Castaño
Pronounced castanYo

any time you see the ñ (n with the squiggle above it) it turn the sound from a regular n to nY

Monastrell. NOT monTastrell.

Castaño
Pronounced castanYo

any time you see the ñ (n with the squiggle above it) it turn the sound from a regular n to nY

Monastrell. NOT monTastrell.

You know, I think it’s about first time I’ve seen GV score that high on red. It’s been a while at least. I’ve got to try that.

QOTD: Believe it or not, it was a BigMac set someone bought for me after spending 5~6 hours lost in Poconos in February a few years ago. A long-winded story about a stupid teenager, but I’ll tell you that the woods really get scary when the sun sets.

The best meal I every had was Christmas Eve dinner 2 years ago. We celebrated the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” with friends. Right before we ate, the power went out. We had a true feast by needed candlelight. Everyone had a wonderful time.
Leo Brancazio

QOTD: best meals are tough, since I’ve had many great ones. My most memorable usually come from the occasions more than the food itself — like turkey dinners at my grandma & grandpa’s farm when I was a kid, or an awesome dinner of french bread with spaghettios cooked over the campstove when backpacking at 11,000 feet.

Putting aside my grandma’s cooking for the moment (cuz she wins hands-down every time), I think my favorite has to be the lobster tail with a side of cole slaw & rice-beans, eaten on an island beach in Belize. My sister and I were sipping daiquiris to celebrate her having beaten cancer, and we toasted the sunset while the waves lapped at our toes. Perfect memory. Perfect meal. 🙂

QOTD: best meals are tough, since I’ve had many great ones. My most memorable usually come from the occasions more than the food itself — like turkey dinners at my grandma & grandpa’s farm when I was a kid, or an awesome dinner of french bread with spaghettios cooked over the campstove when backpacking at 11,000 feet.

Putting aside my grandma’s cooking for the moment (cuz she wins hands-down every time), I think my favorite has to be the lobster tail with a side of cole slaw & rice-beans, eaten on an island beach in Belize. My sister and I were sipping daiquiris to celebrate her having beaten cancer, and we toasted the sunset while the waves lapped at our toes. Perfect memory. Perfect meal. 🙂

QOTD: The best food I every had has to be the Calamari in some bar I ended up in Venice, Italy….Awesome!! The wine there wasn’t bad either.

QOTD: The most memorable meal I ever had was a meal with my wife during our honeymoon in Florida in 1991. It was at a central Florida restaurant called ‘Chalet Suzanne’. The atmosphere was a bit quirky and very romantic. We were pretty young and hadn’t eaten at many fine restaurants and I remember being enthralled with the offerings. I don’t think I had eaten any of them previously. Things like foie gras on grapefruit stick in my mind. Of course it WAS a ‘cost is no object’ meal, so we expected a lot. And it WAS our honeymoon. So, yeah, I guess I’m romanticizing this in my mind a bit (ok, a lot). But you can’t have a great meal if you’re not in the mood to enjoy it! (Lurker officially outed – thanks Gary!)

QOTD: Dinner at a seafood restaurant in Houston TX last summer, with the woman who would later become my girlfriend. It was a seafood combo of lobster, grilled scallops, blackened fish (can’t remember the species), crab cake…. The food was superb; the setting, more romantic than any of the other dozen or so times she & I had gone out. Though we had gone out a half dozen times before that evening, we had never been more than merely casual friends. Later that evening — perhaps inebriated the stupendous flavors of our dinners? — we suddenly became more than just casual friends, for the first time… and it evolved into something truly magical. Blame it on the seafood.

QOTD: Dinner at a seafood restaurant in Houston TX last summer, with the woman who would later become my girlfriend. It was a seafood combo of lobster, grilled scallops, blackened fish (can’t remember the species), crab cake…. The food was superb; the setting, more romantic than any of the other dozen or so times she & I had gone out. Though we had gone out a half dozen times before that evening, we had never been more than merely casual friends. Later that evening — perhaps inebriated the stupendous flavors of our dinners? — we suddenly became more than just casual friends, for the first time… and it evolved into something truly magical. Blame it on the seafood.

Great episode! I’m dying to try that last wine you reviewed.
QOTD: Best cooked meal was one that dad made, he is the king of grilling steaks. I remember a few years ago he cooked an amazing NY Steak in some fabulous marinade that he created. Along with that we had some cedar planked salmon, my grandma’s famous rice (it’s so delicious!), pear salad and a few other sides. Most of all, I got to share the meal with many people from my extended family. You definitely can’t beat that!

Great episode! I’m dying to try that last wine you reviewed.
QOTD: Best cooked meal was one that dad made, he is the king of grilling steaks. I remember a few years ago he cooked an amazing NY Steak in some fabulous marinade that he created. Along with that we had some cedar planked salmon, my grandma’s famous rice (it’s so delicious!), pear salad and a few other sides. Most of all, I got to share the meal with many people from my extended family. You definitely can’t beat that!

QOTD: The meal I cooked for my birthday this year. I made some scrambled eggs with beluga caviar on top as a starter. Than as a fish course it was a perfectly cooked chilean sea bass with some lemon grass foam on top of an oven dried tomato. After those two, I made a duck breast and foie gras with blackberry sauce over some barley risotto. As dessert it was crispy banana cappeleti with passion fruit sauce and lime sorbet. The whole meal was spot on. We matched it with Catena Alta chardonnay and Don Melchor 00.

QOTD: best meal evar? It would have to be when I traveled to New York. We stayed in a hotel that had a small restaurant called “Teddy’s Corner”. I had scallops on a rice pilaf and with some kind of amazing sauce on it; with chocolate cake for dessert. It sounds rather simple, but it was such an amazing example of Quality over Quantity that it just turned my world upside down.

Great show Gary as always.

QOTD: The greatest meal I have ever had was at Villa Del Lupo in Vancouver. Seared Ahi Tuna that melted in your mouth, garlic mashed potatoes to die for and an unbelievable cheesecake to top it off. All of it was accompanied by a 2001 Dead Arm. Was a wonderful evening.

QOTD: Dozza, Italy outside of Bologna, I was 17. The sun was setting in Emilia Romagna, there were peacocks below the terrace. Prosecco was poured before we even sat down. Amazing polenta with porcini and truffles, and strozzapreti with a sheeps milk gorgonzola crema. The check arrived on a frozen plate with chocolate covered bon-bons of pannacotta. We looked at the Miro fresco and fell asleep in the back of a Renault on the way back to Pioppe de Salvaro through the hills outside Sasso Marconi. Someday I hope I can do it again…

QOTD – Greatest meal would had to have been prime rib and lobster with my parents for Christmas a couple of years ago. Not only the meal but the company made it special. I can taste the vino already!

I *love* the big-ass glass … if anyone knows where I can get one, hooks it up … I remember that episode when you poured the *whole bottle* in, and that totally won me over.

QoTD: Well, for me, it’s all about the whole experience: Good food, something nice to drink, beautiful place. Normally, I’d also include good company, but I’m starting to think I actually prefer just me and the food (conversation distracts from the gourmandise). So, I’ll have to say that my favourite meal was the first time I ate stewed rabbit with a Hopleaf beer, as I watched the sun setting over the Mediterranean. The rabbit was cooked perfectly, the beer was just the right thing for the warm evening, and the sunset lasted *forever*. Good times.

QOTD: I made a braised Moroccan lamb shank dish with just plain couscous a few months ago, and I’d have to say that was my favorite meal I can remember!

QOD-prob the greatest meal would have been a simple steak dinner with my family and a magnum of ’61 Latour…circa 1995…

QOD-prob the greatest meal would have been a simple steak dinner with my family and a magnum of ’61 Latour…circa 1995…

QOTD: The one I had for supper tonight. Blanquette de veau with a bottle of Cassis. Probably tomorrow night’s meal will make me forget this one.

QOTD = Last year when My Dad and I went to Wolfgang’s for Steaks, and I was able to reciprocate on all the steak dinners he has ever taken me to.

Greatest meal!! Start with west coast Oysters( Hamma Hamma, and Pickering Pass) And a Gruner. Then a Maki Sushi combo, with a kabinett Riesling. Then we ate these King Crab bites that were awesome. For my entree I ate a combo meal that had an 8 oz. Filet with Griddled garlic shrimp , and Bay of Fundy Sea Scallops. We were drinking ’04 Domaine Droughin Pinot Noir. Followed that with a FLAMING Bananas Fosters. Then I went home and felt like I was going to die and slept for 9 hours. It was the BEST!!!!!!

QOTD: Best meal I ever had was in Dijon. I had amazing salmon at this terrific seafood restaurant across the street from the covered farmers market after a day of driving along the route des grands crus with my girlfriend. The food itself was probably not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s certainly one of the best food related memories.