get something together up here in pgh maybe in april. dc is only 240 mile from pgh which translates into something like a 3-4hr car ride . we have some great byobs here, just ask the jazins. i am just trying to start guaging some interest.

yep, keep me posted as well

dr. tannin and anthony in dc together for an offline...starting to sound like quite an afterparty could be shaping up