bouquet

so the other day i was reading citybeat and i came across this article and i was like i have to go there!!! how could a wine bar have passed me by? i have been all excited over chalk and lavomatic opening (has chalk opened yet? the link to seems to say it has but i thought it was not opening until the end of this month) and meanwhile there has been a great place open just across the river for months now. also, i have no intention of becoming a jean robert snob and am happy to partake of any and all wine bars available.

up until now i have pretty much only gone to awakenings for wine, and the last time i went there the new wine guy who replaced the old wine guy had just quit and they had no clue what to do about it. i am sad about the end of an era at awakenings, but happy that cincinnati has caught up with the rest of the world and is basically shitting out wine bars left and right.

anyway, back to bouquet... it is a new restaurant and wine bar in mainstrasse. i really wanted to go for dinner after reading about the lamb in citybeat, but they were full until 8:30 and we were hungry so we decided to just grab some food at the cock and bull and then get wine there. (our food at the cock and bull was reliably average irish pub style food, not really worth writing about).

the place is adorable (warm colors, exposed brick, hardwood floors, candles, flowers). the food looked amazing. the wine selection is interesting and fairly short (meaning not overwhelming). i was there with celia and laura and we each tried 2 different wines and liked them all. each wine on the by the glass list was carefully chosen, distinctive, and very reasonably priced.

good wine + sophisticated yet relaxed atmosphere + delicious (looking) food + great service + reasonable prices = bouquet has it all!

along with our wine, we had the cheese plate (good but not memorable), the italian cream cake (yummy), and some strawberries dipped in chocolate that were not actually on the menu and we just saw and became obsessed with. we chatted with several of the people working there, and everyone was really friendly and welcoming. we learned from one of the owners that she and her boyfriend (the other owner) live upstairs and it really felt like you were just hanging out at their house - the atmosphere was fun and relaxing and welcoming.

it was a lot of fun to just sit and chat at the bar, and it turns out they will serve you food at the bar as well which is nice if you want to eat there and can't get a reservation. we stayed for hours and chatted and just enjoyed the atmosphere and the wine. the best part is that i was so excited about bouquet and it turned out to live up to all of my expectations (which were very high based on the citybeat article). i will definitely be back!

readers, you have to check out bouquet as soon as possible. we need more places like this around here and we can't rely on jean robert for everything.