“I think we’re early,” Paula whispered as we walked into Smith & Wollensky last week. Nobody was around. Nobody. No hostess to greet us, no bar tender tending bar, no customers at the empty tables. “Are they open?” Dean asked. “Well, the doors were open.” Susie said. Still, there we were, all alone in the restaurant. We stood awkwardly for several minutes. Dean began whistling the theme from “Twilight Zone.” “We’re early,” I said with conviction. They all looked at me like, “No duh!” The other times we’ve come for wine week, we were part of a mob. I was having a hard time reconciling the deserted restaurant with the frenzy of wine week. We go every year in March to celebrate Paula & Dean’s anniversary. During wine week they pour 10 wines for $20. It used to be $10 for 10 wines, but last year they doubled the price — someone in my wine… Read More »
It’s a wine miracle! Well, sort of …
The beginning of last week an unexpected but very welcome e-mail popped up in my in box. It was from UPS saying I would receive a package on Friday. I had not ordered anything from anyplace so I was nonplussed. Back around the holidays I received notices about a supposed UPS delivery that was waiting for me and all I had to do was open the attachment to get the tracking info. Of course I did not open any attachment, but I did contact UPS several times. So as I was looking at this e-mail, I realized I had not received any such notice for several months and perhaps the bogus notices were back … or not. I scrolled down and saw the shipper was Maloy O’Neill winery in Paso Robles. Really? Could it be? Maloy O’Neill went out of business a couple of years ago. Let’s go back a minute to the fun, heady time when I… Read More »
Outside Wine Tasting on a Lovely Summer Evening
Saturday evening I went with friend Kathi to the “Grapes and Hops” festival here at the Springs Preserve. Shawn joined us and the three of us had a lovely evening. The weather was perfect! If you don’t live in Las Vegas, you will have to imagine the perfect evenings we get as a reward for suffering through the blazing hot summer days. AND there are no mosquitoes! (Note to my friends in the east and the south.) Kathi had heard about the Grapes and Hops event and asked several people to join her. I’d seen it advertised for the past 4 years, but never paid much attention. Silly me! The event was sold out so it was good that we bought tickets in advance. And, as you have surmised from the title, it was a tasting of wine and beer. We chose wine. And the food was yummy! My favorite was the… Read More »
