Paradise is (has been!) experiencing a serious drought of good eateries. Oh, no doubt, there’s Sophie’s for Thai and Ikkyu for Japanese and a host of diners for comfort food, but really, not much. You can only hit up Annie’s and Black Bear so many times, you know?
So when a local art/craft house decided to add wine tasting and then moved to become a boutique wine/beer and select specialty food spot, well, it raised some interest. Starting out as a glass art store with some locally sourced knick-knacks, it wasn’t the first place one would look for to become the next (only?) hot eatery. That, however, is exactly what it has become.
First they went through a transition phase offering local wine tastings – or is it tastings of local wines? Whichever, it hit the spot. After some time building that business, they dropped most of the art stuff (there’s still some in an adjacent room and on some of the shelves) and added a small kitchen and craft beer. Bam! The recipe and grapes was right and ripe – the Wine Room is hit.
With a big chalkboard menu along one wall, a wood-burning fireplace (on city approved nights only, of course) and a barn-party selection of tables, chairs and bar stools, the Wine Room is the perfect intimate setting for some great appetizers and high-powered local beer and wine. The decor, as my girlfriend said, was exactly what you’d hope for from a small place in a small town – comforting and cozy. At the same time, it was upscale, eclectic and trendy. It is also full every time I go by (about 20 patrons), so we decided to stop by one Friday eve.
It was a wonderfully cold – wonderfully because the open wood-burning stove was going – night and we dropped by with another couple to sample the beers and grab some dinner. The place was buzzing with happy conversation and the wait staff was all over, making sure everybody kept being happy. The chalkboard listing the beers (names, a brief description and alcohol content – one was 15%!!! – I got one) had about fifteen locals on tap and in bottles. We took a look at the menu – ok, if you’re looking for steaks or such, nope. If you want (unbelievably good) mac’n’cheese or a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup (on a cold night with a fire going?? PLEASE!) or – like I had – spicy meatballs? Oh man.
My dinner companion had a salad – not much for the vegetarian on this menu – and the other couple had the mac’n’cheese and something else I wasn’t allowed to sample (whatever!). Plus the aforementioned beer – and wine. I had a local dark that listed its qualities as including ‘a chocolate finish’. Yep, and 13% alcohol. It could have come with a Hershey bar! Anyway…
It wasn’t all wine and roses, however. Given that every table was full, service was…pretty slow. On top of that is the fact that they have a tiny kitchen so putting out multiple meals simultaneously is going to be a challenge. Our waitress came by and told us that we would likely have to wait on our food and…I’ve never heard this before…we’d probably get it at different times. To be fair, she did tell us and gave us the option not to go through with our order, but still.
We did indeed get our food at different times with probably twenty five minutes between the first person and the last. We were having such a good time, though, it didn’t really matter. We also took the opportunity to sample each other’s meals, so not a disaster at all. The food was also excellent. I can’t stress that enough. I got the meatballs…Carl’s Spicy Balls, I think they were called. Ordering balls with a name was…odd. Eating them was not! Wonderful!
Despite my one niggle, it’s the kind of place you find yourself wanting to go to on a weekend evening or a warm weekend day. On those days, they have outside seating, right on the new wide sidewalk – just like a Parisian cafe. OK, no, it’s not. You get the picture though. Stop by, have a beer (if you’re driving) or six (if someone else is) and some balls. Or mac’n’cheese. Or the fantastic tomato soup! You’ll find yourself thinking about it driving up the Skyway, too. I know I do.
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