My pet peeve about dining in the D.C. area is the high price of enjoying even a simple wine with your meal. So often, I scan the list and discover that the cheapest bottle is 36 or 38 bucks, which means over $50 when tax and tip are added. House wines and carafes are rare. Glasses often start at 10-12 bucks, and you don’t even know how much, or how little, you’re getting (throughout Europe, menus have to include the volume of every drink sold). In all, a real financial deterrent to eating out frequently, unless you want to forego the wine (for me, not an option).
As a result, I am always on the lookout for restuarant wine specials (not bar specials)– usually mid-week or happy hour specials. I would like to compile a definitive list, and hope that some of you can contribute. Many of these specials are known mainly to regulars and are not much advertised. Arlington, and maybe other jurisdictions, prohibits the advertising of drink specials.
I am interested only in wine specials that you can drink with your regular restaurant meal. Please don’t list bar-only happy hour specials. There are zillions of those.
I’ll start out the list with some that I know about. Please correct them if they are out–of- date:
-Floriana (Italian, 17th St.) – Half priced bottles on Monday and Wednesday evenings (good stuff, too).
-Veranda (Mediterranean – 11th St.) – Half priced bottles on Tuesday evenings.
-Brasserie Beck - Selected bottles (expensive ones) half priced on Tuesday evenings.
-Bistro Bistro (Connecticut above Dupont circle) - Happy hour house wines at @4.00/glass until 7:00 pm M-F served with meals.
-Café Odeon (Connecticut above Dupont circle) - Happy hour house wines at @3.50/glass until 7:00 pm M-F served with meals.
-Whitlow’s on Wilson (Clarendon) - Happy hour house wines at @4.00/glass until 7:00 pm M-F served with meals.
-Mexicali Blues (Clarendon) – Half-priced bottles on Wednesday evenings.
-Vapiano (Chinatown, M Street, Ballston) - Happy hour house wines at @4.00/glass until 7:00 pm M-F available with meals.
Feel free to mention places that regularly have lower priced options, i.e. bottles for $26 or less. Also, are there any good BYOB venues these days? I don’t know of any.