Food and Drink

I'm headed to Chicago next week and I'm looking for a few places to eat. I won't be driving so they'll have to be accessible by train/cab. I'm looking for somewhere for a nice Saturday lunch date. Around $100 for 2 without alcohol should be fine. I was thinking the RL restaurant (which I heard was good from a friend) and The Purple Pig. I'd have loved to gone to the Girl and the Goat but it's not open for lunch. Any suggestions? I'm also looking for a few places for casual dinner with friends. Under $30 per person. Cafe Iberico sounded intriguing. Sushi Wabi or Coast Sushi Bar. Longman and Eagle but I doubt we could find a seat. de Cero sounds interesting.

I'm looking to fill my Xmas list with items that are no more than $50. Would you please suggest your favorite ryes, bourbons, scotches, irish, etc. in that price range. I'm pretty set for scotch right now so am more interested in others choices. I'll listen to scotch suggestions though. Thanks.

Hook it up.

Two of the igniters on our stove don't work (they haven't for 6 years) and we either need to replace the stove or get it fixed (before my mom or someone else burns down the house). [Right now, we just light the stove by hand but if you try to do a low simmer on the front burners sometimes they go out and don't relight on their own.] I think the one we have is a Dacor Classic 30" (natural gas). I have no clue how old it is. Does anyone know some brands that are known to be the most reliable (I don't like to fuck around with gas and electricity). We were looking at the Dacor Renaissance 30" but I am wondering if Dacor is so reliable. Some people seem to mention W…

A friend who I mistakenly turned onto bourbon has found a supplier of the 2015 release at $115 a bottle with possible free shipping to him/me. Any interest in a bottle, keeping in mind they are the UK 700ml bottles vs the US 750ml?

Time for a guiness... What are your plans/destinations if any? In the good'ol days I'd heading down to Fells Point for a brew and some sight see'ing :he he:

There is an event that I'm checking out tomorrow called the joy of sake. There will be over 300 different Sake's to taste. hiccup Here is the site: http://www.joyofsake.com/

Pretty stupid request I know. Apparently my brother is trying to help his friend who is buying a bottle for his wine geek brother. I have no other preference details besides maybe a bordeaux or californian vintage. Not sure why people make these kinds of poorly thought out extravagant gifts. Feel like it's similar to if my brother asked a headphone audiophile what they think is awesome and they say Grado PS1000 and he gets me a Grado PS1000. That being said... that's the gift givers problem not mine I guess. Said I'd ask though so here I am Throw out whatever you'd get if you won 500-600 bucks in a lotto and felt like blowing it on a bottle of wine. Thanks in advan…

This Friday (9/25) I'll be attending an evening session of the Great American Beer Festival here in Denver. Much as I would like to sample all 1,800 beers, time is limited to 4.5 hours, and I can't drink one sample per 9 seconds for more than an hour or two. Therefore, I was hoping some of you brew aficionados (read: feckless drunks) might have some suggestions for me for a beer/brewery/style I should not miss.

I did a search and saw a few of you have these. Vicki, the model you picked up from QVC may be the way to go but I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions. There are so many models and variables. I would like to keep it around $400 or a bit more. It looks like the CIA on Amazon Prime is close or the same to the QVC model, so leaning that way. Gail is going through withdrawals since our blender died over the weekend.

A poster at HF noticed this interesting article on wine critics' scoring abilities. Why Wine Ratings Are Badly Flawed - WSJ.com

It was end of exams, and I got absolutely pissfaced... vomiting, unconciousness, headache, nausea, etc... I feel absolutely horrible right now... My throat hurts a lot from vomiting... Then again, I didn't have that much: pitcher of vodka and lemonade, gin and tonic, then a vodka and redbull... If it wasn't for a few good friends looking after me... I'd probably be dead by now I was so damn drunk that I managed to give the taxi driver 50 quid for a journey which costs 5.... My parents are going to kill me when they find out I puked all over my mattress, which costs a freakin' 900 quid, plus ruining a down pillow/duvet or two on the way.... I'm in deep shit... How d…

The glass beaker of my current Bodum french press is cracked and leaking. This is the second consecutive beaker that's failed in under a year. Can anybody recommend a small capacity (4 cup or 20 oz. range) french press that will last longer than a year? I would think that having a metal beaker or something similar would be good. Meanwhile, I'll start searching the web.

I am searching for a bottle of Saz 18 yr. Anyone know where I can order one or be able to ship some?

So, I was reading the Chopt dressing menu (pdf), and in the description of one of the salad dressings, it says:

Today I decided to buy a slightly better Balsamic Vinegar than my usual: Leonardi "gold seal" It is fantastic. I know this isn't the super great fancy expensive stuff but it is still good. My read into balsamic is that the very expensive stuff is very sweet and only to be used for desserts. This seems to be pretty thick and sweetish with enough bite that it can still be used for salads with good olive oil. What is your favorite balsamic and what you use it for? I am now very curious about buying some "tradizionale" balsamic vinegar but don't know where to start. I guess I should find a place that has tastings.

I'm in LV for one day. Could somebody please recommend a good and interesting place for breakfast? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Friends and Mentors, I recently moved overseas to Moldova, a country where 70% of the population is economically dependent in some way on the wine industry. The wines themselves are not very well known internationally, but their primacy in their own country means that wine is consumed at virtually every meal and imported wine is essentially nonexistent. Domestic wine is both a huge business and a central part of culture here. One perk of my housing here is a 1000-bottle subterranean wine cellar, which currently sits empty. I am not well-versed in wine, but considering all the above and an average price of $6 a bottle on the local economy now seems like the p…

Is there any better red wine around?

Glenfiddich, the Speyside distillery, has announced plans to market the most expensive whisky ever produced at its Dufftown base

Sadly, not served in the taxidermied corpses of small animals..... http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/24/scottish-brewer-unveils-brewmeister-armageddon-world-strongest-proof-beer/ I really have to wonder how GOOD this actually would taste.....

Found two threads, one on the other on interestingly enough. Why should I go one way or the other? I understand the value of a decanter -- lets the wine breathe, albeit in a controlled fashion, while cat hair and asbestos doesn't settle into it. I seem to remember someone (tyrion?) getting something and having a positive opinion of it, but it's not coming up while searching for "aerator'. Something like a hand-held or bottletop device like this one. So...any new opinions on this? I don't have room for that whole let it drip thing, but I could probably find room for a proper decanter/carafe thingy. But I'll probably go with the decanting pourer if no-one pipes…

This is my personal apocalypse. I don't drink booze, I don't smoke or vape. Weed makes me paranoid and miserable (edibles make me trip balls in addition to being paranoid and miserable.) I sure as fuck don't mess with any powder or pill drugs. While I am a believer and advocate of the use of natural psychedelics for purposes of therapy and personal growth, I'd never do them recreationally. Tapatio is my one drug. Long term listeners may recall when I told the tale of driving to a Walmart Black Citadel Super Center in W.Mass to buy them out of Tapatio. I've done that two other time, but not photographed it. I did the math once and I went through ten…

So I'm in the market for a decent cheapish pot type thing. I only want to buy 1 all-purpose item, so I'm thinking a stainless pasta set should be cool for pasta and soups. I braise a fair bit as well, and that's got me considering enameled Dutch ovens. However, I still need something for pasta, and intuition tells me Dutch ovens wouldn't be perfect for pasta. Sooo would I rather use a stainless stock pot to braise or a cast iron oven to boil pasta? No idea... Actually, I don't even know if enameled is considered better than bare cast iron; seasoning sounds like a pan in the bum, though. I'm a lazy cook for sure =D. Any good cookware forums out there for me to peruse? I…

I had a cooking show turned on the TV while I was working on the computer. On one of its segments, the hosts test new cooking tools. The man loved this one: It seems like a good idea for us beer drinkers.