Oct 08 2008
Economizing
My cheapness won out over my laziness last night. This may be as unprecedented as the turmoil in the global markets.
After perusing the room service menu and discovering that the cheapest bottle of wine was $46 a bottle (or $12 a glass), I ventured out of the fancy hotel (I may have forgotten how to open and close my own car door by now) in search of food and wine.
I picked up a pizza at the always-reliable Il Fornaio, and stopped at a liquor store on my way back to the hotel. I saw a bottle of Cloudy Bay, which I had often enjoyed with my father. On bringing it up to the cash, I learned that it was $32.
My father liked me even more than I thought.
I hastily returned the bottle to the cooler, and faced a situation unique in my traveling experience. I couldn’t find anything, uh, reasonable enough to buy. Usually I’m desperately looking for an acceptable bottle at corner stores when I’m on the road, but this is, after all, Pasadena, land of the tasteful mansion and manicured lawn. I finally settled on a bottle of Husch for a mere $13.
I have a feeling I’m not in Oakland anymore.
3 Responses to “Economizing”
Well, if you ever make it to OUR Quince, you’ll be happy to find Cloudy Bay on our wine list. Although you’re making me feel pretty guilty about charging $60 a bottle for it, haha…
I think that’s a pretty reasonable restaurant mark-up, though. I hope one day to make it to Chicago for a tour, followed by dinner at Quince!
Husch is the devil! They put flea poison (like the stuff in frontline and advantage) into their DRIP LINES that water the grapes! It prevents a disease called phyloxera, but who the hell wants to drink flea poison? BTW, I heard this from their winemaker when we were on an ’employees only’ tour. I got back and quit. I can’t sell poison wine 🙂