Greetings!

Bummer about the Tribe last night. But half full, mes amis, they sure gave us a great year. What a great September, and who expected them to finish so well. Plus they have both a great manager and young talent, so there's hope ( although it does get old reminding ourselves of this every year, non?). And the Browns - how about our first place Browns - now who thought that a few weeks ago? So I see reasons to celebrate - the question is where and how. Hey - eureka - I have a suggestion - how about joining us at Fratello's this weekend for some good food and wine. I'm talking about Black Grouper, and Swordfish, and Certified Angus Beef Flat Iron Steaks, or Veal, Chicken or Eggplant, or Shrimp, Calamari or Pasta, or Clams, Mussels or Cod, or....You get the idea. We'd love to see ya'!

On the wine front, I urge you to try while we still have some the Barbara D'Alba that is on our feature board. As I told you last week, Barbara is a very food friendly wine, and works well with our menu. I can also disclose that we are expecting a shipment of Locations "E" today, the Spanish red blend from Dave Phinney that we featured for quite awhile until the distributor ran out. This wine was very well received, a medium bodied wine with balance and flavor, that works well by itself or with our menu. It's back! It joins the other features, including the Cabernet from Joel Gott and the Pinot Noir from Oregon from Expressions 44, which are all very good. As I might have said before, I am confident that we have a wine, or beverage (Oktoberfest anyone?), that you will enjoy.

Thanks for all your continued support all these many years. Let's hope that the Browns do well tonight, that the good weather and temps stay around awhile, and that we all stay happy, healthy and wise (or at least two out of three). As I said, let's celebrate!

Ciao