grand cru wine, 4401 wilson boulevard, ballston

i'm a diva. i'm a new diva. a recently self-proclaimed diva. please take note: i've got a few expectations and i guess i'm a diva for insisting they be met. if i say it enough, i'll accept my new diva status after all these years of being "too laid back".

{insert cat's meow sound effect here.}

i had a date recently. i was really excited about this one. weird, i know. i really was. met a nice chap, thought he was pretty cute, gentlemanly, seemed interesting, funny, similar values, blah, blah, blah. so we set up a plan to go out. well we set up a date and rough timeframe; an uncertain plan. firstly he texted me at 5:20 pm on scheduled date evening to say he was leaving work; we were originally to meet at 6ish. "what's the plan?" i texted back.

for the record, i'm against texting except to friends you know well, who love you and accept you as you are: running late and texting that you're on the way. texting is bad news. nothing good comes from texting. texting to say, "thinking of you" is sweet. texting to say, "wanna hang out tomorrow night?" is annoying and lazy. i'm trying to be 2009 but this overuse of texting doesn't work for me.

his text response, "come over here, park in the ballston mall garage and we'll go from there."

{insert sound of my corking a bottle of wine here.}

i thought i was going out on a date i was excited about but now i see i have time to kick back and relax as this highly anticipated date just turned into a faux date.

having to park in the ballston mall parking garage detracted from the potentially magical evening ahead. there's nothing less romantic than getting a ticket, driving up a garage ramp avoiding holiday shoppers, searching at the tippy top of the garage for a spot and being lost in this vast and unfamiliar mall garage. can this place be called a mall?

actually the potential magic was already usurped by the fact that i was driving to meet my date, as opposed to being picked up. driving to a date i was initially asked out for via text, rather than by phone, i might add. kudos to those of you who are openminded about these things. if this is the future of dating, i might well stay single forever because evidently i'm a high-expectationed diva.

you see, it would be easier for me to wear my uggs out on a date, but i wore heels. it's also easier for me to not wear make-up but i did that too. it's easier to wear my juicy velour sweatpants that i've had on all day long but i wore a dress in the freezing cold. you get the picture. life's not supposed to be easy. fun but not easy.

when did people stop wanting to make a good impression?

fortunately this date turned around after i got a breath of fresh air outside the confines of that silly excuse for a mall. it seems he made up for it by choosing a quaint spot i've never visited.

grand cru.

i doubt many people have heard of it unless you work or live in ballston. you wouldn't even walk or drive by it because it's tucked away in a little courtyard behind some other joint i've never heard of, called vapiano (that's according to their website). don't let its wilson address fool you - you'll never see it from your car - you've gotta be on foot.

let me be the one to tell you this place is cute. if i could extend the word cute i would here. cuuuttte. all caps.


i love the concept of grand cru. it's a wine store, it's a trattoria or bistro. charming and sweet and rustic. you walk in and to your right there's a small bar with a couple of bar tables (sadly, a flatscreen tv hangs above the bar area, though they were showing the food network - must've been a slow sports night). to the left, dining tables. in the middle, racks of wine for sale. all this is surrounded by stone walls and each window has a striped awning overhanging. yes! awnings on the inside! how cute is that? it feels like you're dining in an outdoor bistro but you're not. it's like the courtyard is indoors. it's like sitting in a piazza (well the closest thing here). brilliant, i say.

they offer a range of wine flights here - it's a great way to sample three kinds of wine and not commit. and we all know how noncommittal i can be so i love this idea. i gently steered my date down this path (a great flight of high end wines for $30 - jordan, cakebread and the like). no cigar - he didn't see the value. so we went on our own and snagged an italian bottle of nebbiolo or something pretty decent. it went well with dinner.

we shared a couple of appetizers (i wanted to try the bread but didn't; they offer a bread basket for $3.50 - weird i thought). date suggested the mixed olives, served warm. they were yummy. also he suggested the escargot which is served with tiny puff pastry on top. i like escargot so i'm all for it. problem was the puff pastry was raw and doughy. ick. i wanted the pate and i liked it.

since i was on a date i felt compelled to commit to an entree. anytime there's a braised meat i get it. so i ordered the braised lamb shank. it came very rustically huge, looking very henry viii turkey leg. no problem, it should come right off the bone. sadly, it didn't. i won't say it was hard to eat but it could've been braised a bit longer i guess. it had good flavor; secretly i wondered if they really make it there or order it from my friends at cuisine solutions. i think date had scallops or something. for dessert we shared white chocolate bread pudding that was dry and needed more sauce. how many times have i thought i should have ordered the creme brulee?! i should have ordered the creme brulee, but you never see bread pudding on the menu so i had to try it.

i wanted to like this place so much - at first glance it seemed to be the perfect place for me. i saw its potential, was excited to try everything it offered, it could be so great if only it tried a little harder. it could've been such a delightful surprise.

similarly, the same could be said for my date. life's all about expectations.