Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Wow.. not to ruin the mystique a little, but a $50 bottle of wine and a $1000 bottle of wine are VERY different.

For one, the wine director of a restaurant that would sell bottles that expensive has to do the research to even have such a selection. They have to secure a good distributer to purchase bottles from, and trust that each bottle is up to quality. Even the chef can taste the caviar before plopping it onto your plate, but a bottle of wine is sealed.

Then there's the matter of storage, which would involve proper light and temperature control, (costing the restaurant money in electricty and knowledgeable designers). Accessability for the wait-staff.. a $50 bottle might be easy to grab behind the bar, but a $1000 bottle is under lock and key.. the waiter has to search out the manager to retrieve the key. Also, rarely does someone order that bottle without at least some description from the waitstaff or sommelier, who are trained to know the details and what it would taste great with.

I'm not saying the waiter in the original post didnt do his job by coming back to pour and keep the ice cold, but it's all bottles are NOT the same.

Banana bread is great, or any baked bread. Also garlic bread, pasta salad.. I'd stay away from basting any meats because it's so bitter, and have *heard* that fish is absolutely disgusting in it.

I almost always bring in beers.. one of my favorite beer stores is right across the street from my favorite afternoon theater, so it's hard to resist. A few bottles and an iced coffee up my sleeve, and I'm golden. I have also brought in meals.. dumplings once, but my best was a cheese smothered turkey burger with fries. A little messy, but no problems at all.

wheat berries are my new lunch addiction. I bake a big containers worth on the weekends, and make different salads out of a scoop each day. Different veggies, fruits, herbs, meats, cheese, whatever! Love the chewy texture and nutty flavor.