A Well Stocked Bar II

Yesterday's post was dedicated to the foundation of a bar, the trays on which you place your bottles, glasses, and other beverage related parephanalia. Today I'm going to focus on the one thing that I think most hosts and hostesses mess up in their bars - ice. It seems like such a simple thing but there's never enough of it thanks in part to the invention of the "ice bucket" a diminutive vessel appropriate for 2-4 people, but woefully insufficient for a real gathering, it's always floating in a pool of water, and the tongs, whoever invented ice tongs is a much more patient person than I will ever be.

My solutions: a large metal or glass bucket designed for chilling wine or Champagne, commonly referred to as a wine chiller, and a metal scoop. Here are a few images of items that should do the trick perfectly, and by all means fill the bucket with the arrival of the first guest and check back often.


This cut crystal number from William Sonoma Home is good for smaller gatherings and would certainly look beautiful on a traditional bar.


This double chiller from Simon Pearce is large, heavy, and a very pleasing shape. Simon Pearce hand makes great glass items. Many of their items make wonderful gifts.


this double chiller from William Sonoma in the right environs would look wonderful. There's a matching "ice bucket" but it's far too small for anyone with more than a handfull of friends.

Attractive stainless steel or sterling silver handled (most sterling scoops have stainless silver scoops for durability) scoops can be a bit harder to come by. Beverly Bremer has a huge selection in sterling, and probably has one in your silver pattern.


Whimsical stainless scoop.


One of the many sterling scoops from Beverly Bremer.

A Well Stocked Bar I

I've been taking inventory of my bar and looking to fill in a few holes in the categories of glasses and fine spirits. As I take stock I thought I would share my thoughts on the makings of a well stocked bar.

Before you can pull together a collection of glasses, spirits, ice, garnishes, and the like you must decide on a location for a bar. For some of us our homes are equipped with bars, for others it's a spot in the kitchen, a sideboard in the dining room, or any other flat and generously sized surface.

After the location I believe the next building block for a suitable bar is a good sized tray, or trays. I prefer non-reactive metal as it's bound to catch the occasional drip or spill.

I think any one of these trays could serve this purpose depending on your decor:


From Pottery Barn


From William Sonoma Home


From William Sonoma

Or sterling is wonderful if the budget allows and the staff can keep up with the polishing. Here are some lovely trays from Beverly Bremer in Atlanta, the tray with black handles is a gorgeous George Jensen in the Acorn pattern:

Random Thoughts on Wine

(Photo Credit: Oceanrudy/Flickr)

Wine is the drink of the gods, milk the drink of babies, tea the drink of women, and water the drink of beasts. John Stuart Blackie

I read this quote by a Scottsman and couldn't help but laugh. I haven't been able to ascertain the date of the quote, but clearly it's not contemporary. I think a modern man or woman could easilty take objection to every assertion: there are no gods, milk isn't good for babies, tea is for anyone who likes tea you sexist a#@ hole, and water's good for everyone, unless it comes in a plastic bottle. I'll take it for what it is and agree with no fewer than two of the assertions, which two will have to remain a mystery.

I read an interesting article on Slate today about the growing Chinese wine culture both drinking and also producing western-style wines. It's both exciting to see this evolution of the culture, democritization through wine, but it's also emblamatic of the overall globalization of food and beverage around the world leading to great expansions for popular products, but also an extinction of some less popular beverages in far off places. Like much of China's rapid growth it's likely that progress will once again come at a great cost to tradition.

I've fallen behind on posting wine reviews; here are a few of the bottles pulled out of the cellar recently:


#005 – Martin Coday – Albarino, 2006, Spain. Cork: plastic. Color: pale straw. Nose: citrus, peach, slightly metallic. Taste: Slow to open and a bit flabby at first with stone fruit, melon and citrus at the end. Finish: Slight minerality followed by a mouth coating buttered popcorn. Price: $14.00. Recommendation: An exotic choice for the oaked California Chardonnay crowd. Not counting myself one of these individuals this bottle will not again appear on our table. I couldn’t seem to find out about the fermentation process, but would swear that the wine underwent malolactic fermentation.


#006 – Hentley Farms Mallee Sands – Chardonay, 2006, South Australia. Cork: screw cap. Color: golden delicious apples. Nose: Oak, citrus, and minerals. Taste: Stonefruit, citrus, minerals. Finish: Pineapple fading to minerals, greasy mouth feel. Price: $14.00. Recommendation: Pass for all but the most devoted Chardonnay devotee.

Atlanta Corkage Fee Index

As promised here's a starting point for the Atlanta Corkage Fee Reference Guide. If you have restaurants you'd like to see added, or have corrections please let me know. This is a work in progress and will be updated as required to keep the information current and include policies for additioanl restaurants.

At Last

Steak night was a raving success. Here's why:

We woke a bit late Saturday morning, straightened up the house, then plopped down on the couch for some Netflix therapy - the 2nd disc of Season 2 30 Days. With the house looking great and a bit of relaxation we went upstairs to get ready. I donned my summer in Atlanta staples: cream linen trousers, linen shirt (this one blue), and loafers ready to hit the town. My lovely wife outdid me looking wonderful in black capris, a striking purple silk blouse, and black shrug.

Our dinner companion arrived and after a few minutes of chatting we headed to dinner with the clear intent of being sufficiently early to have a cocktail or two at the bar before dinner. Upon arriving at Bone's we checked in and found seats in the full but not overly crowded bar. The gentlemen had Grey Goose & Tonics while the lady had a glass of some American bubbly (no menu was available, so the wine will have to go unidentified).

When dining or entertaining one unexpected surprise (of the pleasant variety) can generally turn a good or great evening into something quite memorable. In this case it was the Silver Oak, or its lack. Apparently our companion left the bottle on the counter several days in advance to allow for any sediment to move to the bottom of the bottle (not likely, but always the excellent dinner and/or drinking companion he took no chances). While he was out on Friday night the bottle was, quite by mistake, opened by a woman in his home who shall remain nameless during a girls' night in. Needless to say he was quite perturbed, but a substitution was almost immediately offered up: Bodega Catena Zapata, Nicolas Catena Zapata 2004. Being a lover of Malbec and a fan of Catena Zapata I was quite excited about the substitution, as was my wife. Our companion seemed a bit dubious, but was heartened by our enthusiastic reactions.

Once seated at a good table in the cozy, if dated, dining room we were greated by a very friendly and informative waiter - Alexi, request him, he was excellent. When we told him we had brought our own wine he was excited with our choice and when asked to decant it he told us he was glad we had asked.

Our first course was a lobster and crab napolean. A simple affair of lump crab and lobster meat layered with triangles of puff pastry and sitting on a plate covered in a layer of a white wine cream sauce. A bit heavy to start a meal, but delicious none the less.

On to the meat. My companions stuck with tradition and ordered the filets - medium. I held to my own tradition and ordered something unique on the menu, in this case a mixed grill of beef filet, lamb chops, and pheasant sausage. All three meats were spectacular, but the pheasant sausage was the highlight. Even as I write this I can smell the fragrant spices and succulent meat.

The sides were mashed potatoes, french fries (off of the menu, and clearly designed for the kiddies, these were still quite good), and a macaroni and cheese made with white cheeses, bacon, and topped with fried onions. If you're excited about the mac and cheese reading this so was I, but alas we never got ours as the last of these were gone by the time our order was submitted.

Over our steaks we enjoyed great conversation and even better wine with excellent service from our waiter and his assitants.

We ordered desert and after dinner drinks: Balvenie 15yrs, Balvenie Double-Wood, and Fonseca 2001 Port for the drinks and a pecan pie (made by the same woman since the restaurant opened in 1979) and creme brulee for the sweets. We also had excellent espresso and capuccinos (incredible foam).

After all this it was time to go home for a few games of Sequence.

Bone's Wrap-up

Atmosphere: 4.5
Drinks: 5 + 1 ($10/bottle corkage fee)
Meat: 5
Sides: 4.5 (the mac and cheese sounded '5' worthy)
Desert: 4
Service: 5
Value: 4
Overall: 4.71

We'll be back to Bone's.

#004 – Nicolas Catena Zapata – Malbec, 2004, Argentina. Cork: natural. Color: Obsidian. Nose: Herbs, chocolate, jam. Taste: Jam, tobacco, berries, mint. Finish: Surprisingly subtle, with long smooth berry and herb flavors. Price: $120.00. Recommendation: Excellent, takes Malbec to an entirely different level, but at this price point there are better wines for the money. Literally pick up a bottle at the wine store - it’s impressive, big, heavy, very thick glass with deep punt.

Steak Night Approaches

My computer has been a bit under the weather with hard drive problems which explains the lack of posts for the week. Dell assures that a new one will arrive tomorrow, then it's just a matter of moving EVERYTHING over. The mere thought has had me in search mode for upcoming pleasantries.

Steak Night: It's set for this Saturday at Bone's here in Atlanta. I'm getting really excited about cracking open the Silver Oak and perhaps even more the Turnbull. I will certainly share comments on both and should be able to declare a winner.

One deciding factor in the restaurant selection for this particular steak night was the restaurants' corkage policies as my companions and I have accumulated a few special bottles in anticipation of this upcoming celebratory Steak Night. Corkage policies vary all over Atlanta as I'm sure they do in all cities. They range from the very generous: Ruth's Chris Buckhead where they didn't charge anything to hostile: the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group (Chops, Panos & Pauls, Pricci's, etc.) where they don't allow outside wines, no excpetions. In all fairness the Buckhead Life restuarants have thoughtful lists with reasonable mark-ups, but sometimes you want to bring something not available on their list or a sentimental bottle. In the middle are restaurants like Kevin Rathbun's Steak at $20/bottle, Bone's at $10/bottle, and others going as high as $50. One frustration for those brave enough to try bringing their own bottle is that it's not easy to determine policies. They're generally not stated on the websites, or menus, or winelists. I'm gathering information now and will attempt to post a working list of corkage fees for restaurants in Atlanta in the near future and welcome others to join in and add other cities.

The wine columnists for the Wall Street Journal Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher have hit on this topic more than a few times and as I recall they have laid out a few basic rules for BYOB that seemed to be common sense for the well mannered diner. Following is my list, inspired by theirs: 1) Don't bring a bottle that's on the restaurant's list, 2) Don't bring something so inexpensive that it suggests you're only reason in bringing it was to save money, 3) Offer to share a taste of whatever you bring to the person pouring (waiter, wine steward, sommelier, etc.), 4) if you don't know the restaurant's policy call ahead to find out, and 5) tip the waitstaff as if you had purchased an average priced bottle from their list.

Does anyone have a corkage policy they would like to discuss? Posts are welcome.

The Finer Things

Over the weekend we visited the High Museum of Art here in Atlanta. With new exhibits coming in September we needed to go and see the outgoing exhibits that we had thus far this summer neglected.

Houdon at the Louvre, while not my favorite of the series of Louvre exhibits coming to the High, was worth a trip. The collection was dominated by Houdon’s busts. As a renowned sculptor and preeminent bust artist of the Enlightenment, his work was made up of a who’s who of France and the new world: Voltaire, Napoleon, Franklin, Washington, politicians, actresses, and classical influences.

Not being that familiar with Houdon, it was great to see such a large collection of his work and compare it to the large collection of busts exhibited during the last Louvre exhibit held at the High. His gift for sculpture and for capturing the personalities and even the souls of his sitters for me at least had everything to do with their eyes. In classical sculpture the eyes were smooth and flat giving the appearance of almost blindness. Houdon was inventive in creating deep recesses to represent the iris and pupil allowing light and shadow to give the impression in marble, terra cotta, and plaster of real eyes looking back at you. Houdon’s other innovation was to sculpt children as children rather than the previous tradition of treating them as diminutive adults. The sculptures of his son and daughter were amazing, as was the sculpture of his wife complete with a slightly opened mouth showing highly realistic teeth.

After the exhibit and a few drinks at Tap, we went back to Table 1280 at the High for a light dinner. The food was excellent and, despite an empty restaurant on the Saturday before back-to school, the overall experience was quite enjoyable.

My take-away dish from the meal was an appetizer – figs in honey with ricotta. I think the dish would be better suited as a dessert and that’s how I intend to serve it.



The recipe as I imagine it (I will come back and correct if it’s different from what I anticipate):

2 dozen small ripe figs
8 Tbsp honey
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 ½ cups fresh ricotta
Mint and/or Toasted Hazelnuts to garnish

1) Clean and cut the small figs in half placing them in a plastic freezer bag.

2) Add 4 Tbsp of honey and lemon juice to the bag

3) Place in the refrigerator turning occasionally to coat, allow the figs to macerate for 3-4 hours

4) Mix 2 Tbsp of honey into the ricotta, form small quenelles using two spoons and place three on each plate in a star pattern leaving 2 inches of open space in the middle of the plate for the figs

5) Add the figs to the plates and drizzle remaining honey over figs and ricotta. Top with Mint and/or nuts.