vinoteca 11th & u streets, washington dc

after checking out a neighborhood art exhibit opening of a friend, the girls and i popped over to vinoteca for a snack and, of course, some wine. it's not my first visit to vinoteca, in fact i've come several times.

vinoteca has some notable characteristics and i'll give it a shot capturing them all.

it's an amalgamation of hippy, boho, chic, grunge, urban, laid back, neighborhoody, stylish, wine-snobbery, friendly, inviting, look-cool-without-trying-too-hard, hopefully you know a thing or three about fine food kind of place.

have i confused you? point is, all kinds of people will enjoy vinoteca and it's a not-too-intimidating place to learn about food and wine if you need it; otherwise, sit back, relax and enjoy its slow-paced nature. row house turned restaurant, this place feels like it's been decorated by your best friends but has a raw, inner-city sleekness to it, to boot.

i'm happy the patio is open for seating on this early october evening of 70 something degree weather. the view is urban and colorful and typical for the new spots on u street - being an area that's up and coming, you're used to seeing a mixture of new and dilapidated buildings and all sorts walking by. unfortunately you hear almost constant earsplitting sirens of firetrucks racing by. it's just what it is, you're in the city, and you know it.

don't let the vibe fool you - it may seem laid back but they're not playing around when it comes to wine or food. the wine list is lengthy and sophisticated and what's more, you can order a flight of wine for comparison or discussion or just plain enjoyment. they offer by the glass - a 2.5 oz taste or a 5 oz glass. pretty cool, no? they experiment with house-made charcuterie here; a respectable and risky endeavor as this takes time and effort like you wouldn't believe. the menu is composed of a few nice salads, sandwiches, panini. the entrees mostly include what i'll call classics like duck confit and sauteed rainbow trout with pommes puree and beurre blanc but is also sprinkled with these smart boys' more inventive ideas like salmon and cantaloupe or bison hangar steak with dill chimichurri and housemade "tommy sauce". what's tommy sauce?

i should preface the rest of this information by saying one of my favorite reasons to come here is because the three gentlemen running the kitchen are three of my former students. i'm not trying to take any credit for their astuteness in the kitchen because they were all talented in school. they shared a natural knack for cooking and care of food both of which cannot be taught. it was obvious to me that they worked hard, took school seriously and loved what they did (noteworthy because for every culinary school student who cares about the food, there is one who does not - and perhaps i will address this someday in another article). i digress. clearly these dudes were destined for this. in my opinion, culinary school breeds a couple of things hopefully: professionalism, knowledge, the drive to be a genuinely good cook and friendship. after their respective externships at highly-acclaimed restaurants scattered about dc, they quickly (and some would say, prematurely from an educational and experience standpoint) jumped aboard a ship bound for who knew where. risky? perhaps, but why not, they're young, smart, driven and proud.

anyway, back to the food and the experience.

after a quick hello to my friends in the kitchen, where i learned about a couple of new menu additions: bison steak tartare and shrimp and saffron grits wrapped in a crepe, i knew i wanted to try those. friends had already ordered the famous vinoteca beef sliders, little burgers with caramelized onions and cheese on top. i ordered a surprisingly good glass of 2006 hall vineyards sauvignon blanc. reasonable at $11 a glass. while the cheese flights seem like a flexible, common-sensical way to enjoy a cheese tasting, as a cheese aficionada, i found it to be rigid. why? because i wanted a few different kinds of cheeses (humboldt fog from the american tasting, the manchego from the spanish and my all-time favorite colston-basset stilton which was not available in a flight). well if you do this, as explained by our waitress, that is, if you order random cheeses you don't get the yummy little accoutrements you would if you ordered one of the cheese flights (like quince paste or walnuts, blueberries and whatnot). being gracious, i ordered the american flight because my friend wanted the humboldt fog. unfortunately something went awry though and we received two hard cheeses; i didn't mention anything - they were good but i'm pretty sure we were supposed to get pepato and it wasn't on the plate.

the food arrives and the burgers are not surprisingly muy delicioso, though i think a little more salt could have made them perfecto (just me). the bison steak tartare was good, it was spicy with fresh jalapenos and whole grain mustard. the problem for me here was the dill. i like dill; i love dill, in moderation. in here there was too much dill and it overpowered the flavor of the bison for me. poised atop the tartare were crispy delicate homemade potato chips that added a nice touch though. i must add that i did eat all of the tartare - the dill started to grow on me with every bite. the shrimp and grits in the crepe were quite nice. perfectly seasoned, beautifully presented atop a bouillabaisse sauce (learned later from chef seth as the waitress didn't know). the saffron was an excellent idea to add to the grits and i will be stealing the crepe idea from chef russell (thanks, russell).

all in all another enjoyable evening at vinoteca. service was a little slow on the refilling of the wine but our pixie waitress was charming and sweet nonetheless. i'm so impressed and proud of my friends seth, brennan and russell, who took such a chance. perhaps i'm secretly a little jealous. these gentlemen deserve a lot of respect and i wish them all the best.