Geek in need....

JasonA

Jason Adams
I had, repeat had, been looking forward to an as described, "night of informal discussion, great food, and happy debauchery" hosted by the modern day Saint Patrick of Natural Wine, Arnaud Erhart. This event had been scheduled for this Thursday, November 13, 2008 at Restaurant ICI in lovely Brooklyn, NY. In my experience, these events at ICI may not quite live up to the level of debauchery enjoyed at 360 but they are about as close as one can get these days.

I received a call this morning, appoligzing that the event has been canceled due to a lack of interest and may be rescheduled for the spring. (insert sound of air escaping from party balloons)

So where are all of the wine geeks when you need them?
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
No one invited me.

Did Arnaud drive the snakes out of Brooklyn?
It was the rats. He drove the rats out of Red Hook. So how is Arnaud anyway? I heard he had moved to Puerto Rico.
 
I have not approached them for a Jeebus but they are more or less advertising that they would be game with their large private dining space. If you could put together a large group that space would be fantastic. The main indoor dining space is nice, but in the warm months the garden is the best choice. They have a great wine list themselves but I am always put off by the mark-ups.

Speaking of Jeebus space, I had dinner at Jack a couple of weeks or so ago. This is a BYO place that I had tried to get into last fall with no luck. When they sent me notice they were having another event I jumped on it. The night of the event there was only our party of four and one other party of two. The space is interesting to say the least. Imagine yourself on a big empty stage, dark backdrop all around you and your table lit by a spotlight - that was Jack. The servers moved in and out, barely making a sound. The food was great and they have featured chefs that are all too happy to come out from behind the curtain and engage in conversation if you are so inclined. The wine is your own with their stemware and I kind of remember them swapping out the stemware with the different wines. It was quite the surreal experience.
 
originally posted by JasonA:
I have not approached them for a Jeebus but they are more or less advertising that they would be game with their large private dining space. If you could put together a large group that space would be fantastic. The main indoor dining space is nice, but in the warm months the garden is the best choice. They have a great wine list themselves but I am always put off by the mark-ups.

Speaking of Jeebus space, I had dinner at Jack a couple of weeks or so ago. This is a BYO place that I had tried to get into last fall with no luck. When they sent me notice they were having another event I jumped on it. The night of the event there was only our party of four and one other party of two. The space is interesting to say the least. Imagine yourself on a big empty stage, dark backdrop all around you and your table lit by a spotlight - that was Jack. The servers moved in and out, barely making a sound. The food was great and they have featured chefs that are all too happy to come out from behind the curtain and engage in conversation if you are so inclined. The wine is your own with their stemware and I kind of remember them swapping out the stemware with the different wines. It was quite the surreal experience.

Agree on Ici, the upstairs room is pretty cool, the wine list is great, and the markups aren't.

Another nice place in Fort Greene that is BYO is Abistro (Carlton @ Myrtle), a French/Senegalese place. Good food, reasonably priced, super friendly service. Could be a good jeebus venue.

Jack sounds interesting.
 
what's up with the mark-ups? i have heard many great things, but when i looked on the web site the wine prices were crazy... as a result i have never been. too much competition.
 
originally posted by scottreiner:
what's up with the mark-ups? i have heard many great things, but when i looked on the web site the wine prices were crazy... as a result i have never been. too much competition.

Yeah, pretty ridiculous on the wine prices. I guess it attracts the hipsters who don't drink wine.

A little trivia on Ici. I met the then future owner of Ici at 360 one night. Arnaud introduces his friend Laurent, who is opening a new restaurant in Fort Greene. Laurent was the famous or rather infamous maitre d' at Rocco DiSpirito's restaurant during the time of "The Restaurant" reality show.
 
A little trivia on Ici. I met the then future owner of Ici at 360 one night. Arnaud introduces his friend Laurent, who is opening a new restaurant in Fort Greene. Laurent was the famous or rather infamous maitre d' at Rocco DiSpirito's restaurant during the time of "The Restaurant" reality show.

Yep. Really nice guy, too. Too bad he and Catherine have been separated for months now.
 
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