FLANNERY FEST WEEKEND CLARIFICATIONS

For those attending Flannery Fest II, it looks like the big people table at Lola on Friday night is already full. Who is interested in reserving a kiddie table? [d_sunny.gif]

Is this on the other board?

Hard to keep track.

I don’t know. I haven’t been over there in a while.
Frankly, I’m confused about this entire thing. But I’m assuming Lola has more than one table?

How did you determine the “big people” table was full? OR mroe to the point, how do you know you, me or whoever aren’t “big people”.

As I’ve said a dozen times, I don’t care where (Fogo, Lola, that pizza place, mexican and 'ritas), I just want to maximize hanging out and getting drunk with fellow WBers.

I got my info straight from the horse’s mouth.
Come to think of it, I am taller than Bill.

I thought I was pitching in, thinking Bill/Philip had done the hard work with Saturday, and that I’d see if I could get people for Friday for Fogo, which then turned to Lola, which also might have been pizza or 'ritas. Some talk was about a Lola group and another group elsewhere Friday. Lots of ideas. I simply wanted to make sure there was stuff going on every night, and even after parties, and wanted to determine which wines to box up and ship this month to Texas. By knowing the dinners and nights, I could plan and get them shipped during cooler weather.

This was my mistake and I’m sorry as too many threads got started, many by me. Trying to set up Fri night, seeing if Thurs was going to be a party night I should plan on flying in for, etc.

I’m going to let the master Tex do all the arranging and all the Thurs/Fri planning. Tell me where to show up (I don’t care, I’ll do anything from pizza to 'ritas to Lola), what time, what to wear and what bottles to bring. I’ll post no more and am just happy to be coming!

Sorry everyone.

OK, there seems to be some confusion and issues with the events going on from Thursday through Sunday…so let me clarify what the various plans are on my end.

Thurday: Small group of people are in town either early or are locals, and I am planning on having a BYOB offline at our local pizza joint Campania. If others in town want to do something else…cool beans.

Friday: I, along with eleven others, are going to Lola for a BYOB dinner. This came together with twelve people via email before I could post an official offline request either here or on Squires. Van is VERY clear on that no more than twelve people can be at a gathering from a wine board. We can all thank a certain group of Douchebags for ruining it. This does not prevent ANOTHER group of people from making an independant reservation of up to twelve…I just would not mention anything about being from Squires, WB or Flannery Fest. If the rest of the attendees in Dallas on Friday night want to do something else…once again cool beans, and I am sure that someone will step up to coordinate. Never had any intention of being secretive or excluding people. This isn’t a big people vs. little people thing.

Saturday: Flannery Fest starting at 4PM…no explanation needed.

Sunday: For those still standing and in town, we can figure something out on the fly.

Bill - thanks for the clarification regarding Friday.

So, Linda, Jeff? Should we pick up the baton and plan something for Friday night? I’m up for it. My opinion is Lola isn’t a good idea for a second table because, despite our best efforts, the wine will start to flow and we’ll be going back and forth between the tables to share a pour, so hello to friends, etc., and I suspect 24 winos traipsing through the gentile Lola is exactly what Van doesn’t want. Also, maybe when can endeavor to do something in a space that is big enough for all the out of towners. I’m guessing the majority of the 50 FF attendees will be in town on Friday, so if we can secure a place for 30+, we can share cabs to and from the hotel, etc.

Let’s work out an idea here and then post it on ebob as well as here. (I don’t think all the FF attendees are on WB yet.)

Bill or anyone familiary with Dallas - if you can provide some possible Dallas BYO options for us to investigate (I’m aware of Fugo and Campania thru your posts, but can’t find anything else on ebob) I think we can run with it from there.

Can’t wait for FFII!

Cheryl,
Bill said that most restaurants in Dallas do not allow BYO. I have never spent any time in Dallas, so I personally wouldn’t even know where to begin.
I guess we could go to Lola and pretend we don’t know the others? [d_sunny.gif]

that would never work b/c with you there, I won’t be able to keep my eyes off you Linda baby!

I’d recommend against a second table at Lola. Van really doesn’t like any of us doing the BYOB thing on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night at all so trying to cram another table of winos in there with BYOB probably wouldn’t pass muster. My guess is since the current table is capped at 12 he’s probably placing everybody at our usual table that’s secluded by the bar area to keep things less conspicuous for the rest of his guests buying from the list that evening.

Most restaurants down here just flat out don’t allow BYOB. In short, if the restaurant has a license to sell hard liquor (most do) they cannot allow BYOB under state law. Most restaurants that sell any kind of alcohol will typically just simply not allow it, period. Every “nice” restaurant has a hard liquor license (that’s where the money is) so they don’t allow BYOB. End of story, move along. Nothing to see here.

Something to consider is if you can get a rather large group together like you’re anticipating then you might be able to get a restaurant to commit to you to close for the evening for a private function. Under state law if they close for a private function then you can bring in all you want. You provide the wine, the restaurant provides the food. I know we’ve done this with a few local restaurants like Mirabelle in the far north Dallas area. Really good food, cozy yet elegant atmosphere. Something to consider.

Amici’s Signature Italian in Carrollton is one of the few restaurants in our area that has good quality food and is pure, 100% BYOB. It could be a decent fall back position. Something else to consider.

Most other restaurants in the area that would allow you to BYOB are more “hole in the wall” kind of places, typically ethnic in nature (Chinese, Greek, etc…). If you’re not looking for elegant dining then you could hit up one of these places in jeans and a casual shirt and let the corks fly.

Yeah, well you’d just have to exercise some self control.

Seriously, the only experience with Dallas I have is some time spent in the airport. If we are going somewhere other than Lola, someone else is going to have to take over on this one.

Well, IF we were going to do Lola, I was going to buy off the list.

That would work. We’ve done that several times on the weekend. We call it “Explore Van’s list”. Numbers go in a hat at the beginning of dinner. When your number is called you have 2 minutes to pick the next wine for the evening. Everybody splits the tab at the end. Kind of funny to watch the guy who’s only into Bordeaux trying to figure out which Champagne to buy since he drew number 1.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I am considering having people over at the fam’s cellar which is uptown. I think it would be alot of fun to just get together and drink some decent wine in good company. I could provide some very light fare as well. The caveat is that I am flying in from NY that Friday night and plan on being in by 8 or so.

Is anyone here interested in this?

yes i am.

Check THIS out, only took 3+ decades but there it is. All of a sudden I’m with the popular kids!

Yup. I am also against the Lola idea. Let’s not wear out WB’s welcome there. Let’s outdo them!!

If it is a small group, and I’m talking 4-6, we can BYO at Tejas. I’ll pull the strings. Cheryl that bottle you asked about is likely to show up. That will be a good start in the “outdo” department. This is practically walking distance to the hotel. (ok a $5 cab ride)

I am ok with the idea of a larger group, taking over an entire restaurant for a private party. On a Friday that may be a hard sell or very expensive if they always turn tables 4X a night, we’d need to cover that cost. But we need a local to tell us what restaurant will allow this.

Casual is fine as travelling with dressy clothes isn’t my favorite thing. I’m hoping for jeans and nice shirts to get me through the weekend. Tux stays at home.

Wine cellar tour? YOU BET. If you arrive at 8PM or so we could get dinner over with and meet you at 9/9:30P. (see, working in as many drinking events as I possibly can!)

FINALLY (yes can you see I’m a natural born planner), timing is important if people are flying in Friday. Doing a 6PM start is probably too early for some, a 9PM may be too late for east coasters. West coasters may not arrive until after 10PM if they put in a full work day. So that will limit/exclude some just due to logistics. Sad but true.

I’m thinking a 7:30P start to split the difference.


Bill, thanks for this post. I know I didn’t, and I would guess Linda didn’t, mean to imply any exclusion or “big vs. little”. We just all want to have something to do, and realize it is impossible to coordiante 50 people from around the country. The imperfections of the English language.

So there’s one group at Lola, another group somewhere else, but it would be nice if we all met up after our respective dinners. Is there an after-party?

Either Izzy’s suggestion or the pool at La Keenta might be a nice place to hang out and pop some corks, as long as Zach doesn’t run around in his underwear. Again. [suicide.gif]

We would be in for all the above.

Even Zach in his underwear?