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Showing results for tags 'Wine Bar'.
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Open to the public beginning New Year's Eve. And it's just as good as you'd imagine. [Disclosure: my son works for the TuG/RH folks--but I wouldn't rave if I didn't mean it.] https://www.revelershour.com/- 13 replies
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I just wanted to write that: Simon Ndjki-nya. The upstairs wine bar at Bistrot Lepic would be one of my quirky choices for the question we all get: "I'm coming in from out-of-town this weekend. Where would be a really cool, undiscovered place for us to go? We want something quiet but not boring, with good food, good atmosphere and decent wines by the glass." The wine bar at Bistrot Lepic is also a perfect first-date venue - lots of small plates, comfortable, intimate ambiance, friendly bartender, food coming up from the main dining room's kitchen downstairs, good for private conversation. My one qualm is that the wines by-the-bottle are a bit overpriced (only a couple of bottles are under $30), but this is mitigated somewhat either by sticking with humbler bottlings, or ordering by-the-glass, and the food prices are quite reasonable, with interesting small plates around $7, most fish entrees in the upper teens, and meat entrees hovering around $20. You can do well here if you nibble and pick. Cheers, Rocks. -
The Girl & The Vine, a new market, bar & café is "shooting for" a March 18 opening at 7071 Carroll Ave., the former location of Capital City Cheesecake: "New Takoma Park Market / Bar / Café Aims for March 18 Opening" by Mike Diegel on sourceofthespring.com- 1 reply
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Please define mid afternoon? Rustic Canyon Wine Bar is superb and one of the hottest restaurants in L. A. right now (#6 in Jonathan Gold's top 100 L. A. restaurants) but it does not open until 5:00PM. Ten minutes from LAX in Santa Monica-we went a month ago and loved it. On par wtih Red Hen or Rose's; extremely creative. Superb wine list heavy on Central Coast wines. If the time works it would be my first choice of any. Press reports on Rustic Canyon including LA Times and New York Times: -
Happy to announce that Room 11 Wine and Dessert Bar is now open for business on 11th Street in Columbia Heights. Ben Gilligan is in the kitchen, turning out small plates, paninis, cheese, and charcuterie. Dan Searing is behind the bar and has crafted a selective wine, beer and cocktail list. And Paisley Fig is supplying our desserts. Nick Pimentel was in charge of design and yours truly rounds out the ownership and management team. Drop by to say hello! We can be found on the internets at room11dc.com More coverage Here and Here. -
La Fromagerie is a new cheese shop that will be opening soon in Old Town (corner of King and Payne Streets). From the website, it looks like the focus will be on American products. Anybody have any additional details? -
Locavino, from the management team behind Adega Wine Cellars in Downtown Silver Spring, will be opening in former Adega space: https://www.sourceofthespring.com/business/adega-wine-veterans-take-over-space-will-open-new-cafe/
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Forgive me Don if this is the wrong place to post this, but I needed to talk about our meal at Vin 909 in Annapolis. We thought we were lost when we got there because it's located in a residential neighborhood in what looks like somebody's house. When we saw all the people waiting on the lawn, we knew we were in the right place. It was just 6pm on Saturday night, but we waited about 45 minutes for a table. There's a pretty lawn with benches to wait for a table, so we ordered a bottle of wine and sat for a while. There are two small dining rooms inside and and a small patio out back. Also, there were two tables on the front porch that didn't look very comfortable. Oh yeah, the food. For starters I had the "Chesapeake farm raised clams" with wild mushrooms, grilled corn, scallions, garlic, smoked bacon, white wine, and cream. I think this was the best dish I ever had in my life. The clams were perfectly cooked, the bacon was thick and meaty, and the sauce was perfectly decadent. My SO, not as pro-cholesterol as I am, had the greens with blue cheese. SO loved it. Then we moved on to the pizza. Pizzas are sort of oval, pretty thin, but not soupy at all. Kind of Roman if you know what I mean. I had the Spotted Pig with spicy soppressata, wild boar meatballs, tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and provolone. SO had the Trip, wild mushrooms,taleggio and fontina cheeses. Pizzas were AMAZING. Perfectly balanced amounts of sauce, cheese and toppings. Service was friendly and efficient. Char was just right. When informed of a food allergy, the server checked with the chef for each dish we ordered. Sorry, no dessert report, too full. -
One that comes to mind for me is Grapeseed in Bethesda. Had a great meal there last month. I find this to be one of the highlights of the Bethesda restaurant scene. There are so many restaurants downtown, but hardly any GOOD ones. Anyone have any thoughts on this place? -
The coffee portion of Little Pearl is opening today, Dec. 16 (via Washington Post) and the wine bar portion is opening on Dec. 30 according to their website. -
I've visited Grapes Wine Bar in Annapolis at least three times in the past month as we are closing on a house nearby. We had a great dinner there Saturday night and prior times have enjoyed food and wine at the bar. This is a wine bar with a great selection of wines by the glass and bottle. Lots of chalkboard specials and special pours that night. Small but reasonable menu with good cheese slections and all good entrees. The whipped Goat Cheese with Fig jam is amazing. This is a locals spots on Forrest drive outside of downtown Annapolis. Thus the crowds aren't there and there isn't a wait to get seated. The prices are not upscale DC or Bethesda but reasonable and laid back Annapolis. I saw a bottle of Billecart Salmon Rose Champagne for $90, retail is not much less. I'll be drinking the Friday night after we close on this house. -
For me and my dear aged mother, the main casualty of Friday night's storm was the cancellation of today's matinee performance of Don Giovanni at the Barns at Wolf Trap (well, actually, my mother's house in Fairfax was without electricity from 10:30 pm Friday to 4:00 pm Saturday; I suffered no such tribulation in the Kalorama Triangle). We had planned to have lunch before the opera at Plaka Grill in Vienna, which is right on the way. When we learned of the cancellation, we decided to have the lunch as planned. Plaka Grill is in a dreary little strip mall on Lawyers' Road just off Maple Ave, next door to a Papa John's. It's quite a bare-bones sort of place. You place your order at the counter, and they give you a little stand with a number on it to put on your formica-top table so they'll know where to deliver your food. You fetch your own plastic forks and knives and paper napkins. But the service is friendly, cheerful, and efficient, and the food is delicious and inexpensive. We split an appetizer of dolmadakia, which was five grape-leaf rolls with a filling of lamb, beef, and rice, drizzled with a lemony sauce, served hot. They were actually very hot, and tasty beyond my expectation. Then we had "Chicago Gyros", which resemble every gyro you've ever had, but taken to a higher level. The pita wrapper was chewy but tender, the pressed meat stuff was tender, moist, and flavorful. The gyros were rounded out with lettuce, tomato, and tzatziki, and I'd have to say that these were the best gyros I've ever encountered. The one order of dolmades, two gyros, and two bottles of Bass ale came to just over $29. No wonder this place is popular. I wouldn't go a very long way out of my way to eat here, but gosh, what a good lunch I had at such a trivial cost. -
Ooh! Call me out of the loop, but what new project on the Hill? Do tell! -
That's great! I'm really excited to hear about your wine and cheese place joining all the other new businesses that are coming to the Zoso building. I took a look at your AOL "The Start Up" postings http://smallbusiness.aol.com/startup/profile/wendy and found them really interesting because I have no idea what all needs to be considered when starting a new business. It sounds like being able to work at Cheesetique to learn the business was/is a great opportunity.
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Sunday my wife and I stopped by Primrose for their first night open to the public to check out what has to be by far the biggest restaurant opening in our new neighborhood by Sebastian Zutant, formerly of Proof (in the glory days), Red Hen, and All Purpose. Much like Red Hen, this was a delightfully designed little neighborhood restaurant, with a homey feel and lovely lighting and decorations (check out the bathrooms). Service was touch and go, which is to be expected on an opening night, but everyone was very pleasant and accommodating. The food was nice, if unspectacular, and the wine list an eclectic mix of French producers who I had never heard of before. The menu is very small, with 3 plates of charcuterie, 4 apps, and 5 mains (2 that can be shared). My wife had the steak, which was a nice griddled version cooked very well and accompanied by very thick fries, which were the least French thing that we had all night. I went with the Bourguignon, which was a bit overcooked and less saucy than I like, but pleasing nonetheless. Don't sleep on the Salade Verte, which is a simple heaping mound of mache and paper thin radishes with that salad dressing that you get (and love) in every restaurant in France that serves green salads but I never actually hear the name of since you don't get a choice of dressing when you dine out over there. Congrats to Sebastian and his wife on what should be a very successful effort in Brookland!- 3 replies
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[is there really no thread in the restaurant forum? I could not find it if it exists.] Stopped in for a bite of lunch and had the "My Turkish Cousin " - Lamb Shoulder | preserved lemon yoghurt | sultana mostarda | sautéed spinach | flatbread ~ $14. That is one excellent sandwich with wonderfully flavorful lamb. After lunch stopped in the market and bought a nice barded beef roast and some of the Leafy greens sausages (kale, collard greens, pork) for a nice weekend dinner. The space is wonderful and the market is filled with tempting purchases everywhere. It was aslo nice to see and chat with Mr. Wabeck. Looking forward to my next visit. -
Wondering if anybody here had any thoughts about this place. I've walked by it many, many, many times in Silver Spring, but never been bothered to go for no reason in particular. -
I can't say too much about the food at Corsino Cantina, because we only stopped in for a glass of wine and a few nibbles at the bar. I mentioned in a post from several years ago how much I liked that lots of places in NYC bring you a snack at the bar. We were at Corsino during happy hour and were each treated to a ricotta and orange honey crostini, a generous cube of mortadella, and a dish of olives and pickled veggies. The crostini were quite good so we ordered a few more: fennel, orange & white anchovy and chicken liver. Both were very simple but nicely prepared. Everything on the menu is under $20, with the exception of a seafood pasta that includes lobster ($21). The ambiance was warm and friendly, with warm wood walls and floors and candelight. The bartender was pleasent helpful and had no problem pouring samples of a wine or two, so we could find one we liked. They had a great selection of Italian wines - and grappa. It seemed like a popular local spot and is one that I would be happy to stop back into on a future visit to the neighborhood.
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I like the combination wine shop and tasting room/restaurant concept. However, the expectation at a place like this is that they'll have some interesting wine selections that you might not find everywhere else. Unfortunately the shop bottles and the tasting list here (3oz, 6oz) tend toward fairly common wines, such as E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone (a wine that I like, but...). The kitchen was at one time overseen by Jeff Heineman from Grapeseed, but I'm not sure if that's the case anymore. The food was pretty disappointing, though. The entrees we had were bland: monkfish with a wine-tomato sauce and vegetables and a lamb ragu over corkscrew pasta. The bartender at the Idle Hour, where we stopped afterwards, raved about the place and told us we needed to try it again. To me it was a collection of trendy ideas (small pours, industrial interior, truffle oiled this and that, etc) done poorly. Anyone else been? -
Northern Virginia Magazine reports on Liberty Tavern's plan for the old Murky Coffee space: Chef Liam LaCivita will oversee the kitchen. The article also has info on their new restaurant, Lyon Hall. -
My husband and I wanted to grab an early dinner around 6:15 pm Saturday to make up for the anniversary dinner we had to cancel earlier in the week (it's a long story that involves a concussion - and said concussion is making husband very sleepy, hence the early dinner). We figured it should be no issue showing up at Himitsu at 6:15 to grab two seats either at the bar or a table. I figured that most people wouldn't be eating or even out yet on a Saturday at 6. Wow. I was wrong. The wait was over 2 hours long when we arrived so we decided to head elsewhere and got in the car to try our luck at Izakaya Seki. However, as soon as I turned down 8th st from Upshur we saw a new restaurant, that had a few tables, and figured, why not? The internet suggested that it was a new Asian street food restaurant (an old Prince of Petworth article), but when we looked at the menu in the window it was clear it was a Pan-Latin place. Since my husband and I both work in Latin America and travel there often we figured, again, why not? I asked the very nice hostess how long they had been open -- she said three weeks. We were seated immediately - the room is cool - lots of Edison bulbs, wood, exposed brick, plants hanging on the wall, central large bar. We both really liked the space. Service, throughout the night, was fine. A little distracted (menus sat on the table most of the meal until I asked for them to be taken away, long waits for water) and just a little inexperienced. But, hey, it was week 3, and the server was perfectly nice and did his job. Polish will come. The menu is broken down into four categories and includes a variety of drinks and dishes from Peru, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. One category is appetizers, which had empanadas, fish tacos, quiejo coehlo (A delicous slab of cheese with oregano that you eat on the beach in Brazil) and some other items. There was also a ceviche section with 4 or 5 choices, a section of sandwiches (a chicken milanesa, a choripan - which is a grilled sausage sandwich, and a Cubano), and a main course section with chiles rellenos, a carne asada hanger steak with yucca fries and chimichurri, a fish special of the day (a seafood stew on Saturday), an Aji Huancaina (Peruvian yellow chile sauced chicken) and a couple other dishes. We had the queijo and fish tacos as appetizers and both were very good - as good as or better than the versions we usually eat in Latin America. I had the carne asada for my main and it was fine. I liked it, but could make it at home with the pre-marinated carne asada from Trader Joe's. My husband had the seafood stew which had octopus, clams, fish, and mussels in a really nice broth. It was great. We didn't do dessert. The wine list is heavy on Chilean and Argentine Malbecs and Pinot Noirs, but I had a very nice glass of a Bolivian!! Tannat that is a rarity. I would have liked to have seen more Uruguayan wines on the menu, as I think they are great and under-represented. The cocktail list is also nice - my mole Old Fashioned was really great on a cold night. I think this is a nice new addition to the scene! -
Andy Hayler's Review
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I talked to a friend of mine who's familiar (although not financially involved) with one side of the story behind the Corner-Bistro / Evo-Bistro split (it's important to remember that this is one-sided information, regardless of how accurate it is). He wrote me, and allowed me to cut-and-paste his words verbatim: ----------------------------- Here is the situation with the Bistro. Sydney was the operating manager of the "Corner Bistro" when it was in the small place. He was a partner (not majority) with Joseph, who owned and operated the Mistral restaurant. And who constantly put in his 2+ cents in the running of the Bistro... They realized that the Bistro needed to grow, and eventually decided to do a double move: The Mistral would move to a location down the street (where the Chinese place was) - and it did, and the Corner Bistro would move to the old Mistral location - and it did too. They still had an active lease for the small place, and options were discussed as to what to do with that location.... Some time during the renovation of the old Mistral location in preparation for the new Corner Bistro, Sydney and Joseph had a business disagreement, more than likely as to either the concept of the new Corner Bistro, or the staffing, or Joseph's day-to-day involvement (i.e. lack of autonomy for Sydney), or a combination of everything. Net result: Sydney, the Bistro chef (Driz), the sous-chef ("Mami"), and the main waitress (Marina) all quit the Bistro!!! The New Bistro opened with all new staff. It's concept changed from a little wine bar to a more full fledge restaurant. From a business view point, it is doing very well, but it is a different set up now... The solution for the location of the old bistro was still is question. Eventually, to try and at least cover the lease, Joseph decided to turn it into a Burger joint ("Joe's Burgers"). Not sure how well it is doing, probably just limping along until a permanent solution is implemented. Meantime, Sydney looked for (and found) a location in McLean to open a new Bistro with the same concept as the old Corner Bistro: A wine bar with tapas. The result is his new place called "Evo Bistro" (Evo = Evolution). It is a little more upscale than the old Corner Bistro. All the individuals who quit the Corner Bistro are there! And a few more 'choice' individuals, specifically 2 people who also know wines! He is in partnership with 2 other people, but the responsibilities are clearly defined among them. Driz revamped the menu, and has many new dishes that look fabulous (can't wait to try them!). And Sydney has introduced a wine tasting section with automated wine dispenser, like the one at "Proof", except here the customer uses the machine with a pre-paid "Bistro card". Whew... That is the story...
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Northern Virginia magazine reported that Cassatt's owner Art Hauptman opened the market portion of Bistro 360 on Oct. 17 in Cafe Assorti's former location. Although Northern Virginia magazine states that "Hauptman hopes to have the restaurant and wine bar of Bistro 360 open late next week," the Bistro 360 website says that the Bistro360 Eatery will open on Nov. 3 and the wine bar and market are now open.
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What if I told you there was a wine business that started about 45 years ago, with a wine enthusiast who has developed relationships with all the really good wineries throughout Napa and Sonoma, who has access to some of hardest-to-find or small production (like 150 cases, and he bought them all) wines, with a wine shop and wine bar that you plan to visit for 2 hours and end up staying for 6 hours...? Greg O'Flynn is now on my list of great wine merchants, and California Wine Merchant is now on my must-visit list of places to drink wine in San Francisco. Greg is an affable guy whose passion is all about wine, and the wine he pours shows it. Full disclosure -- I am now in his wine club, where I will be receiving six special bottles every other month. I tasted some remarkable wines, but what struck me almost as much was how fastidious Greg and his employees were in keeping the Riedel glasses pristine, or topping off the open bottles with Argon at the end of every night, and the rarity rack where most of us back east don't sip some of these wines. Among others, I enjoyed healthy pours of Robert Biale "Like Father, Like Son," Kistler, Branham Estate zin, L'Angevin (which is a $42 chardonnay, but made by the same winemaker who made the $150 Peter Michael chardonnay.) Greg is a wonderful fellow and his place is a museum of California (and other areas of the world) wines. In fact, last Thursday night, we also enjoyed a tasting of Italian wines from the Fruili region, and I tasted some first-ever wines for me, like Tokai -- which has to be spelled that way to avoid EU regulations associated with Hungarian Tokay or Tokaji -- and Refosco. I will return to this establishment every time I set foot in San Francisco.
