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They were clearly getting their legs under them for the soft opening (out of some menu items, a shortage of wine menus), but we liked it. I'm no wine geek, so I'll leave that critique to someone else, but I found the selection to be interesting and fairly varied. The division of the wine menu was a bit confiusing; when I see "Old World Reds" and "New World Reds" I expect, well, a division of producers from Europe and the Americas. It didn't seem to follow that logic. Again: me <> wine geek, so maybe I'm missing something. Prices were generally $8-15/glass with a few coming under that a a couple pushing towards $20 and above. All wines are available by the taste, glass, and bottle. It was pretty busy by the time we left (~ 8:30) and their pouring system might need some more thought. It was pretty tight behind the bar and there is one large temp-controlled wine fridge on the back wall. For each pour the lone 'tender had to open the fridge, retrieve the wine, pour the glass, vacuum seal the bottle (good to see they were doing it for every pour), return to fridge. This included working the service bar. She was doing a great job, though! Food was good for snacking. One page of cheese and charcuterie, a page of small plates including salads ans some apps, and a small selection of 5-6 entrees. Prices seemed more reasonable than for wine; most expensive entree was a filet for $21 or so. I tried some sliders, choice of 4: lamb, venison, bison, and sirloin. Lamb was a bit dried out, but the venison and bison were great. The rolls were potato rolls and were kind of dried out, though. Would have preferred the ubiquitous brioche. All in all we got out of there for $75 before tip for a cheese/charcuterie board, 3 slider, and 4 glasses of wine. A tad expensive, but all of our glasses were in the $14-15 range. You could do better. We'll be back to explore more. Judging from the crowds this place has the chance to do well.

Stumbled across this on the Post's site today: "Raise a Glass to Vinoteca" by Fritz Hahn on voices.washpost.com A very brief blurb on one of the blogs mentions 68 by-the-glass options, cheese and charcuterie We were planning on giving Marvin a go tonight and may just have to drop by here first to see what's what. Edit: click here for a glimpse at their retina-searing website . Nothing much substantive yet, just a link to various press pieces.

They definitely had it around the time BlackSalt opened. The very first time we went there was a printed option on the menu. I, too, thought it was a great deal. We weren't offered a wine pairing, but did well enough choosing our own.

I bet they would if you asked. I think they get pretty much all of the major European sports networks available on satellite. Assuming that F1 is covered under that umbrella they should be able to show it. If there are any big soccer or rugby matches on at the same time you may be SOL, but it never hurts to ask.

Cleveland Park Bar and Grill Pour House Lucky Bar That's only 3 off the top of my head in the District, all with satellite coverage. Hell, even Mackey's has retrofitted with more flat screens in the back room. Crystal City Sports Pub if you are across the river. Oh, and Summer's. And Mister Day's. Mind you none of these are great or serve superior food, but they are leaps and bounds above ESPNZone. ESPNZone is terrible in every way except for the size and number of screens (which are only any good if you NEED to track 4-5 games simultaneously without rotating your head more than 30 degrees). We were going there for the UMich-OSU with 20-30 fans for 3 years until they instituted a minimum per person tab (to the tune of $40 or so) AND stopped taking reservations for the big screen area. Complete ripoff, although since their beers are so overpriced it was easy to hit that target the one year we went . Oh, and they wouldn't allow kids in the main viewing area even though they are allowed every where else in the establishment. Good riddance!

2 stars

That dessert would have knocked Hung out if I'd had a vote. Molten chocolate cake with raspberries?! Hasn't that trickled down to Applebees by now? It wasn't just safe, it was trite.

When we were in Italy a year and a half ago we saved roughly 5-10% on each bottle purchased there and shipped back to the U.S. at a significant cost (we carried back as much as we could and shipped 2 additional cases). Had we done the exact same thing today we would be overpaying by as much as 20-25% compared to U.S. prices!

This was a great time last year. I think we came home with 5 or 6 liter steins; it was $6-7 for Hofbrau's Fest or Dunkel with a new stein every time . And fer chrissakes, take a cab!

Better yet get on the Metro with enough change for a one way fare. Find a stop that is roughly the distance from home you want to run and is a route you haven't run before. Change of scenery plus the motivation to get home makes for a great run!

I'm still in search of a decent pre-game option on Barracks Row. For a very brief time The Ugly Mug was a perfectly fine place for mini burgers and other bar fare, but it dropped off of a cliff rapidly. Finn MacCool's is godawful. Just terrible. The only thing it has going for it is a decent beer selection and usually plenty of places to sit compared to the Mug. I go there when I've already eaten. Hopefully the new Matchbox will provide some relief. I actually like the greasy fare at Trusty's, but it will no longer be convenient for Nats games next year.

The bulgogi cart gets a shout out in Tom's column this week (now with only 33% local content!!)

As part of a big birthday celebration week a couple years back I came up with the "Beers From a Hat" game at the Brick. I printed out little slips of paper with the names of the countries represented on the Brick's list. For each round everybody at the table draws a piece of paper and has to select a beer from that country. The twist: if your server comes back and says that they are out of the beer you chose you get to steal somebody else's beer and they go back to the hat. It tends to fizzle out after 3-4 rounds, but it's always fun while it lasts. Kind of forcibly expands (or insults) your beer horizons. To date I am inexplicably 5-for-5 with El Salvador; unfortunately they've always had Suprema in stock

But did it taste good? Delicious shredded meat is delicious shredded meat in my book. And I question your placement of the ovine over the porcine in the culinary hierarchy I had no idea this place was open, or even slated to open. I've probably walked or run by that corner 3 times in the past month and didn't notice a thing! Sounds like something worth exploring at least. Thanks for the early report.

I finally got back over there today and actually found the cart this time, or at least managed to not not see it . As said before $6.75 for bulgogi, rice, and kimchee is a pretty good deal and a filling lunch. They were just firing up a fresh batch of meat when I walked up and I had to gladly wait for it to be done. Others haven't mentioned it, but they are also offering the bulgogi and teriyaki chicken in sandwich form for $5 (at least I think that's what the lady in front of me paid). Basically just the meat on a sub roll with lettuce and some other veg, plus a squirt of sriracha if you want it. I'll be back, but I don't see making the 5 block trek once it gets truly cold out; the food probably wouldn't survive the return trip too well. I hope that their cart converts into something a little more weatherproof for the same reason!

Oh, we're going to that, too Wouldn't miss it!

I logged in exactly at 7:30 and was able to snag two without delay. I friend who tried 5 minutes later was getting continuous page timeouts and eventually just called in. While she was on hold they sold out of Saturday ... around 7:45 ; luckily we were aiming for Friday anyway. Cue the craigslist scalpers!

From this week's rant against the ubiquity of high-falutin' food in the press: I see Tim's point but think it's a bit extreme. On these here boards I see la majority of topics on neighborhood joints, street carts, hole-in-the-wall ethnic, etc. Threads about the big players get lots of traffic, but I don't see them necessarily dominating the conversation on a whole. It's usually because what is being discussed is truly sublime (e.g. Maestro) or controversial (e.g. Bebo). Ultimately, sites like this are about passion. The things that stir passions are typically those things that we hold most dear, whether in the emotional, historical, or even financial sense. I see all types on boards like this: those that defend/condemn variations on their favorite comfort food (see: lively discussions on pizza, BBQ), those that defend/condemn food "authenticity" (a tricky thing to define, but easy to argue about), and those that revel in the high end of the dining spectrum and maybe want to relive that $200-a-head meal, an experience that they may not ever have again (or have had dozens of times before and just want to rub it in ). Tim's article could have been about anything that sparks passion in people. Do those that inhabit car forums endlessly debate the merits of the upcoming 2008 Kia line up? No, the liveliest discussions are probably about the latest from Maranello or a lovingly restored '66 GTO, something a majority of people that read them won't ever experience. Gatherings of enthusiasts seldom get mired down in discussion of the ordinary. I disagree that the extraordinary denotes exclusivity. Of course there will always be elitist a-holes out there to tell you different, but they are best ignored.

Hmm, well either I've developed selective blindness or they weren't out there at 12:15 today. 50/50 chance for either. I've walked right by my car several times in a parking garage before

So ... where exactly is this cart? I walked down to 14th and L a little after noon and only saw two carts at that corner, both of the standard hot dog variety, one at the NE and one SW corner. No other carts in sight up and down the block in all four directions. While I was down there I decided to head over to the burrito cart instead, but he wasn't there today either. Damn.

Daruma in Bethesda has kind of a ramen bar. More of a lunch counter that serves ramen. It's pretty good. What D.C. really needs is an izakaya that will satisfy the collective yakitori/takoyaki/assorted Japanese snackfood needs. Last summer we made a point of searching out the takoyaki joint Bourdain visited in Osaka (Pizza Ball House). It was a lot of fun.

Somehow I don't think that's gonna be an option

I wish that shawarma cart was closer to my work! I think I'll have to check out that Korean BBQ cart at 14th and L this week, though ...

I'm going to have to disagree on two points 1) I find Wasabi to be completely overpriced for the quality. I've honestly had better sushi at one of the cafeteria-style take out joints that dot the area. The selection of other dishes is good but, again, overpriced. 2) Naan and Beyond is in the second tier of my regular rotation. It has it's faults, but tasteless is about the last word I would use to describe it. More options in the area: Teaism Kaz (for bento boxes) A little further towards Dupont Circle: Moby Dick Julia's Empanadas Well Dressed Burrito And the aforementioned Greek Deli for emphasis

And sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease! I used to work at a place (not in D.C.) that had a fly problem near a big picture window at the front. We had a company come and fumigate a couple of times a week and the owner insisted on them coming before opening to kill the flies. This tended to only mask the problem (flies die and are gone for that day, but the next generation just came back). Not only that, but the company invariably showed up with big canisters of fly poison and sprayed pretty much indiscriminately in the problem section ... after it had been set for service. This usually resulted in an unlucky server having to tear down, wipe off, and reset some big tables minutes before the doors opened. You can probably guess that this didn't always happen. I don't think anybody was actually poisoned ... Some of the more environmentally sensitive waitstaff refused to go anywhere near that section, and we did sometimes get guests complaining of the fumes. No flies in the soup, however!!