Things that are pissing you off- Food & Drink Edition

[gomestar]

if it was a relatively new bottle, they'll get it replaced by the distributor (stores do at least, maybe restaurants are different?)

 

[HORNS]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

^ Waiter was an idiot. All he had to do was open a new bottle for her and foist off the other bottle on different people. Most people do not know the difference so he pissed you guys off for the cost of a glass of wine.

Now, if it was an expensive bottle, I can see a conversation over it. I've even heard of (but never been to or actually noticed) places that have an "order at own risk" policy on ultra expensive bottles.

Originally Posted by gomestar

if it was a relatively new bottle, they'll get it replaced by the distributor (stores do at least, maybe restaurants are different?)

Yeah, it was a new bottle in a restaurant with a ****** wine list. The waiter, nor even the restaurant because of what gomestar stated, had no financial interest in whether the wine was corked. It's not like my wife said that it was corked and wanted a totally different wine in its place - that would be suspicious to me as a waiter.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by gomestar

We want our story from the last gathering of the culinary savants

Originally Posted by Piobaire

We're here for ya, brah.

OK, you two suck. You may not suck as badly as my dinner last night did, but you suck nonetheless.

 

[Piobaire]

We don't suck at the highest level?

 

[HORNS]

I'm still waiting on an update on her. I want deets before they soften with time.

 

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by HORNS

Yeah, it was a new bottle in a restaurant with a ****** wine list. The waiter, nor even the restaurant because of what gomestar stated, had no financial interest in whether the wine was corked. It's not like my wife said that it was corked and wanted a totally different wine in its place - that would be suspicious to me as a waiter.

ego. Pricks.

Your wife sounds like an interesting person to chat with about wine, she should join StyleForvm.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by HORNS

I'm still waiting on an update on her. I want deets before they soften with time.
It wasn't that big a deal. We were at a party with her and a bunch of friends, which was not catered by her, and she was basically standing around holding court, loudly talking about how bad each dish was. She had a few frans who were telling her how her restaurant was the best in San Francisco and how it was unthinkable to use this other caterer. I thought the food was much better than hers.

 

[HORNS]

Originally Posted by iammatt

It wasn't that big a deal. We were at a party with her and a bunch of friends, which was not catered by her, and she was basically standing around holding court, loudly talking about how bad each dish was. She had a few frans who were telling her how her restaurant was the best in San Francisco and how it was unthinkable to use this other caterer. I thought the food was much better than hers.

She's one unhappy woman.

 

[why]

Originally Posted by HORNS

Last night, we ate at this place called Frantoio, in Mill Valley, Marin. It's good enough Italian food and it has this remarkable olive crusher in this room where they make their own olive oil - this all can be seen behind glass from the dining room. Anyway, I digress . . . my wife ordered this domestic pinot and noted that it was slightly corked. I sniffed it and could really not tell, and I'm pretty sensitive to TCA. She said that it was more on the palate than the nose (I still didn't notice in the taste) and called the waiter's attention on it. So, he brought the glass of wine back and told her that they tried it and said that it was not corked, which sent my diminutive wife into "Tasmanian Devil" mode. She directed him to bring out an unopened bottle of wine and open it in front of her and pour her a new glass. Sure enough the qualities of the two glasses were very different. The waiter, however, insisted and pouted that the wines were the same, which is why I'm putting this episode into this threak. My wife told them, and this really didn't help matters, that they should take the two wines back to the bar and smell and taste the two so they could "educate themselves on what a corked wine is like".
I think in all likelihood the wines were the same. For whatever reason some people get off on saying their wine is corked and act as if they were brought stale bread or something. Still, I'd bet most restaurants in America would just open a new bottle anyway to appease the customer rather than try to tame them.

 

[HORNS]

Originally Posted by why

I think in all likelihood the wines were the same. For whatever reason some people get off on saying their wine is corked and act as if they were brought stale bread or something. Still, I'd bet most restaurants in America would just open a new bottle anyway to appease the customer rather than try to tame them.

No offense taken on this above statement. However, you are wrong in respect to what occurred with that pinot. It was corked - the two glasses were tasted one after another and I am not just confident as to what my palate noted, but especially my wife's palate, who tastes on a conservative average 12-20 different wines a day.

She learned her lesson on corkage. She would first take wines to retailers/restaurants and open the bottles to be tasted. She, at that time of the day, would not taste them, so the only people who would taste this bottle of wine, which could happen to be corked to some degree, were the ones who would be doing the purchasing. Then, during the afternoon, she would taste this half full bottle with someone and realize that she was presenting for evaluation this corked bottle of wine. The buyers didn't notice, but she did. She'd then scramble to find another bottle so she could rectify the situation. Maybe they didn't know that it was corked, but there's qualities detected either consciously or subconsciously that can indicate that the wine they taste is not as good as something else.

To sum it up, really, is that there's a significantly higher number of people who get corked wine and just drink it compared to the number of people who get a corked wine and bring it to the waiter's attention. Due to the subtlety of it, my wife thinks that they opened a bottle of good wine, mixed it with the last amount of a bottle of corked wine, tossed the empty bad bottle, and served her the glass.

 

[kwilkinson]

Were you guys ordering by the bottle or by the glass?

If it was a glass pour, then it's possible it was opened the day before and wasn't corked, it just tasted like **** b/c it was starting to oxidize. Sometimes that can take on a slight TCA taste. If you ordered by the bottle, then obviously that can't be what happened.

 

[CouttsClient]

Originally Posted by HORNS

No offense taken on this above statement. However, you are wrong in respect to what occurred with that pinot. It was corked - the two glasses were tasted one after another and I am not just confident as to what my palate noted, but especially my wife's palate, who tastes on a conservative average 12-20 different wines a day.

She learned her lesson on corkage. She would first take wines to retailers/restaurants and open the bottles to be tasted. She, at that time of the day, would not taste them, so the only people who would taste this bottle of wine, which could happen to be corked to some degree, were the ones who would be doing the purchasing. Then, during the afternoon, she would taste this half full bottle with someone and realize that she was presenting for evaluation this corked bottle of wine. The buyers didn't notice, but she did. She'd then scramble to find another bottle so she could rectify the situation. Maybe they didn't know that it was corked, but there's qualities detected either consciously or subconsciously that can indicate that the wine they taste is not as good as something else.

To sum it up, really, is that there's a significantly higher number of people who get corked wine and just drink it compared to the number of people who get a corked wine and bring it to the waiter's attention. Due to the subtlety of it, my wife thinks that they opened a bottle of good wine, mixed it with the last amount of a bottle of corked wine, tossed the empty bad bottle, and served her the glass.


Glorious

 

[HORNS]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Were you guys ordering by the bottle or by the glass?

If it was a glass pour, then it's possible it was opened the day before and wasn't corked, it just tasted like **** b/c it was starting to oxidize. Sometimes that can take on a slight TCA taste. If you ordered by the bottle, then obviously that can't be what happened.

It was by the glass. Oxidized wines, in my experience, lose their acidity and have a walnut and/or raisin taste to them. Corked wines are very unique in odor and taste - like smelling and tasting wet, but especially moldy, cardboard.

 

[SField]

Originally Posted by HORNS

It was by the glass. Oxidized wines, in my experience, lose their acidity and have a walnut and/or raisin taste to them. Corked wines are very unique in odor and taste - like smelling and tasting wet, but especially moldy, cardboard.

o god that sickening raisin taste... or like a prune. It sticks to the roof of your mouth like molasses.

 

[HORNS]

Originally Posted by SField

o god that sickening raisin taste... or like a prune. It sticks to the roof of your mouth like molasses.
"Prune" is a better descriptor. So yeah, this should be under this threak as well - restaurants pouring long-opened wines by the glass. Also, red wines that are too warm. There's a restaurant that's one of my consistent favorites, Firefly, that is always warm inside (good) but the reds that are left in that ambient temperature are too "vapory" and lose some acidity due to that warmth (bad).