Just the other day (July 7, 2008) a few of my web geek friends and I went to the grand opening of the new Capitol Hill burger place Good Stuff Eatery, which was created by Chef Spike Mendelsohn who was on Season 4 of Top Chef and his family.

There was definitely a crowd that gathered for the grand opening, partially because folks wanted to see Spike and the rest like myself wanted to try his food that they had only seen on TV.

We got there about 7:15 PM and was directed by Spike’s dad of where to go to get into line to place are order. Once in line it moved along fairly quickly. They had a bunch of signs out asking to take it easy on the staff since they were still in training. They had three different cash registers open to keep things flowing. Once you ordered you were told to go to the end of the counter to see Spike.

We stopped to see Spike and he took our receipt and gave us one of those blinky buzzy restaurant things. This probably had to do with the fact that there were like 20 or 30 other people waiting for their food. The wait did not seems that long,even though it was about 30 minutes before one of my friends got his meal and then myself and one other guys was an additional 10 minutes. This made for a grand total of 40 minutes. I figure that Spike would rather people have to wait for the hand made burgers than get one that was not up to par.

The food was really good and well worth the wait. I had the “Spikes 5 Napkin” burger same as Justin Thorp. Who said “I had never had a burger with a fried egg on it before”. The burger was cooked just perfectly, had the right amount of cheese and sauce. Then sunny side up egg on top of the burger was a great surprise.

I just purchased a few domain names that I would like to use with your help to create a local DC food review blog. The types of places that I would like to review are the local joint that has character and really good food, staff, wine, cheese, local bakery, etc. I am normally looking for the cheap and inexpensive type of places, not the high end expensive ones.

If you would like to help create or be part of the blog/website please leave a note.

For any information I receive from people about their classes i will place the date the class was given as part of the title so people can figure them out correctly.

1. Vichyssoise (deconstructed)  - Wine: Grotta Del Sole Asprinio d’Aversa Spumante Brut - Italy - $14
2. Tuna Tartare - Tuna And Mache Salad On Flatbread - Wine: 2006 - Cantine Botromagno Gravina - Italy - $12
3. Chicken Florentine Tartlettes - Wine: 2006 - Vina Leyda Pinot Noir  - Chile - $23
4. “Lobster” Newburg - Wine: 2004 - Sebastiani Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel - California - $22
5. Lamb Wellington - Wine: 2005 - Maramonte Syrage - California - $17

Wines From Pearson’s
Bread From Calvert-Woodley

1. 2005 - Fabula Rosso Monteregio di Massa Marttima (DOC) - $13.00
2. 2003 - Poggio Sughere Morlino di Scansano (DOC) - $18.00
3. 2001 - Vecchia cantina Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva (DOCG) - $21.00
4. 2004 - Casakino Chianti Classico Riserva (DOCG) - $17.00
5. 2001 - Mocali brunello di Montalcino (DOCG) - $44.00

Cheese

1. Pecorino Tuscano (Tuscany) - young cheese by Manciano - $16.00/lb.
2. Gran Cru Pecorino (Sardinia (aged 18 months) - $17.00/lb.

Wines - 1 - 4 Corridor Fine Wines, Laurel, MD and wine 5 Pearsons Washington, DC

Bread and Cheeses - Calvert-Woodley

Wine Shelf Price

1. 2006 – White Hall Vineyards - (UnWined) - (VA)- $15.99
2. 2004 – Ballast Stone - (Bell’s Wine) - (AUS) - $15.99
3. 2005 – Petite Petit – Michael David - (Bell’s Wine) - (CA) - $22.99
4. 2006 – Yard Dog – Red Heads Studio - (UnWined) - (AUS) - $10.99
5. 2005 – Deen De Bortoli – Vat 4 - (UnWined) - (AUS) - $10.99

Cheese (Calvert Woodley) Shelf Price

1. Tomme de Savore - $16.98/lb
2. Bella Colina Provolone Picante - $10.99/lb

Louise Shelly and Jeff Kominers have done an outstanding job of putting this tasting together, and we will all get to enjoy their efforts! Stryker gave us some great discounts, some at 40%, to permit us to present higher priced wines. We’ll start with three terrific lively Zins, then a special blend, and finish with a super full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon.

1. 2004 - Stryker Old Vine Alexander Valley Zinfandel - $20
2. 2004 - Stryker OZ Alexander Valley Old Vine Zinfandel - $25
3. 2003 - Stryker Speedy Creek Knights Valley Zinfandel - $32
4. 2003 - Stryker Jen’s Blend Sonoma County Blend - $20
5. 2003 - Stryker Speedy Creek Knights Valley Cabernet - $38

Cheees

1. Taleggio - $13.99
2. Saint-Nectaire - $10.49

Wines will be from both sides of the ocean. From California, there will be two of my favorite Zinfandels from Sonoma County, Seghesio and Trentadue, as well a a wonderful Barbera from Boeger in El Dorado County. From Italy, there will be a Primitivo from Puglia in southern Italy and an outstanding red wine from Friuli in Northern
Italy. This last wine is from a winemaker who was educated in the United States but returned to his winemaking family in Italy taking new world techniques.

There will of course be two cheeses (one creamy and one hard sharp cheese) which were selected to pair well with the wines, as well as plenty of crusty bread.

Please join us for this educational and delicious event!

1. 2006 Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel - $20
2. 2006 A-Mano Puglia, Sicily Primitivo - $13
3. 2005 Trentadue Sonoma County Zinfandel - $20
4. 2006 Boeger El Dorado, Ca Barbera - $16.50
5. 2006 Just Me Friuli, Italy Merlot - $31

Wines from Bell Wine Shop

Cheeses:

1. Edel L’Cleron - $18.99
2. Cabot XSharp Cheddar - $8.99

Bread and Cheeses from Calvert-Woodley

We had deleted about 250 - 300 manually until I got the last part set up, since Wednesday morning we have caught almost 1,200 more.

Even by mentioning it on my own blog over the weekend using the blog post title has gotten about six or so spam comments on it.

If I inadvertently delete your comment by mistake I apologize in advance.

The long and the short of it is comments are now back on.

If you have already commented before you should be able to do so still. Once this stops I will turn them back on.

Thanks, for reading any way.

jfc iii