1970's in NY -- 15 July 2011 - The MIA get together

[Chris Doty]

Sorry I've been on and off -- been travelling a bit lately.

Some dates that would work include:
Wednesday, July 13th
Thursday July 14th
Friday, July 15th
Thursday August 11th
Sunday August 14th
Thursday Sept 1st

Any of those sound good?

[g-man]

july 15th actually cleared up for me as previous occasion got canceled.

any location in mind?

theme is 1970s.

[Chris Doty]

15th is perfect!

I'm pretty open minded re: location, and haven't done a port-only byo in NYC before. There are a couple of no corkage places I know of (Square Meal, Hillstones, etc), and then there are places like the Tribeca Grill and others that are good restaurants with generally friendly/open minded wine staff.

In addition to myself, I expect to bring along three port friends, so we should be good to cover the Dow, Taylor, Graham and one other between us.

Shall we try to do this single blind, wrapped in tin foil?

[g-man]

i like sq meal, but the space is tight

what's hillstones?

I have to check my stash as it's a mess, but i *think* I have the croft and sandeman. (not sure tho)

I can also bring a dry to start off.

so we need to find a p lace that can potentially accommodate 6-8 people?

[Chris Doty]

Yeah -- square meal is a bit small, and i'm not sure how 'port friendly' the menu is -- but it's a nice place.

Hillstones is a steak chain also known as Houston's (they've changed their name in NYC to avoid having to publicize how many calories are in their dishes....you've been warned!)

Yeah -- I would think 6-8 should be a good number. Hopefully that will get us basically all of the big guns from the year.

[g-man]

Yeah -- square meal is a bit small, and i'm not sure how 'port friendly' the menu is -- but it's a nice place.

Hillstones is a steak chain also known as Houston's (they've changed their name in NYC to avoid having to publicize how many calories are in their dishes....you've been warned!)

Yeah -- I would think 6-8 should be a good number. Hopefully that will get us basically all of the big guns from the year.

question is will they let us bring in stemware and set up tasting sheets in the port forum fashion?

Along with hogging a table up on friday night?

[jdaw1]

I’m willing to help with placemats, or to leave that to SushiNorth. All I request is clear instruction who is to make, and what is wanted.

[Chris Doty]

So, I called Hillstones. Unfortunately, they don't accept reservations for more than 6 people, and generally have either booths (seating 6) or tables that are bolted down to the floor (i.e., that can't be pushed together), so I'm not sure they will be able to meet our space requirements. Pity.

Will keep looking for a suitable venue...

[SushiNorth]

Square meal has been good to us in the past, though i don't trust them with glasses I would also put forward 53rd st's Peking Duck House. Both menus have worked pretty well with port.

If we are doing a 70's tasting, these be big guns. I've got the F70 covered for us.

However, there are a few others available in my cellar that may be of interest.
Sandeman 70*
Cockburn 70*
Warre 70
Dow 70* (which i should mention we just had at the dow tasting)

* Last bottle in the cellar, so we should be judicious about it; do we want it for this horizontal, or for a vertical later?


Logistics:
Glasses and placemats are handled at 6 people. Is anyone else in NY coming? TBird?

[jdaw1]

Is anyone else in NY coming?

I could invite a friend of the family. But she has no port and no money, so it would have to be on my tab. Should I? And could somebody take my credit?

placemats are handled

Presumably not by me. Splendid.

[SushiNorth]

Is anyone else in NY coming?

I could invite a friend of the family. But she has no port and no money, so it would have to be on my tab. Should I? And could somebody take my credit?

My understanding was that you had placed funds in escrow toward future tastings and for just this sort of occasion. I was planning on ensuring a bottle arrived at the tasting in your name, your representative would certainly be welcome.

[g-man]

Square meal has been good to us in the past, though i don't trust them with glasses I would also put forward 53rd st's Peking Duck House. Both menus have worked pretty well with port.

If we are doing a 70's tasting, these be big guns. I've got the F70 covered for us.

However, there are a few others available in my cellar that may be of interest.
Sandeman 70*
Cockburn 70*
Warre 70
Dow 70* (which i should mention we just had at the dow tasting)

* Last bottle in the cellar, so we should be judicious about it; do we want it for this horizontal, or for a vertical later?


Logistics:
Glasses and placemats are handled at 6 people. Is anyone else in NY coming? TBird?

I acutally have a dow 70 in the cellar to, so no worries about that.

[SushiNorth]

Let's make this a little more official. g-man, can you change the title of this to "1970's in NY -- 15 July 2011"?

Tasting: 1970's in NY
Date: Fri 15 July, 2011 @ 6:30
Location: Sarabeth's West, 423 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024

Ports:

• Fonseca 1970
• Taylor 1970
• Graham 1970
• Dow 1970

Attendees:

• Chris
• Terry (Chris's girlfriend)
• Greg (Chris's good friend and wine accomplice)
• Malda (greg's wife -- happily pregnant and sadly not drinking!)
• SushiNorth
• g-man
• differentdave

[Chris Doty]

For placemats and general information, my three guests are:

Terry (my girlfriend)
Greg (my good friend and wine accomplice)
Malda (greg's wife -- happily pregnant and sadly not drinking!)

Terry, Greg, and I will expect to bring the Dow, Graham, and Taylor.

I will do some more research today on a potential venue and update you if I find something suitable.

[g-man]

peking duck h ouse has indeed been reasonable for us to have such tastings.

perhaps I should invite my pregnant wife too

i need to figure out what bottles i need to bring then, i might have to adopt.

or if you guys want a champagne or dry red, i can bring something of equal value.

[Chris Doty]

I'm not sure I've ever paired port with chinese food. If you guys think it works, I might be curious to give it a go. On the other hand, these should prove to be some awfully fine bottles of grape juice, and it would be a pity for them to be overshadowed by spicy or overly pungent food.

An alternative might be Sarabeth's West ($10 corkage per bottle) - they seem to have a good menu, and are unlikely to be too busy on a summer friday night.

[g-man]

I'm not sure I've ever paired port with chinese food. If you guys think it works, I might be curious to give it a go. On the other hand, these should prove to be some awfully fine bottles of grape juice, and it would be a pity for them to be overshadowed by spicy or overly pungent food.

An alternative might be Sarabeth's West ($10 corkage per bottle) - they seem to have a good menu, and are unlikely to be too busy on a summer friday night.

it pairs quite well in my opinion and I think I almost got a believe out of KillerB when he came over with a grahams 94. I'll go with the flow on this one.

[g-man]

I'm not sure I've ever paired port with chinese food. If you guys think it works, I might be curious to give it a go. On the other hand, these should prove to be some awfully fine bottles of grape juice, and it would be a pity for them to be overshadowed by spicy or overly pungent food.

An alternative might be Sarabeth's West ($10 corkage per bottle) - they seem to have a good menu, and are unlikely to be too busy on a summer friday night.

Chris you want to make a reservation for 8 somewhere? (we can easily fill in people)

do you want the typical TPF set up?

ie, we can bring in glassware and such, in which case the locale may need to be informed also.

[Chris Doty]

Alrighty -- I've made us a reservation for 8 people at 6:30pm for Friday, the 15th of July at Sarabeth's west.

I think ideally we'd find a restaurant that has a private room of some sort, but short of that, I'm hoping this will suit.

http://www.sarabethswest.com/contact.html

Looking forward to it!

[g-man]

Future reference.

Uncle jack's on the west side has a 125$/person tax + tip included free corkage + 5 course pre fixe but it is on the pricey side. (private room included)

Harry's downtown where we did our dow's has a 85$ pre fix not including tax and tip and a fluctuating corkage charge (which will probably come out to 125$/person also) but we also get the private room and they'll wash our glasses for us

[g-man]

Alrighty -- I've made us a reservation for 8 people at 6:30pm for Friday, the 15th of July at Sarabeth's west.

I think ideally we'd find a restaurant that has a private room of some sort, but short of that, I'm hoping this will suit.

http://www.sarabethswest.com/contact.html

Looking forward to it!

is the reservation under your name?

I want to confirm we can bring our own stemware and placemats.

[SushiNorth]

Sorry, was hosting a party last night and didn't see all this activity til now. Are there other options? $10 corkage opens a lot of doors.

[jdaw1]

Aforementioned friend of family (‟AMK” in this post) is unavailable. Sorry.

Small possibility of that changing, but only small. If it does change, that will be known by Thursday afternoon.

[g-man]

Sorry, was hosting a party last night and didn't see all this activity til now. Are there other options? $10 corkage opens a lot of doors.

list them.

We need:

hopefulyl private room
ability to stay and taste without interruption
large enough room to accommodate glasses.

[Chris Doty]

I'm not married to Sarabeth's by any means, and would be happy to cancel if we find something superior.

A large party with a lot of demands on a friday night (albeit in the summer) might be a bit tricky to accommodate, I fear