Wine Bar Recommendations

TPA and I will be going to dinner with a couple that we don't know very well on Saturday and I'm looking for a recommendation for a very specific type of place: essentially Avec, but not Avec. Let me explain.

What I know about this couple, they are early to mid 30s and have a toddler. They, like us, live in Roscoe Village. She likes her wine and is probably fairly open to new dining experiences. I know the husband less than the wife and I think, though I could be wrong, that he is more of a beer type. Why Avec would be perfect. It would take us all away from the very family friendly Roscoe Village and environs (we both have sitters for the evening), the small plates are convivial, and the atmosphere not particularly frou frou. Why it is not perfect: the wait. I don't know their tolerance for waiting for a table and so I don't want to create a stressful situation.

So, I'm thinking I would probably like a wine bar in a less travelled area of the city (i.e., not Lincoln Park or Lake View) with reasonably good food that's not too trendy or frou frou. Other suggestions are also welcome.

MAG wrote:So, I'm thinking I would probably like a wine bar in a less travelled area of the city (i.e., not Lincoln Park or Lake View) with reasonably good food that's not too trendy or frou frou. Other suggestions are also welcome.

MAG,

If convivial atmosphere and good wine are more important than food, The Tasting Room would be my suggestion. Pleasant downstairs bar area, with comfortable tables and chairs, and a very relaxed, comfortable, quiet, room upstairs.

The Tasting Room has a full menu, but I can only speak to the cheese and charcutrie, both of which are quite good. The Tasting room not only offers flights of wine, but also cheese and charcutrie, which can be matched with wine.

An added bonus is the staff, or at least the bar staff, is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. I like the place.

Enjoy,
Gary

The Tasting Room
1415 West Randolph St.
Chicago IL 60607
312-942-1212
http://tlcwine.com/TastingRoom.html

knowledgeable and enthusiastic

Yes, but knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what, pray tell.

MAG wrote:Yes, but knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what, pray tell.

MAG,

Oh boy, I forgot I told you the somewhat risque story the bartender related to us the last time we were there. Knowledgeable and enthusiastic about wine, among other things.

Enjoy,
Gary

I second the recommendation for The Tasting Room. I was about to suggest it when I scrolled down and saw Wiv's message.

Does anyone know whether the Tasting Room accepts reservations?

Not sure you'd need them, but I guess it would be best to call ahead.

I've had very enjoyable evenings at Bin 36, especially with someone who gets some very good deals there. I am not, however, certain on their food as I have never tried. I think they did get a good review in the Trib a while back.

Otherwise, are there many other options?

To throw out something un-solicited, if you want to change from a wine bar per se, what about something BYOB. I have grown very fond of wine with Thai food, and am always very fond of the food at Spoon (although it might be too close). You could easily get a few bottles of wine for the price of a few glasses at Tasting Room or Bin 36. I hear Rieslings go good with Thai

Rob

hattyn wrote:You could try the city search website for locations and then post here to ask for other people's experience.

The food downstairs ("tavern") at Bin 36 (339 N. Dearborn St.
312-755-9463) is typical wine bar food, and dependable. Cheese plates, pates, small pizzas. And they do have wine flights. Atmosphere: convivial and downtown casual. A good place for a light, casual meal with wine, and except for primetime weekends, not exceptionally crowded.

I have had one or two decent experiences at Meritage, though it has been a while. At least 2 or 3 years (which means it was probably 5). The wine was generally a bit better than the food, which was pretty decent.

DePaul area, sort of. Never that crowded, though I think I went on weeknights.

Meritage
2118 N Damen Ave - (773) 235-6434

MAG wrote:So, I'm thinking I would probably like a wine bar in a less travelled area of the city (i.e., not Lincoln Park or Lake View) with reasonably good food that's not too trendy or frou frou. Other suggestions are also welcome.

Bistro Campagne in Lincoln Square has been discussed many times on this board and Chowhound ... it fits the bill perfectly. The husband can stick with beer, but have one of the better restaurant beer lists around - many Belgian beers that are as interesting to match with the food as the wine is. It's also closer to you in Roscoe Village.

Search for more extensive reviews.

rien

Room 22 seems to have a very similar menu to Avec. I heard they have some sort of chorizo stuffed dates which sounded very Avec to me. They have all types of mediterranean small plates and not as extensive of a cheese selection. I have not been there yet, but the reviews have been good.
Room 22
22 E. Hubbard

My wife and I had dinner there a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. The "dinner space" in very comfortable (in a non formal, but still nice kind of way) and the food was excellent.

I'm not sure about the beer there (though I know they have a bar) but the wine flights are a great way to try different types of wine (and they even offer suggested flights of similar tasting wines.)

We plan on going back.

There is a new place in Andersonville (or West Andersonville, depending on how picky you are with your neighborhood boundries) called Joie de Vine. I cannot vouch for the place, having not been there, but it is on a pleasant, out of the way residential street. For what it is worth, Metromix reccommends it as an alternative to Avec.

Joie de Vine
1744 W. Balmoral

Doug

i've had a good few trips to vintage wine bar at division and damen. the room seems to meet your criteria and the wine list, while not exhaustive like avec, is more than serviceable. i haven't gone beyond the cheese flight, but the menu looks good.

http://www.vintage-chicago.com

I was just coming by to suggest Vintage as well. I haven't been but have heard it is a good spot.

Also I love Meritage but would consider it more of a dinner spot than a wine bar despite their sign.

And finally - what about Webster's on Webster at Clybourn?

I'm not a fan of Bin36. I think the tasting menus you can do are fun but the wine is usually on so-so and I have had bad food there. ( I had more to say but was forced to remove it.)

Have fun!

Dear Spa Girl,

I am a moderator, but also a member of the LTH community just like you and about 400 of our friends. I am writing as a member of the community, rather than as a moderator...mainly because I was not involved in the decision to ask you to edit your post above.

First, please keep in mind that the moderators are all volunteers and they take on this responsibility because they seek value in having a fun, online communal place to chat about food and food related topics.

While LTH has guidlines as to what is an acceptable post, from time to time there needs to be a little control, especially when 400 people are in one room are talking. That being said, I am quite sure you were not "forced" to remove something from your post. I believe the protocol is to send you a private message asking you to re-think your wording when something hits the LTH "don't go there" zone, e.g., blaming an illness on a restaurant, racial slurs, nastiness directed at another poster rather than an experience.

I believe your were asked to re-word your post both for your sake and that of the community. What you wrote may have been considered lible, should you be unable to prove its veracity. [Edit: sorry, sometimes spell checker gets the best of me]

Finally, if you or anyone else has health related issues with regard to a specific restaurant, the proper place to report those issues is not here, but to the authorities. Here is a website to explain how: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1258

[The first message was sent to you in a private email, offering you a choice to keep this private. Should you wish to edit your post and have me remove mine, please send me a pm or to the moderators@lthforum.com I will give them permission to remove this post]

pd

...was that public dressing-down absolutely necessary? Reading it made me uncomfortable, and called attention to something that most of us wouldn't have noticed.

Just One Person's Opinion.

In support of spa girl, my food experiences at Bin 36 have been less than good. Personally, I won't go there unless forced.

I understand this is a public forum and I am happy to comply with the rules. I just want to add pdaane (or any moderator unhappy with what I posted) that I didn't specifically say who/what/when/where/why I was asked to delete from my post, and I was not demeaning the moderation of the boards.

I simply put that note there because I was asked to modify my post and I don't fully agree with the reasons. Leaving it there allows anyone who has a question about my personal dissatisfaction with Bin 36 to email or PM me without affecting the boards integrity. Of course I can remove it if you desire, but I don't feel it is rude or out of place.

At any rate, it appears a mountain has been made of a mole hill and I hope this will be the end of it. My apologies to anyone I upset.

this place has a decent list, but does not serve meals. Only some cheese plates as far as I know.

1. You are all entitled to your opinions.

2. When spa girl said in her post that she was "forced" to remove something I considered that a negative response to the moderator's request, which was done by private note. She could have chosen the word "asked" or "I was asked to comply with guidelines".

3. If you wish to blast a place with items the moderators consider inappropriate, then you may simply add a note to your post that others can send you a private message (pm) if they would like further details.

4. As to whether this should have been public or private, if anyone wishes to keep a matter private, then they can make that request clearly in a response to the moderators and I am sure they will honor that request.

Anyone who wishes to discuss this matter further may send me a pm.

pd

hattyn wrote:Again not speaking from personal experience but it is in Evanston so that qualifies as not Lakeview.Stained Glass 1735 Benson.(847)864-8600.

Dined at the Stained Glass on Saturday night for the first time. It was very good, and I will definitely go back.

I don't consider myself to be a wine expert, but they had quite a large selection of wines by the glass, with the bottles kept in a special case under inert gas. I went with the Hitching Post Pinot Noir and was quite happy with my selection - happy enough that we ordered a bottle of it with the meal.

For appetizers we had the cheese plate, which included the Chimay milk cheese, a chunk of blue that looked like Maytag, but was not as sharp, a mild white Belgian cheese, and what looked like a Spanish sheep's milk cheese - sorry I can't remember all the details - plus the Charcouterie plate, which had an excellent "country" pate, and kind of an average goose liver / truffle pate, and some very good imported salami. The standout appetizer was the Fois Gras BLT, which featured a seared chunk of fois gras, along with some fancy smoked bacon, a thin slice of tomato and some baby lettuce. Yummy.

I had the rack of lamb, which was excellent, with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and green beans. The others in my group had the Pork Tenderloin, which was also very good, and the Veal Medallions, which were not. The Veal (a special), while not terrible, seemed somewhat uninspired compared to the other two entrees.

The atmosphere is kinda hip & modern, and it definitely got loud in there - the tables are pretty close together, but not uncomfortably so. Dinner for three (only two were drinking) with a $70 bottle of wine came to a little over $200. Kinda on the spendy side, but definitely not outrageous for that level of cuisine.

I'll be going back there again for sure.

I went to Stained Glass for my birthday a couple of months ago, and we all had several (excellent) flights of wine. Unfortunately, my sister had her camera there, and my SO got a framed photo of me gesticulating wildly in front of about 15 glasses of wine. My SO was amused; I wasn't. But I do like Stained Glass.

Another wine bar possibility, which I didn't see on this thread, is Flight (as in flights of wine ... at the former Glenview NavaL Air Station). Decent food, too. And if you tire of wine, you can walk a block down the stree tto Yard House for beer.