Category Archives: restaurant

BYOB listings at GoBYO.com

22 Wednesday Apr 2009

Posted by in restaurant, website

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

, ,

gobyo1
I know, I know, I said I wasn’t going to post until I got back from my vacation (I’m leaving early tomorrow!) but I just found out about a really interesting online resource that I had to share with you! I’m talking about the new website GoBYO.com. This website allows users to find restaurants that allow wine corkage or ‘BYOW’ in several metropolitan areas across the country. So far, the GoBYO covers Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Southeastern Florida and Washington, D.C.

There are over 400 restaurants on the site from the DC area. This website compiles this information with an astonishingly detailed search filtering. Users can filter results by cuisine, entree prices, corkage fee amount, days breakfast/lunch/dinner served, and even if they take Visa or Mastercard! The detailed restaurant profiles list basic contact information, a map, an approximate number of wines available by the glass, along with the most recent Yelp reviews. I’m not sure how much I trust Yelp reviews, but I know many people find it helpful. There is also a prominently displayed “composite rating” for the restaurant. The composite rating is ambiguously defined as a “unique GoBYO rating based on averaging the restaurant’s ratings from many restaurant guides on the Web.” But a cursory examination has revealed that these ratings are very suspect. I don’t know how any combination of restaurant guides would give the Jockey Club a score of 99, but Komi, one of the top restaurants in the country, is given an 89. Huh??

Regardless, all the objective information is great to have at your fingertips. The number of restaurants in the database is increasing with each day and the website guarantees that the restaurant profile information is updated and verified at least every 90 days.

We’ll see how successful this website will be considering the state of the economy. GoBYO is obviously targeting diners who want to still eat out, but spend less on wine at restaurants. BYOB is a touchy subject for some restaurants, I probably will devote a separate post to it, when I return from my trip. But for now, enjoy GoBYO.com for what it is, a great search for wine corkage, with questionable ratings.

Jaleo’s Unlikely Wine Shop in Crystal City

12 Monday Jan 2009

Posted by in restaurant, wine shop

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

, , , ,

jaleo-oval1

Just when you thought there was nothing interesting in the cultural wasteland known as Crystal City, José Andrés comes to the rescue. Looking to satisfy my craving for Ibérico ham, I amazingly found myself staring at the largest selection of Spanish wines in the DC area. At Jaleo in Crystal City, tucked upstairs behind the bar, Jaleo Wine Shop sells all of the restaurant’s wines for retail price! While there is no devoted staff to the wine shop, managers and waitstaff retrieve bottles for service periodically and are happy to assist browsing customers. The space is small, but look closely, and you’ll find over 100 wines to choose from. From Albariño to Xarello, every major Spanish grape is represented hailing from every region. Sherries, ports, cava, you name it, they’ve got it in their temperature controlled cellar — I mean shop. I was stunned to see so many Spanish wines in one place for sale! But don’t expect to find anything in here except wine. This shop assumes you have a proper corkscrew and glasses at home. Once you make your wine selections, you simply take your purchases downstairs to the bar, where the bartender can ring you up.

You wouldn’t know the wine shop existed if you weren’t looking for it. The stairs are so hidden, you might not even know of it from the dining room! I spoke to a manager and they have wine tastings too. Tastings typically occur every other Thursday evening, but you need to sign up for their email list to be notified, since there can be special events that supersede the retail operation.

The restaurant kitchen is just as good as the DC and Bethesda locations, serving the same tapas menu. The space is cavernous and inviting. Because the restaurant is comfortably less crowded on weekends, service is much more attentive and there is free parking, too. Wines on the restaurant wine list are priced fairly with just a nominal $15 upcharge on retail prices. Tastes, glasses, and carafes (about half a bottle for half the bottle price) make for easy wine sharing and exploration without breaking the bank. All in all, Jaleo is a wonderful time and the little wine shop is definitely a gem worth checking out.

Jaleo Wine Shop
Located on the second floor of Jaleo Crystal City
2250 A Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202
703-413-8181
info@jaleowineshop.com

Vesevo Greco di Tufo 2005 at Monroe’s American Trattoria

16 Tuesday Sep 2008

Posted by in restaurant, wine review

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

, , , ,

Tonight we decided to have dinner at our neighborhood Italian restaurant, Monroe’s. While the food here is sometimes hit or miss, the real reason we go is because of the wine list. The small selection of around 30 wines is primarily Italian, with a few American wines thrown in. But here’s the kicker. The bottles offered are marked up only a few dollars above retail! Truly a deal! Most wines are under $30 a bottle, and many are offered by the glass. I wouldn’t call the wine glasses at Monroe’s the best glassware, or guarantee the wine you’re served would be the correct temperature (in our case tonight, the white was too cold). But when you’re paying such a price for bottle service, you learn to let go of those kinds of details. The decor is a little drab, casual attire is the norm, and there is a nice patio and the service is friendly. The food is also very reasonably priced, with most pasta dishes under $15. We just don’t recommend ordering the fish (not always fresh) or chicken (sometimes rubbery).

Monroe’s is only a few blocks away from our home in Alexandria and what wine we don’t finish, we can stealthily walk home with us. Tonight we had a Vesevo Greco di Tufo 2005 DOCG for only $23. And on a weeknight, bringing it home seemed like the right thing to do.

This wine screams of apple cider and honey on the nose. Never have I smelled a wine that had such an apple-y-ness to it! With its golden yellow color, it looks a lot like apple juice too! Made with 100% Greco Bianco grapes, this wine has good acidity and a wallop of minerality, notes of bitter lemon, and a good weight. The wine hails from Tufo, a village east of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. We’ve had a couple other Greco di Tufo wines in the past, but none that were this rich.

We had the wine with creamy pasta dishes, which didn’t disagree, but the wine certainly stood on its own, if not dominated. A good wine to check out, and if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by Monroe’s for some very reasonably priced bottles!

Monroe’s
1603 Commonwealth Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301
703-548-5792

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.