A Big Name in D.C. Wine Moves On, Plus More Intel

Staff shuffles

Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s revered wine director, Brent Kroll is moving on to a general manager position at the wine-focused Proof. The rapidly-expanding restaurant group has lost a few big names in recent months, from Jeff Faile to Kyle Bailey — their longtime publicist just left last week as well. [WCP]

All sales are final

An interesting tidbit from Washingtonian’s coverage of the upcoming The Shaw Bijou: all sales will be final for tickets to the tasting menu-centric restaurants. That means no cancellations in the case of illness or other last-minute situations, though there is an option of transferring a ticket through online platform Tock. [Washingtonian]

Chef cookbook woes

Eater.com’s review of cookbook Poole’s raises some issues for everyone who’s tried to cook out of a restaurant cookbook before, including some by D.C. chefs. The structure can be too complicated or too restaurant-esque for a home kitchen. And then there are the problems with ingredients. "A lot of the recipes seem simple, but they contain specific ingredients — heirloom grains, beans, or specific vegetables — that I didn’t have easy access to. Other recipes require one or more of the components that Christensen explains she always has in her walk-in: batches of roasted tomatoes, homemade malt-vinegar mayo, compound butter, cornbread bread crumbs. At home, with an ordinary fridge, it was tricky to figure out where to even start," she writes. [E]

Pig party?

Whole roasted pig is back at Taberna del Alabardero. The restaurant’s traditional cochinillo asado is coming back to the menu September 9. There’s a wine promo associated with it too.