3 replies to this topic

[1000yregg]

I did not realize that there is no topic on 13.5%, a wine bar located on the Avenue in Hampden. It's one of my go to places to eat when I'm in the mood for something a little more upscale in the neighborhood.

Chef Sarah Acconcia comes from Woodberry Kitchen and Abacrombie, and she has some skills in pastry as well.

The place is decorated in a modern style with some seats that are almost like lounge chairs with other tables right by couches.

The food is very seasonal and features a lot of small plates as well.

The wine selection is impressive- all reasonably priced wines with 40 available to order by the glass. The bartenders are also very generous in that they let you taste a wine before you order it.

I was just there Friday, and they have a new spring menu.

We started with a plate of hot roasted almonds with chile and sea salt. My friend had a red leaf salad with feta and honey vinaigrette.

She ordered one of their pizzas, which are quite good and very thin. She had the radish and ricotta pizza. The radishes were sliced thin and looked like pepperoni.

I ordered the special: steelhead with a coating of duck cracklings and new potatoes.

In the past I've had foie gras dishes, fiddleheads, ramp pizza, roasted hazelnuts, and also great desserts.

For some reason, the neighborhood locals and "hipsters" don't tend to eat here. It draws more folks from around the city than other dining places on the Avenue.

[DonRocks]

I did not realize that there is no topic on 13.5%, a wine bar located on the Avenue in Hampden. It's one of my go to places to eat when I'm in the mood for something a little more upscale in the neighborhood.

Ha, I was *just* there five days ago; went to (little) Grano instead.

[Choirgirl21]

I wish I liked this place more than I do. I've been twice. The first time I went alone and had some food and wine at the bar. The deviled eggs with pickled beets and caviar were incredibly disappointing (and I love both pickled beet eggs and deviled eggs so I thought I would love them). They were just sadly flavorless. The squid salad was better, good, but not great. Of the 3 white wines in my flight, only one was anything more than okay.

On my second visit, I went with girlfriends in the evening mainly for wine. We did share a cheese plate. Our server was knowledgable about the cheeses and they had a nice selection so we enjoyed it. Wine service was a little more up in the air, I got a really introductory lecture on roses, but perhaps that's my fault for asking for help in choosing one. I would say in the end, we liked about half of the wines, the rest were again "meh". One friend did choose to get the white wine flight I had had previously despite me encouraging her to choose something else and her verdict was the same.

I will definitely give it another chance, I love Hampden, have friends there, and of course love the concept, but so far I have not been impressed. Radish and ricotta pizza does sound tempting...

As an aside, I did get a kick out of the local hipsters drinking their giant cans of Natty Boh at the table next to us. Not that I have anything against hipsters, or Natty Boh.

[ktmoomau]

I was here for drinks Mother's Day weekend, but we didn't eat anything. I liked the space and they had a nice list of cocktails and wine, we mainly had cocktails and a glass of wine, but I knew I liked the wine before I ordered it as I had it before. They were very nice about letting us sit and chill for a drink.