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we seem to be quite thirsty after the build up in excitement that one of our fellow from london came to join us for libations in NY.

Alas, I see an offline request missing so this is the place holder!

Wonderful stuff!

I would propose (if it is not too little notice) this Thursday evening, say around 7:30pm?

I don't yet have a feel for which restaurants in nyc are most port appropriate, but i'm sure we'll find something suitable.

Thoughts?

I'm embarassed to say that I can't do a full dinner this thursday but would be able to share a drink before having to head home way out on long island.

where abouts are you? Downtown/midtown?

A drink sounds like a splendid idea.

My office is 52nd and Park, so basically anything in midtown would be cake

oh man,

this is going to require some planning then!

i'm ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the way downtown by wall st.

Port and cake? Not sure that works for me but do report back.

Chris Doty wrote:My office is 52nd and Park, so basically anything in midtown would be cake

g-man wrote:this is going to require some planning then!

i'm ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the way downtown by wall st.

Gentlemen,

New York City, in particular the borough of Manhattan, is equipped with a newfangled travel device called a "subway." Chris may be familiar with the device, as London is apparently also equipped with one. These devices are rumored to make travel quick and easy. Indeed a trip in Manhattan from downtown to midtown or vice versa is rumored to take a mere 15-20 minutes via the A-C-E or 1-2-3.

Subway? One of the little yellow buses with a white light on top?

Glenn E. wrote:

Chris Doty wrote:My office is 52nd and Park, so basically anything in midtown would be cake

g-man wrote:this is going to require some planning then!

i'm ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the way downtown by wall st.

Gentlemen,

New York City, in particular the borough of Manhattan, is equipped with a newfangled travel device called a "subway." Chris may be familiar with the device, as London is apparently also equipped with one. These devices are rumored to make travel quick and easy. Indeed a trip in Manhattan from downtown to midtown or vice versa is rumored to take a mere 15-20 minutes via the A-C-E or 1-2-3.

26 minutes on the C, E and 1
15-18 minutes on the A, 2 , 3

and i need to make it the way back =)

I live 185 miles from my regular off-line location. JDAW lives a similar distance away, with the added complication of 26 miles of water being in the way. We both manage to attend many offlines. AHB even manages to cross from the south to the north of the Thames without vaccinations or a passport each time he attends an offline. The NY tasters have no excuse.

We sent Special Agent Doty over there to whip you guys into shape and up your game in the OPM statistics.

Step up boys, America needs you...

g-man wrote:26 minutes on the C, E and 1
15-18 minutes on the A, 2 , 3

and i need to make it the way back =)

You city boys are so pampered. When I worked for Boeing, my commute was an hour and 15 minutes each way. (Uphill both ways, in the snow.) Every time my wife and I go out for dinner in Seattle it's 45 minutes each way. I'm about to drive 35 minutes for my weekly gaming night.

If there was a Port tasting within 20 minutes you wouldn't be able to keep me away!

Glenn E. wrote:When I worked for Boeing, my commute was an hour and 15 minutes each way. (Uphill both ways, in the snow.)

I must admit that I have never been to Washington state, but I am surprised to learn that whichever direction you travel in it is always uphill, even when going back to where you started from earlier in the day

Glenn E. wrote:

g-man wrote:26 minutes on the C, E and 1
15-18 minutes on the A, 2 , 3

and i need to make it the way back =)

You city boys are so pampered. When I worked for Boeing, my commute was an hour and 15 minutes each way. (Uphill both ways, in the snow.) Every time my wife and I go out for dinner in Seattle it's 45 minutes each way. I'm about to drive 35 minutes for my weekly gaming night.

If there was a Port tasting within 20 minutes you wouldn't be able to keep me away!

i still need to get home!!!

which is an hour away out on the island!

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:When I worked for Boeing, my commute was an hour and 15 minutes each way. (Uphill both ways, in the snow.)

I must admit that I have never been to Washington state, but I am surprised to learn that whichever direction you travel in it is always uphill, even when going back to where you started from earlier in the day

Don't forget that it's in the snow, too. While herding cats.

Travelling in the past is sort of like leaving the North Pole. No matter which way you go, it's always south.

It's possible that this is American slang, of a sort. When an old-timer tells a story, it seems to always go something like this: "Kids these days! They don't understand what hard really is. Their parents drive them to school in their big cushy SUVs. In my day, we had to walk to school! 10 miles! And it was uphill both ways! In the snow!"

No, kids today just don’t hear that properly. In my day, when I was young, ahh, then we had proper hard-luck stories about childhood. Doesn’t happen any more. World has changed. Too long since the war.

So Chris,

1970s tasting?

Sushi and I have just the candidate =)

g-man wrote:So Chris,

1970s tasting?

Sushi and I have just the candidate =)

I do have such a candidate, how about we propose a date not during this coming week to open it?

i believe i have another 1970 lined up

wha'ts a good date for everyone?

On 23rd May, g-man wrote:we seem to be quite thirsty

On 23rd June, g-man wrote:wha'ts a good date for everyone?

Respect to g-man for his tenacity and enthusiasm. Team NYC - where are you!

DRT wrote:Respect to g-man for his tenacity and enthusiasm. Team NYC - where are you!

Back from Boston and Utica and Arizona and Australia

So, I seem to have time in July, which of these days would NYers like?

This Saturday, July 2

Fri July 8

Fri July 15
Sat July 23

Fri July 29
Sat July 30

The profile page of Chris Doty says ‟Last visited: 23:02 Wed 25 May 2011”. Perhaps he is away?

Greetings Port Friends,

Sorry I have been MIA of late - it's been a rather busy start to the Summer.

I am actually heading to the UK tonight (in town for my sister's graduation from Cambridge on Friday), so I'm going to be free Friday night in London should anyone want to meet up.

As for a NYC offline, I think the only Friday/Saturday in July I could do would be the Friday the 15th.

Again -- sorry to have been offline for so long. Looking forward to meeting the NY crew soon.

Perhaps we should find a time suitable for august for chris?

Sushi, I dropped you mail about the 9th.

At the rate this is going, might I suggest March 16 or 17, 2012, to coincide with the 2012 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott?

Chris Doty wrote:Sorry I have been MIA of late - it's been a rather busy start to the Summer.
As for a NYC offline, I think the only Friday/Saturday in July I could do would be the Friday the 15th.

Chris, what might be some good days for you?

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?

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

any location in mind?

theme is 1970s.

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?

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?

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.

Chris Doty wrote: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?

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.

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...

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?

SushiNorth wrote: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?

SushiNorth wrote:placemats are handled

Presumably not by me. Splendid.

jdaw1 wrote:

SushiNorth wrote: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.

SushiNorth wrote: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.

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

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.

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.

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 Doty wrote: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.

Chris Doty wrote: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.

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!

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

Chris Doty wrote: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.

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.

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.

SushiNorth wrote: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.

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