Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Of Wine, and Water...and Coffee

From my favorite St. Louis food blog, Gut Check, Master Court of Wine Advanced Sommelier Chris Hoel has accepted a job with Keller at The French Laundry. Some of you wine folks may know Chris as he's one of St. Louis' two Advanced sommeliers from the Master Court.


Starbucks has a brand new bag...of coffee. Yesterday, they launched a new blend, Pike's Place blend (named after the famed market in Seattle) with a smoother taste than their other brewed coffees. (So says the WSJ.)

Talk about capitalizing on the "greening of America", several hot spots in NYC (including the Waverly Inn) are 86ing bottled water -- especially imported waters -- from their menus. Not sure where they're going to get the same mark ups/margins on tap, but they're getting good press out the ban. Other credible NYC spots like Per Se use high-end filtration systems for standard water service and offer other bottled options at no charge. (NYP via Grub Street)

5 comments:

Kirsten said...

On the 86ing of bottled water: If Alice Waters supports a specific water policy, so do I!

Cutting out bottled water is a great way to reduce the waste that restaurants often produce. If my under-mount filter is good enough at home, similar practices are good enough in restaurants.

beffuh said...

Have you heard anything about El Morocco? I heard their phone number is disconnected--a colleague was supposed to be having a meeting there tomorrow night, but they aren't communicating. Any news?

braingirl said...

Your colleague might want to have a back-up plan for dinner. My understanding is that El Morrocco has been closed for some time although I haven't gone up there myself and tried the door.

beffuh said...

Thanks. They already changed the plans--but I do wonder, since they had been able to make reservations. they're going to the Russia house instead.

Anonymous said...

El Morocco had been for sale for the last six months but we had no luck in moving it.