| rev:text
| - Truthfully, my first visit to Y.O.L.O. (You Only Live Once, the bar's alias, I suppose?) was a bit rocky, but the bar had just opened, so I felt it was only fair to visit a couple more times after the expected kinks of any new concept have a chance to be worked out before forming a firm opinion. I have been here four times, and the past three have all been exceptional, so clearly ownership was aware of the shortcomings, and worked to address them!
First of all, one thing about this place is that the atmosphere is unique. Awesome and refreshingly unique. New wine bars are popping up a lot these days, and so many of them seem to almost be built from a template of dim lights, soft rock, warm colors. That is fine on an intimate date, but hanging out with friends at most wine bars borders on the uncomfortable. This spot has taken an awesome stand against wine-bar uniformity with a more modern, almost industrial feel, while still offering intimate areas for those looking to fall in love. The pool table on one side may seem out of place for a wine bar, but it's just another great indicator that this location is different. Losing a round of Conundrum wines over a game of 8-ball was some of the most fun I've had on one occasion, while bringing a date here to share a cheese plate on a first date was another great time of a whole different breed. Except my date, that went awful, which I can't exactly blame on the venue. "Something for everyone" seems to be a theme of this place, and it starts with the atmosphere, and "sub-atmospheres" of Y.O.L.O..
The wine selection is diverse, and manages to touch on all tastes. Some wine bars play a little too heavily into the whims of the bar manager or owner, but the selection here offers something from a lot of regions, and the selection of by the glass wines is not just a matter of "this Pinot Noir is $8, this one is $9," but instead offers different expressions of each varietal. I am a big Pinot Noir drinker, and found that of their three offerings, they covered the lighter bodied, fruit forward cool weather style, a fuller-bodied, deeper warm-weather style, and an earthy, burgundy-esque expression. This holds true across the board. If there is one area lacking on the wine list, it's the lack of some of the Napa Valley higher-end mainstays, such as Duckhorn (although they carry Decoy Red Blend, which is a great value,) Caymus, Cakebread, Orin Swift, etc. This is a very small nitpick, because over all the list is spot-on, which clearly is an indication of the owner Mike's strong pedigree in the wine business. Also worth mentioning, is that the prices are VERY fair for such a great atmosphere.
The beer and cocktail list is progressive, modern, and definitely well-beyond a lot of other higher-end bars. Their draft list is especially solid, offering a good variety of micro-brews, relegating the every day domestics (Budweiser, Miller, etc.) to the bottle list, where, quite frankly, it belongs in a place like this, They offer some unique and well thought out mixed cocktails, using ingredients and liquors that are definitely contemporary and "in." Once again, my very small nit-pick (and writing this review is making me feel prissy,) is that there is a lack of high-end whiskey selections, as well as imperial beers. I usually cap my meals/evenings off with scotch, and the single malt selections were a bit slim. As far as the beer, stocking some imperials such as Dogfish Head 90 minute, Stone Imperial Stout, and some strong Belgians such as Duval, Chimay, Delerium, etc. would add a lot to the list. I'll once again reiterate that for a wine bar, the beer and cocktail lists are extremely strong and well thought out.
The food of Y.O.L.O. is a large selection of large plates, which is great for because it not only offers a great selection of accompaniments to drinks, but can also form an excellent meal, since there is such a diversity of veggies, starches, and proteins. The aforementioned date was with a vegetarian, and she loved both the selection, and the food itself. She fawned over the squash lasagna and salad, while the meatballs and scallops made for an amazing surf-n-turf style meal for myself. The scallops themselves were a GREAT price at $13 for the size and portion, and they were cooked PERFECTLY medium rare, which is very rare for scallops. Had I not still been under the impression that my date was salvageable, I would have ordered another round of scallops and buried my woes in shellfish. Everything I have tried here has been good to great. Even the flat breads, which tend to be typical wine-bar fare, were unique, and topped heavily enough to be considered thin-crust pizza. Also worth mentioning are the house-pickled veggies, which I adore!
Overall, this place is a gem located in a great up and coming neighborhood, and gets my most sincere recommendation for something refreshingly different.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)