Dec 14 2008
We Had a Pretty Nice (and Comedic) Little Saturday!
We had a pretty nice (and very spontaneous) little Saturday…first we went to a free wine tasting of Long Island wines at Union Square Wines where we spoke with Kareem Massoud, Paumanok Vineyard’s winemaker, and tried Paumanok’s 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, as well as its 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc (delicious — we took a bottle of this home with us). We also tried about 10 wines from Channing Daughters Winery and met winemaker Christopher Tracy. Yeah, we bought a few bottles of wine then headed to Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village for some beers and chili, stuff like that. I had a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA and a cask Brooklyn IPA, while Jill enjoyed a Lagunitas Maximus and a Stone Arrogant Bastard. We both agreed that the chili was the best we’ve had in the city. Was also thinking about trying the hot wings, which were recently lauded by NYC Food Guy in a post on NYC’s Best Wings. Next, we were off to grab an early bite at The Spotted Pig, but didn’t know there would be a 2+ hour wait for a table at 5:30pm. Unbelievable. So, we left there and then stopped in for a drink at Whitehorse Tavern a block away where all the talk was about the spate of recent muggings in the area (even saw a news truck interviewing people about these). More on our fun Saturday, including a comedy show, after the jump…
Leaving Whitehorse Tavern, the idea was to head home and order in Indian food and open a bottle of our new wine. Here’s where things got a bit spontaneous…on the way back east to our place, the car drove right by Gotham Comedy Club and Jill noticed on the sign that a show was starting in 20 minutes at 7pm. We looked at each other and said ‘yeah, lets do it.’ We had the driver pull over at the next block and proceeded to purchase 2 seats. The guy told us it was going to be a pretty full show, but that he was putting us at the front and center table. The show was Rob Bartlett’s Christmas Cavalcade. We soon found out why they put us where they did…we were used for about 20 minutes of material and it was hilarious. Everything from how we met at LaGuardia Airport and celebrate Christmakkah to the fact that we’re both attorneys and were wearing what he described as slippers to the club. He actually took our shoes off our feet and showed them to the audience. Mine were UGG’s and Jill was wearing her Tom’s. Everyone came over to us after the show and congratulated us as if we had just performed on stage. Rob called us over afterwards and thanked us for being good sports. We had a blast. Finally, we headed home and ordered in Indian. We were so beat we were barely awake when it arrived. Crazy day.
What’s up Andy and Jill,
NYC Food Guy here. Thanks for linking to my wings post. You guys have a great thing going here, the site is exactly like mine, finding places that are great in the city but won’t crush your wallet. Not as easy as it sounds to find that balance. We should exchange links. If you guys would like to get down on a little wing tour action for round 2 of my wing hunt, let me know. I know I’m ready to get down on Burger Wars, and I’ll even bring a lady of my own to even things out. Feel free to shoot me an email: lawrence@nycfoodguy.com
Lawrence
Andy!
You and Jill are now 20 minutes worth of my act. I can’t do it without you. I’m sending you a schedule. I understand if you can’t make all the dates, you know, seeing as how you might have trials and such. But try to make the big ones.
You both were really GREAT sports, and I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I’m still a little concerned about onephiles drinking wine with a screwtop, but I guess you know what you’re doing.
Have a great Christmakah, or Hannumas, whatever you wind up calling it, and tell Jill I’m willing to wait for her until we can safely get you out of the picture.
Rob
HA! Sounds like a fun, spontaneous day… I miss those! (parenthood does have a few pitfalls).
What CDW wines did you enjoy and buy? Kareem and Chris are a part of the ‘next generation’ of LI winemakers and they consistently make quality wines. Were there any other wineries there?
NYCFoodGuy– Jill and I are definitely down for some Round 2 wing tour action. Blondies on 79th are some of my favorite wings around. We’ll get you and the lady in on some Burger Wars. Look forward to hittin’ up some places with you guys soon.
Rob– You were by far the best comedy show we’ve seen in a while. We’ll look out for your schedule and set up a night with our family and friends to see you perform. Definitely bringing my parents out to see one of your shows when they’re up from Atlanta next. Don’t let the screw cap fool ya. Screw cap wines are quickly becoming the trend and are even going high-end. One of our favorite producers, Mollydooker (means ‘left-handed’ in Aussie), uses all screw caps on their wines and we are talking wines in the $30-175 price range. If you like big, fruit-forward wines, you gotta give them a try.
Lenn– I owe you the full download on our NOFO weekend with our parents. Will be posting soon (famous last words). We had an amazing time out there. Actually had a bottle of 2005 Paumanok Cab Franc at Frisky Oyster on Fri night, which was my mom’s favorite of the weekend. She kept asking about it. At dinner Saturday night, we had a bottle of CDW’s Over and Over (result of both a ripasso project and a solera system). Highly recommended. We hit up Peconic Bay (we know Pascal there), Shinn, Bedell, Croteaux (i know), Borghese and Vineyard #48. No other wineries were at the tasting at USQ Wines on Sat. From CDW, we tried the Rosso Fresco (great summer red), the Research Cab, and lots of whites — enjoyed the steel fermented chard, the clones and the mosaico.