Galileo Grill will be open this Thursday and Friday (Dec 1st and 2nd) from 11:30 Am to 1 PM. Per-orders are taken until 11:30 AM although I'd recommend against it (call 202-293-7191).

Here's the menu:
Sandwiches* - Chicken, Pork Shoulder, or Pork Sausage - $5
Pork Ribs - $5
Pizza (Broccoli Rabe and Cheese) - $3.50
Meatball Sandwich - $6
Homemade Hot Dogs with homemade ketchup and relish - $3.50
Vegetable Soup - $3
Sodas & Bottled Water - $1
Sweet Ricotta Cannoli - $2.50
Italian Country Bread - $3

Add to your sandwich:
Provolone - $1
Broccoli Rabe - $2

* All sandwiches come with green sauce, green peppers & onions, and lettuce. Other condiments available upon request include: Mustard, Homemade Ketchup, Barbecue Sauce, or Sauerkraut.
 

Writing about wines is something new for me. I haven't done this very much in the past, mostly because I don't know much about wine, but given the amount of wine I've been drinking lately, I thought I would tell you all about the good wines that I've been trying.

The first wine I want to tell you about, I came across completely by mistake. I ran into Burkas down the street from me, looking to grab a crisp, white wine to go with the Indian food that I was having delivered from Heritage India, and they were having a wine tasting (like they do every Thursday and Friday night). The 2003 Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley was the first wine I tasted. Normally, I'm not particularly crazy about Cabs -- they tend to be too dry and have weak flavor with alcoholly finishes -- that might just be because I've never had a good one though. I wasn't expecting much from this wine, but it was free so what the hell, right? The Avalon had a full flavor with chocolate and spice and a smooth finish. I liked it so much, I bought a bottle that night, and now I've bought two more bottles -- I think I might buy a case...At $15.99 a bottle, that wouldn't be very cheap, but for how good this wine tastes, it seems like a bargain to me.

A bit on the cheaper side is the 2003 Genofranco Grillo. After trying another Grillo at 2Amys, I sought out another at wine stores in the area. I finally found the Genofranco Grillo at Burkas and it turned out to be very similar in taste to the one at 2Amys -- and it was only $9.99 a bottle instead of $27.99. I find that Grillos have a similar flavor to a French Chardonnay, but with a slightly crisper and fruitier flavor. This one has hints of apple and grapefruit.

On the more expensive side, The 2000 Stage Leap Petite Syrah is one of my all-time favorite Petite Syrahs. The first time Amy and I drank this wine was at El Gaucho in Aruba and I managed to find it at Bacchus Wine Cellar in Georgetown. When I was paying, the manager of the store who happened to be taking care of the cashier said "This is a mighty fine Syrah! Did you pick this wine out on purpose? Because if you did, you know your wine." Well, I don't really know my wine, but I did pick it out on purpose. I love the wines predominant berry  and pepper flavors and it has a hint of spice that the wine finishes with. I can find this wine for about $36 a bottle and it's definitely a special occasion wine (at least for me).

Heads up. Galileo Grill is open tomorrow (Thurday) at its usual time of 11:45 AM to 1 PM. It will also be open Wednesday (11/16) and Thursday (11/17) next week.

Galileo Restaurant
1110 Twenty-first Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-293-7191
[email protected]
www.galileodc.com

Last night, Amy and I attended Old Ebbitt Grill's 10th Annual International Wines for Oysters Competition where we were asked to be judges. This, to me, was interesting since I have a fairly novice palete when it comes to pairing wines with oysters, but I was assured by the organizers that the only requirement was a love of oysters, which I most definitely have.

The purpose of the competition is to judge how each wine pairs with oysters. In this case, the oysters were Olympia Oysters, from Washington. Michael Franz (from The Washington Post) and Paul Lucaks (from The Times and Washingtonian), both oyster enthusiasts and wine columnsts, managed to pare down the list of wines from over 400 to 20. Those 20 wines were the ones that Amy and I were responsible for judging which paired best with oysters. The winning 10 wines will be served at Old Ebbits Oyster Riot on November 18th and 19th.

Amy and I humbly accepted the honor of judging the wines and at the time, we didn't know who the other judges were. We found out later that the list of judges was quite distinguished and I was quite proud to be included with them. Here's the list of judges:

1. Phyllis Richman, author, freelance writer, former food critic for The Washington Post
2. Gerald Boyd, wine writer, San Francisco Chronicle
3. Michael Birchenall, Editor & Publisher, Foodservice Monthly
4. Michael Franz, former wine columnist for The Washington Post and wine consultant
5. Tom Meyer, executive vice president, Clyde's Restaurant Group
6. Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court Justice 
7. Marc Silverstein, author, host of Food Network's "The Best Of" and a new Discovery Channel show 
8. Ronald Kessler, author 
9. Alexandra Greeley, author, freelance writer, Slow Food 
10. Sabato Sagaria, F&B Director at Greenbriar Sporting Club 
11. Traci Dutton, F&B manager & at CIA in Napa 
12. Amanda McClements, Roll Call, Washingtonian, (and also of Metrocurean!) 
13. Peter Abrahams, publisher of DC Magazine

The event was very organized right down to the pouring of the wines which was completely synchronized. I guess that comes from doing this event 10 years in a row. Props go to the organizers who had a tough job organizing the selection of the wines and judges.

The judges all sat around a large table in a private room downstairs at Old Ebbitt Grill. Each seat had a complete setting of 20 glasses and each glass was labeled with a letter. We also had a clipboard for scoring each wine. Once everyone was seated and the rules were explained to us, an entire plate of Olympia Oysters were put in front of each of us and the blind tasting began. All in all, I probably ate close to 30 or 40 oysters. The oysters were all perfect -- briney and salty like they should be and incredibly fresh.

After the judging, we all assembled upstairs in a private bar area, ate more oysters and had dinner -- I don't think I've ever eaten so many oysters, but it was all wonderful. Dinner was great and very typical of just about every meal I've eaten at Old Ebbitt. Of course, I only ordered the fish and chips since I wasn't that hungry. But the waiter brought some of the utterly delicious crab artichoke dip, which I couldn't help but dig into.

I'd tell you the list of wines that won, but they're in a "lock box" until they're announced officially by Clydes Restaurant Group themselves. Last year's winners can be found here.