Pat My Butter

for one who spends the vast, vast part of her life in downtown/capitol hill, columbia city is far, far away.  but it was monday again, my day off and the day all the restaurants i want to check out (delancey, cicchetti, picnic) are closed.  thus the decision to brave the #7 bus, the cold, the possibility that fifty more of my dollars would be frittered away on mediocre food.

how cozy verve wine bar is under normal circumstances is hard to say, but compared to the cold, empty, dark and unfamiliar street where we got off the bus, it’s tucked-off-the-street entrance was a beacon of hope and alcohol.  verve is mostly a wine bar – a decent list of wines by the glass, with half glass options, a full menu – but there’s also a retail area.  glass pours are respectably diverse and offer multiple flights for tasting and comparison (three south african reds, three california reds, three rosés, etc).

a lovely bottle of alsatian dry muscat got us settled in (and made our bartender happy – it’s not a bottle that flies off the shelf in columbia city, apparently).  the menu at verve is season and straightforward, and generally affordable.  a butter lettuce salad was fresh and generous, but desperate for salt.  mussels with yellow curry were a touch less fresh, if still enjoyable (once bread – an extra fee – was brought to sop up the sauce).

braised short ribs came with celeriac purée (a lovely, lighter, more interesting alternative to potatoes) and blue cheese.  well-cooked, if not melt-in-your-mouth, the short ribs had enough flavor to not need the blue cheese.  glasses of lucien albrect crémant rosé were more than enough for dessert.

service was kindly, to be sure.  but if a single piece of cheese is $7, i want my server to be able to tell me about it without a trip back to the kitchen.  i don’t want mussel scented short ribs – bring me a new plate.  it’s frustrating to think how hard i work to provide good, knowledgeable service, and then be let down when i’m out.

the highlight…well, the wine.  a $10 corkage fee (waived completely on wednesdays) is a lovely thing, as are weekly tastings (tuesday).  were verve down the street from me, i’d be more forgiving when it came to food.  but a bus ride that makes me want to keep a thumb on my mace is a bit too much of a sacrifice.