Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Meeting of the Mentshes

Just a quick post this afternoon, as I'm still working on shaking off a food coma, the result of two back-to-back days of fantastic dining and wining, Thursday in Philly and Friday in New York. There should be more details on the people, meals and vini involved in the days to come. For now, I just want to give a shout out to some friends and a nod to the serendipitous occasion that brought us all together.

Just look at those mugs!  From left to right, that's me along with Jeremy Parzen of Do Bianchi, Neil the Brooklynguy, and Lyle Fass of Rockss and Fruit, all gathered under one roof.  Can you believe it?

I don't know about you but I can still hardly believe it.  In the years that the four of us have been doing the wine blogging thing — I'm the junior member of the bunch in blog days — last night was the first time that we'd all convened.  Even harder to believe, as it feels like I've known him for years now, was the fact that it was the first time I'd ever *actually* met Mr. Parzen, an occasion long past due.  I think it's fair to say that we're all big respecters of each others work, and I know it's fair to say that Jeremy, Neil and Lyle are my three most linked-up fellow bloggers in the history of MFWT.

The man responsible for our meeting was Levi Dalton (busy at work in the photo at right), crack sommelier at New York restaurant Alto and an all around super good guy.  In two days flat, Levi had put together a very special dinner featuring the wines of Cascina Ebreo.  It was through his genius, generosity and, as our collective bunch might say (and forgive me for saying), mentschlekhkeyt, that we were all finally able to break bread together.

If only I hadn't had to rush off so quickly to make, just barely, the late bus back to Philly.  I jumped up from the table in such a flash that I somehow managed to leave behind my notes for the night.  Not to worry, though, the details are fixed indelibly in my mind.  As threatened above, I'll have a full report on the wine side of our repast in the days to come.

It was an honor and a pleasure, gentlemen!

8 comments:

Tracie P. said...

what a group of gentlemen! i wish i were hthere :)

Brooklynguy said...

Something is clearly wrong with that photo, aws it makes it look as though i have a lot of gray hair.

TWG said...

Photos of McDuff and now BG's photo debut, must've been quite the night.

David McDuff said...

@Tracie P. - Your presence would have made an already splendid evening truly special. Don't know about the gentlemen part, though....

@Brooklynguy - Yep, it's definitely the photo. Actually, you didn't get it so bad; it somehow made both Jeremy and me look like we don't even have any hair, and it kind of makes Lyle look like he's wearing tweed.

@TWG - Definitely a fun night. I would never have broken BG's cover if it hadn't already been exposed elsewhere. Actually, it's not even his first photo here, though last time around he got a little black box just to be safe.

The Wine Mule said...

"...mentschlekhkeyt..." That's kinda like edelzwicker, right? Except only for guys?

Ooh, and lookit all those empty glasses...

Great pic. Youse all look terrific.

Do Bianchi said...

@my mentschlekhkeyt what a great evening and Levi, how cool of you to make it so we could all get together... A Mt. Rushmore of schlubs (as per Lyle)! ;-) I'll never forget it.

@Tracie P we'll get back there soon. :-)

@TWG and WineMule if only you could have heard Peter Weimer's Yiddish accent!

Joe Manekin said...

Whoa.

I feel like kvelling and kvetching, simultaneously.

David McDuff said...

@TheWineMule - Forget about Weimer's accent, you seem to have your bubby accent down pat.

@DoBi - A great night indeed, and we're all indebted to Levi for makin' it happen. Still bummed I had to rush off.

@Joe - Are you sure that's even possible? Then again, never mind....

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