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In Fine Spirits
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I'm cheating a little bit this month, because In Fine Spirits isn't really a restaurant. It's a wine bar. But they have a chef, and they serve food, and that's good enough for me. Shane and Jill Kissack, who, with a partner, co-own the place, also own the wine shop of the same name next door. For the last two and a half years, they've run the kind of shop that gives you the confidence that whatever you buy will be good, because it wouldn't be on their shelves if it weren't. Now just because it's good, doesn't mean that it will be to your taste, but both Kissacks and their employees will talk you through the selection process and almost invariably find something that you will love. This isn't a shop where you will find all the widely known and advertised brands that every store carries, but if you're looking for the little gems that come from vineyards owned by people who approach their work with the same level of passion that Shane and Jill bring to theirs, then you owe it to yourself to visit. Ask about their selection of wines from Oregon. You will find bottles that you just won't find anywhere else in the city. Because the shop was so good, I was really looking forward to the bar, and I wasn't disappointed. Wine is the star of the show, which is only right, and there is a rotating selection of interesting craft beers. Even more interesting is the approach to the crafting of retro cocktails. The menu (yes; a bar with a menu) lovingly describes each cocktail and tells you exactly what goes into it, by brand. Most of the spirits, as is the case with the beers, come from small producers who place quality of what's in the bottle above quantity of bottles produced. And on our first trip there, our bartender openly sneered at the prospect of anyone putting Rose's Lime Juice in a Gimlet. The lime was squeezed right there. The Kissacks didn't start food service in their place until they had been operating for long enough to know that the beverage service was up to their standards. A short and rotating list of small plates (and the drinks that will complement them) is available, and their new chef will be broadening the menu. The food is, by design, an adjunct to the wine/beer/cocktails, but it's getting to the point where I would happily eat there even without something to drink. And you know that, coming from me, that's a compliment. The song Cocktails For Two was written shortly after Prohibition ended to celebrate the joys of (legally) relaxing with a drink "like civilized ladies and men." In Fine Spirits is a place to spend a few civilized hours, knowing that you're in the hands of people who prepare and serve what's set before you with skill and with an unrelenting dedication to quality. In Fine Spirits |
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