I'm not a big liquor drinker, but this skull head vodka caught my eye at a wine shop. I don't even drink vodka, and I wanted to buy it!

Turns out, it's Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka. It retails for between $40 - $50 depending on the shop's markup.  Shoppers Vineyard in NJ for example, has it for $41.09.

I think this would make a fabulous holiday gift for a guy - - or anyone of course, who likes skulls.

Here is the story from the website:

Thousands of years ago, thirteen crystal heads were scattered across the earth and they are greater and more powerful than anything we have the ability to manufacture today. Their workmanship is perfect: they contain no tool marks and have been cut against the natural axis of the crystal, defying the laws of physics. Some say they are artifacts from the lost civilization of Atlantis, some say they date back to the Mayans, still others say they were created by a higher intelligence.

Brought together, the Crystal Heads are said to contain vast knowledge and enlightenment capable of unlocking our most enigmatic ancient mysteries. Alone, each is believed to house radiant psychic energy, which has magical powers and healing properties.

Wine Spectator's complete list of Top 100 Wines of 2009 will be revealed on Friday!

They have already released part of the list, #s 10 - 6 today, #s 5 - 2 tomorrow; and then on Friday the complete list.

I've found some great wines from this list in past years. For example, one of my house favorites, Frescobaldi's Chianti Rufina Nipozzano Riserva 2005 vintage (90 points) was #76 on last year's list.

The #10 -6 wines that were revealed today are:

10  Brancaia Toscana Tre IGT 2007 - 93 points - $20

9    Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley 2007 - 96 points - $29

8    Fontodi Colli della Toscana Centrale Flaccianello 2006 - 99 points - $110

7    Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco 2005 - 96 points - $44

6    Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Signature 2006 - 94 points - $42

I think it's great that part of the consideration for the top 100 wines is value.  Only 1 of these 5 wines is over $50.  That's great because most people don't buy wines over $50 for drinking very often. (collectors who cellar is a different matter of course)

Danny Meyer's Maialino, perhaps the most anticipated opening of Fall 2009, opened last week.

There's a good interview with Meyer, here, in "The Moment" the New York Times blog. It covers the collaboration with David Rockwell on the design, the trattoria concept and opening in an Ian Schrager hotel among other things.

I had another wonderful brunch at Parc in Philadelphia over the weekend.  Wow, I love that place!  I actually think it's just as good as Balthazar (food wise), and certainly looks as good (aesthetics)... but you can actually get a table!  So it's even better.

One of my favorite things at Parc is their amazing homemade bread.  The bread basket they serve includes slices of their baguette, round wheat loaf and cranberry walnut bread. All of them are fabulous - - just the way good bread should be: crispy crust and a tender chewy inside.

If you ask they will bring you some jams, which is nice to go with the breads for brunch. They bring a raspberry and a marmalade.  I was curious to know if they had a special source for the jams because they also tasted so good.  Turns out, the raspberry is Bonne Maman and the marmalade is Polaner!  Pretty standard - - I guess they just taste so good because the bread is so good.

In today's NY Times dining section, Sam Sifton reviews the re-opened Aureole now on 42nd Street in the new Bank of America tower, A Kiss to the United States of Burgers, Fries and Sugar.  He gives it one star, "good".

Since Aureole used to be a classy affair tucked into an Upper East Side townhouse, it is very apt that Sifton calls the move south to 42nd Street "a Las Vegas event restaurant airlifted into Manhattan". 

It has a glizty look and large scale much more in common with the Aureole in Las Vegas than the New York original.

Sifton warns us that the dining room is uneven, "...It is nice in that dining room, quiet, and if your order goes well with the kitchen, you can have a good meal. If it doesn't, you'll be staring down a listless Wiener schnitzel, pale and greasy beneath a thick lemon-caper sauce, with too-tart applesauce."

The bar area is raucous. The bar menu features "an extremely good" hamburger.

Other dishes Sifton recommends are: sea scallop sandwich, sliders, pan-roasted shrimp, lobster and anything pork-bellied.

He sums up the review: "The restaurant is a love letter to an America we see reflected back at us in unflattering light: relatively happy, unthinking, desirous mostly of sugar and fat. That's Vegas for you. It's not New York."

Eek, that's not very flattering...

Last week the New York Times' blog "You're the Boss" posted the second part of 100 Things Restaurant Staff Should Never Do by Bruce Buschel.

The second part of the list also includes some very key service issues, so I think this list has been a great idea.  The comments are funny too, some people think this guy (who wrote the list) is a real jerk others totally commiserate with items from the list...

Here are some of the ones I liked from part 2.

#52. Know your menu inside and out.

#62. Do not fill the water glass every two minutes, or after each sip.

#64. Specials, spoken and printed, should always have prices.

#74. Let the guests know the restaurant is out of something before the guests read the menu and order the missing dish.

#77. Do not disappear.

If you want to go to Vong (200 East 54th Street) one last time, you've got until Saturday.  Jean Georges announced today the closing after 17 years.

In today's NY Times Dining Secion, Sam Sifton gives Le Relais de Venise L' Entrecote a one star (good) rating.  (article: Hop Off the Wheel and Taste Paris)

The restaurant has no menu. It's salad and steak frites.

He describes the salad: "It is a pile the size of a softball, mixed green and red lettuces draped in a mustardy vinaigrette that in early days here was nearly as thick as a mayonnaise. Lately it has thinned out into something closer to silk. Walnuts are strewn across the top, rich and oily."

And the steak: "Your steak comes in two stages, on a relatively small plate: you eat your portion of meat, sauce and fries and then are served seconds. The beef is fine, sliced thin across the grain and as tender as cheap meat gets, a perfect midweek dinner with a friend. The fries rate higher on the crazy-good scale: salty and crisp, with tender interiors that aren't mushy even when soaked in the sauce."

The ingredients of the sauce are kept secret. Sifton desribes it as "perhaps a variant on the gravy poured out at Café de Paris in Geneva since the 1940s: butter, basically, infused with herbs and mustard and cream, with a metallic tang of chicken liver running right through its middle. Whatever it is at L'Entrecôte, you could pour the stuff over a boot and still have an excellent dinner."

Cheeses and desserts including profiteroles are available if you have room...

There's a great feature on the NY Times You're the Boss Small Business Blog today, "One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1)". Part one includes #s 1 - 50.

It includes some of my pet peeves:

#1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.

#5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.

#12. Do not touch the rim of a water glass. Or any other glass.

#25. Make sure the glasses are clean. Inspect them before placing them on the table.

#27. For red wine, ask if the guests want to pour their own or prefer the waiter to pour.

#29. Do not pop a champagne cork. Remove it quietly, gracefully. The less noise the better.

#34. Do not have a personal conversation with another server within earshot of customers.

It's a great list, take a look, it's really amazing how many restaurants/servers screw up pretty basic things.

Yes, it's that time again, the Beaujolais Nouveau is arriving soon for delivery the 3rd Thursday in November...  Most serious wine people think the nouveau is a joke, but you have to admit that they've done some pretty clever marketing.

This year it sounds worth tasting at least.  Sherry Lehmann is calling it "one of the best Beaujolais vintages in the last 50 years". Here is Georges Duboeuf's commentary:  "We have had perfect weather with 50,000 grape pickers hard at work across the 3,000 vineyards of Beaujolais since September 4th," proclaimed Georges Duboeuf in his most recent harvest report, dated September 18th. "The grape bunches are small with a fine purplish black color, and are exceptionally rich in sugar. The berries are thick, and the seeds are a gorgeous amber color, a sign of perfect phenolic maturity. Their brightness, intensity, and above all, their perfect health are something to behold. We have not seen anything like this for a long time."

This year the label was designed by American artist Wayne Ensrud.

It is selling for $9.99 a bottle, presale.  On Thursday Nov. 19th, Franck Duboeuf and Wayne Ensrud will both be at Sherry Lehmann from 4 - 6 pm pouring the 2009 Nouveau at a free tasting.