Pop quiz. Which of these things doesn’t go with wine:
A) Black-truffle duck salami.
B) Mozzarella burgers.
C) Ibéric—oh, whatever, there’s obviously no such thing as food that doesn’t go with wine.
Swirl a glass toward Midtown Bar & Kitchen, a handsome Melrose wine bar with a little bit of red meat and a wine list that reads like a novella—it’s now open.
It’s from the guy behind Osteria Mamma, who, like any good mother’s boy, is staying close to home. (It’s next door.) But it’s nice: a sleek, modern space of walnut panels, glassed-in bottles and sand-colored booths, with an L-shaped bar that could credibly host Tom Ford, a chanteuse and an actor dying to land a pilot so he can buy a Tom Ford suit.
Anyway, let’s see. Dark. Alluring. Yep: date spot. Once you get comfortable, you’ll be handed the wine list. It’s got wines from everywhere, and it’s... 17 pages long. Hopefully, one of you is a proficient speed-reader.
Then comes the crostini with ibérico ham and manchego. And more crostini with black-truffle duck salami. And if it’s the kind of date that can get a little messy, the Melted Mozzarella Burger.
The mozzarella’s house-melted.
A) Black-truffle duck salami.
B) Mozzarella burgers.
C) Ibéric—oh, whatever, there’s obviously no such thing as food that doesn’t go with wine.
Swirl a glass toward Midtown Bar & Kitchen, a handsome Melrose wine bar with a little bit of red meat and a wine list that reads like a novella—it’s now open.
It’s from the guy behind Osteria Mamma, who, like any good mother’s boy, is staying close to home. (It’s next door.) But it’s nice: a sleek, modern space of walnut panels, glassed-in bottles and sand-colored booths, with an L-shaped bar that could credibly host Tom Ford, a chanteuse and an actor dying to land a pilot so he can buy a Tom Ford suit.
Anyway, let’s see. Dark. Alluring. Yep: date spot. Once you get comfortable, you’ll be handed the wine list. It’s got wines from everywhere, and it’s... 17 pages long. Hopefully, one of you is a proficient speed-reader.
Then comes the crostini with ibérico ham and manchego. And more crostini with black-truffle duck salami. And if it’s the kind of date that can get a little messy, the Melted Mozzarella Burger.
The mozzarella’s house-melted.
