Raise a Glass (But Not a Fork) to "Enology"

UPDATE - ENOLOGY HAS CLOSED ITS DOORS. J noticed this in March 2010 when he was in the neighborhood at a different establishment. The venue is now an Irish bar/restaurant.

C Says...

Now, I for one am a w(h)ino. I love wine. I love wineries. I love wine tasting. Maybe it's because I'm from CA, or maybe it's because I live close to some really great wineries in the VA (no really). So I was really pleased that J chose Enology at the corner of Wisconsin and Macomb NW for November's review.

Enology is a wine bar, and it lives up to the name. The wine menu is ridiculously extensive. You could literally sit there for 15 mins focusing just on whites. Rather than trying to narrow down a wine by the glass, or a bottle, J and I both opted for the flights.

Cleverly named, Enology's flights offer up a little something for everyone. I sampled three lovely syrahs (I wish I could tell you which ones, but Enology hasn't updated their site to reflect this offering, and I for one can't remember what I had, but I do remember I enjoyed them thoroughly).

Because enology is a wine bar, their food offerings are a bit on the sparse side. I had the calamari to start that's paired with a thai sweet chili sauce. The calamari were prepared nicely, and the thai chili sauce was great. For the main course, I had the flat iron steak and herbed fries. Now, I am not a steak eater. I rarely eat it and I never order it out at a restaurant. The steak was a bit underdone for my liking (more medium rare than medium), and the fries were great.

Overall, I'd recommend Enology for a few nice glasses of wine, or heck a bottle, with some appetizers to share. The food was good, but nothing to write home about.

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J Says...

Continuing to move beyond our geographical comfort zones, I chose Enology both for the location as well as the wine. The atmosphere is clean and crisp, though seating is a bit tight. And their recent decision to remove themselves from Open Table is certainly a mark against them in my book (particularly since I received notice my reservation was cancelled, until I called to confirm it was ok).

Moving on, the flights of wine were quite delicious and very economically priced. I chose the "Salad Bowl" which was a hodgepodge of white wines, including one from St. Supery in Napa. Quite refreshing, though I only fully liked two of the three.

And as C said, the food menu is quite sparse (in fact, it's the last two pages of a 12 page menu!). I started with the pesto flatbread which was plentiful in both quantity and flavor. I, too, chose the flat iron steak which I found undercooked and rather skimpy. Note to all restaurants - loading a plate up with frits does not cover up the missing steak!

As the service was a bit slow, we opted against dessert and were happy to settle our sensible check. I'm not in a huge rush to go back to Enology for dinner, but I'd sure do happy hour at the extensive bar before proceeding to other neighborhood restaurants.


Enology Wine Bar - 3238 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 202.362.0362, http://www.enologydc.com/