The other day I almost got whiplash when I saw a sign for a new wine bar on Florida Ave. just west of Connecticut, around the corner from Russia House. In the August 17 Washington Post Weekend Section chat, Eve Zibart reports:
Veritas . . . is hoping for a mid-September opening. It's from those great guys who have brought you Lucky Bar, Big Hunt, several Atlas District bars and such going back to Insect Club and beyond (like infinity). They're also turning the old Zebra Room up Wisconsin into a similar wine/cheese bar/charcuterie to be called Enology.
According to the Washington Business Journal, both bars "will serve 60 types of wine but strictly American brands." Veritas and Enology will have some company in the new wine bar business. Tom Sietsema reported last week that Cork Wine Bar will be opening in the old Sparky's Espresso Cafe site at 1720 14th Street, NW (between R and S Streets). Metrocurean has some additional details.
I hope these places will actually let customers sit at a table when they're only meeting for a glass of wine or two, and maybe a nosh, but only if they feel like it. I remember having high hopes for Bardeo wine bar in Cleveland Park, but some friends and I were once asked to move from a booth to the bar if we weren't going to order dinner. Harumph. To be fair, this was years ago, and maybe they've loosened up. But if you can't sit and have a glass of wine at a wine bar, where can you?
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in vino veritas: (in VEE-noh VER-ee-tahs) A Latin phrase suggesting that people are more likely to say what they really feel under the influence of alcohol. It means, “There is truth in wine.” (Source: Bartleby.com.)
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