vbw (Venice Beach Wine), Venice, CA

After a quick trip to the J. Paul Getty Museum to view the Herb Ritts photography exhibit, Jane and I decided to revisit a wine bar that I found last year in Santa Monica, CA. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that it had gone out of business-Damn! But thankfully a quick Yelp search located another wine bar only a few miles away in Venice, CA. So we were off to vbw, or Venice Beach Wine, a little place that looked like quite a gathering spot for the locals.

We arrived and had to wait a bit so we started things off with a glass of Prosecco (sommariva-italy-$10) for Jane and a dry Riesling (von hovel-germany-$10) for me. Both glasses were crisp and dry, just the right way to start a light meal. Before we were even finished with the first round, we were seated at, I must say, the smallest table on earth. With a couple glasses of wine placed on top, it was almost full. I did appreciate the simple geometry of the tables, with thier box-tube design and rusty patina finish, very California Venetian.

  The seating is snug and great for intimate couple’s meals, but I wouldn’t come with more than two friends as it can quickly get a bit tight. I counted just shy of 30 people nestled together on the entire outside area (there is no inside seating).

The food was unique and flavorful. We shared a bacon-wrapped-date appetizer, stuffed with blue cheese, who doesnt love those? Then we moved on to the curry rubbed lambwich sandwich with chips and a side salad. The lamb was quirky as it had just a touch of gaminess, but was complemented nicely by the creamy manchego cheese, mint pesto and grilled onion. We also orderd a second round of wine. I switched to a 2010 Malbec (makia-argentina-$11) and Jane tried a 2006 Nebbiolo.

We will definitely be back, this is a great place for two to snack and have few drinks on a hot afternoon!