Friday March 23rd dinner 7 PM AT BISTRO CACAO -- UPDATE

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:05 pm

They can confirm the room but say the wine flat price is now up to $300, which still strikes me as very reasonable ($15/person for 20 people).

They say that there is a hard cap on the room's capacity at 20 and you definitely don't want to go over (which makes me think it will be a bit crowded at 20). I will check if they have another room, but if they don't then we will have to take waiting list names beyond 20.

They want to know what time the dinner will start. Would 7:00 work for people to arrive? Or would earlier/later be better?

Thanks.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:14 pm

7 sounds good to me.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:32 pm

7 or even a bit earlier is what we usually do on Friday.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:43 pm

6:30 or 7

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:21 am

I like 6:30 but 7:00 is fine too.

And, Stuart has mad an extremely generous offer to ship a selection of killer Champagnes for this dinner. I enthusiastically accepted his offer.

sdr wrote:I could easily provide 6 bottles of champagne if I could ship it ahead of time.

Some combination of Dom P. 2002, Krug 1995, Cristal 2005 and Comtes 1996.

Let me know if interested.

Stu

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:53 pm

What is the theme?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:56 pm

Anything But Bordeaux.

Cabfan · Post by **Cabfan** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:51 pm

I just figured out my schedule and am able to join you on the 23rd and the 24th. Really excited to be there. My daughter Julia will be joining me. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

Thank you,

Peter Evans

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:28 pm

WOW!!!!

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:40 pm

Double WOW!

Nic

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:14 pm

As a reminder, the room they are offering only fits 20 and no more (they have confirmed this is a hard limit). I am checking to see if a larger room might be available, but it will cost more

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:34 pm

We just have to do it in a place where everyone can attend, we have people coming from thousand of miles away.
It has always been my position as BD that we have to find ways to make sure everybody can attend.
It’s the BWE way.
We’re not going to have Cabfan come in from California only to say he can’t attend!

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:03 pm

Peter!!!

Out f'ing standing! Been waaay too long.

I'll put Julia and you on the list for the Saturday dinner. I'll be posting a request for checks in a couple of weeks.

Marcs, CabFan is an original BWEer from way back. I'll happily spend more for a bigger room. Believe me I know the feeling of having to change things up late in the game but I'm sure we (well, you) can make it happen.

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:48 pm

I can definitely make it work even if I have to switch restaurants -- DC is my home turf. Just need to know the will of the group. Stay tuned to this thread for updates

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:51 pm

You da man!

Cabfan · Post by **Cabfan** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 7:05 am

i'd love to be included in this dinner on the 23rd as well,for me and my daughter Julia, hope there's space. Cabfan

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:59 pm

Mrs vino will sit on my lap if needed to make room!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 3:14 pm

Heck, I'LL sit on your lap to make room for CabFan and Julia!

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:17 am

OK, big change -- they do have a larger room that can fit all of us. However, the food and beverage minimum is double what they were charging us for the smaller room (it's a Friday night and we will be taking up almost half the restaurant). With a $2,400 minimum *without* tax and tip and 21 people attending (19 listed plus Peter and Julia), that would be $147 a person. That then becomes competitive with some other DC restaurants instead of the screaming bargain this was before.

Does $147 for a night that is not the "main event" on Saturday work for people?

also, the more people who come the better a deal this becomes now...think the room could fit up to 30.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:29 am

I'll go with the flow Marc, if it were up to me I would just go with the $147 deal rather than horse around trying to save another $20 etc.
But I'll defer to whatever you guys decide.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:39 am

It is nice to have the extra space. It will be easier to protect our Burgundies from MichaelP knocking them into the flower pots.

SF Ed · Post by **SF Ed** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:26 am

Agreed. I need to move between tables since I am bringing both a Burgundy and a Rhone.

SF Ed

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:51 pm

JimHow wrote:I'll go with the flow Marc, if it were up to me I would just go with the $147 deal rather than horse around trying to save another $20 etc.
But I'll defer to whatever you guys decide.

Same here.

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:37 pm

mr vino is confused. Fearless leader says theme is anything but Bordeaux, now I see burgundy and rhones as the theme. I need to be enlightened.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:04 pm

Ah that’s right I forgot, Rhône and Bourgogne.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:48 pm

Hey Jay, it does look like Rhone and Burgundy have evolved as the theme. They are not Bordeaux, n'est ce pas? Nor is the half case of Champagne SDR is shipping ahead.

IAC I'm sure we wont turn you away regardless of what you bring.

Winona Chief · Post by **Winona Chief** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:35 am

If you like, I can see if there are any of my DC area wine friends are interested in the Friday night dinner.

Chris Bublitz

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Feb 23, 2018 3:40 pm

The more the merrier is always my credo!

Michael-P · Post by **Michael-P** » Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:33 pm

Did we decide on the more expensive option or cap at 20 people?
I may have a few outsiders interested to join on Fri.

And yes, be warned, red Burg near me may end up in the flower pot.

Michael-P

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:52 am

We are doing the more expensive option, but I don't think this larger room will fit more than 30, so let's keep track of people coming. High 20s would be excellent I think.

Winona Chief · Post by **Winona Chief** » Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:25 pm

By the way, Bistro Cacao is basically a couple doors down from Schneider's of Capitol Hill. Another landmark DC wine store. Incredible selection of back vintages, though much of their stock is at an offsite warehouse so need to order a day in advance for a lot of stuff.

Chris Bublitz

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 6:18 pm

Yes, it is right next to Schneiders. IMO MacArthurs is by far the best DC wine shop, with Calvert Woodley a distant second, and Weygandt (for selection) and Schneiders trailing them. However, Schneiders is very active in the auction market and has an interesting back room with a range of older wines. Not great pricing, but interesting selection.

Also, GOOD NEWS -- we are ready to sign the contract. Final terms are a four course menu plus three simple hors d'ouevres for $82, plus a $300 flat fee for wine, and a $2,400 minimum spend for food and drink (before taxes and tip). If we get 25 attendees that will put us at $98 a person before tax and tip. Quite reasonable I think. There is $150 deposit that I can put down, with the balance due the day of the event, so everyone please show up

.

The room should handle up to thirty, with I think 25-27 being ideal, but up to 30 could work.

I HAVE UPDATED THE INITIAL POST -- showing we now have (if I have read everything correctly), 23 people confirmed, which assumes that MichaelP will choose to bring both of his DC hosts.

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 6:57 pm

Thanks for your hard work. As far as payment, wouldn't be easier if we paid you in advance once cost is finalized? This is usually the way we do it.

Winona Chief · Post by **Winona Chief** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 7:38 pm

Sounds good. Thanks for putting this together. I will be sharing a few bottles with some wine friends tomorrow and will let you know if any of them are interested in participating.

Chris Bublitz

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 7:51 pm

Thanks for all the hard work marcs, sounds great!

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 4:17 pm

Well done Marcs!

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:45 pm

Jay Winton wrote:Thanks for your hard work. As far as payment, wouldn't be easier if we paid you in advance once cost is finalized? This is usually the way we do it.

I put the $150 deposit on my CC, I am assuming everyone else can just pay at the dinner since the rest of the payment is due then.

The dinner itself will be about $130 with tax and tip, but I will make up the extra $20 by assertively grabbing larger pours of the best wines

P.S. turns out they didn't increase the corkage after all, it is $300 flat fee for all the wines.

Michael-P · Post by **Michael-P** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:58 am

I think it may just be me for Fri.
Michael-P

marcs · Post by **marcs** » Sun Mar 04, 2018 4:04 am

If MichaelP is coming alone then by my count we are down to 21 for Friday night. There is a chance that my +1 will not come either in which case we would be down to 20.

I would just note that we would save a fairly considerable amount of money by going with the smaller room (instead of the larger room I now have booked) if we are under 20 people. Not totally sure if I could switch back to the smaller room but I'm pretty sure I could with enough advance notice.

Therefore -- please let us know on this thread if you are *not* coming or if any of your +1s are not coming. Likewise, still very useful to know if others will be attending so we can be certain we need the larger room.

thanks...

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 04, 2018 4:07 am

Indeed. The rubber is hitting the road here for the organizers, the sooner they can know exact numbers the better.