Wine list...

[Randy Caparoso]

Innkeeper, there's a wonderful Greek restaurant in Manhattan like that called Milos; except it's much more lavish. MY bill (for 8 people) came out to over $900!

Bucko, it's hard for us to apologize for not having Gewurztraminer from time to time, since there really aren't a lot of good ones out there. And so if we run out of, say, a Storrs from Monterey, or a Pfeffingen from the Pfalz, we'd just as soon not serve any! That's the essence of a small, flexible wine list -- it never carries a wine just for the sake of having it. We don't automatically replace a missing Gewurztraminer if all that's available to us is something that doesn't fit our needs (such as price, and our cutting-edge image) and does not meet our quality expectations (most Gewurztraminers have harsh, bitter edged tastes which do grievous battle with our Asian influenced food).

Personally, I view the traditional idea of wine list -- with its requisite listings of classics, 90 pointers, the basic varietals and regional types, etc. -- with great disdain. Food, in my opinion, should always be the chief consideration in the making of all wine lists. That, followed by quality and value factors. Real wine for real people. That being said, you can say that we really don't care about what other restaurants with "great" wine lists do. Who cares about the "mustard?"