Spill The Wine

Address
1101 Washington Ave. S., Mpls., 612-339-3388, spillthewinerestaurant.com

The Scene
Although the funkadelic name suggests something a bit irreverent, the reality is pretty staid. The interior is a poster child for the warehouse genre: original brick walls, stamped tin ceiling, exposed ductwork, polished wood floors, open-to-view kitchen, floor-to-ceiling windows, and contemporary artwork for sale. Arguably, the restaurant’s greatest asset is its walking proximity to the Metrodome, the Guthrie, and the blocks of residential development booming nearby. The predominantly young and casually dressed crowds who occupy the tables that fill the room tend to ebb and flow with the rhythms of these nearby venues. One moment, there can be a lively buzz, and the next, the place is all but empty. STW owns the wine store next door, as well as the adjacent bar/lounge.

Our Take
Spill The Wine is fundamentally a wine bar that serves food. Scores of wines, daily wine specials, and a changing lineup of three-glass tasting flights served in the increasingly popular wrought iron “tree” make a compelling array of options. But the menu is limited to about eight appetizers, salads, and entrées each. While there is an attempt to inject an edge of creativity into some of the choices—adding cream cheese to the shrimp cocktail sauce, setting a beggar’s purse of baby shrimp and shredded carrots in a pool of raspberry chili sauce, topping bruschetta with kalamata olives and cubes of mozzarella—this is not a place that is going to make its name with food. Too many of the dishes tended to be excessively salty and lacking depth of flavor. Memorable treats, such as the very fresh tomato-basil sauce that bathed an order of ravioli stuffed with a gooey fondant of spinach and mozzarella, the pleasant taste of ginger that permeated one evening’s risotto, and the fresh raspberry coulis accenting the desserts, were too infrequent. When the restaurant first opened, there was a chorus of complaints in the blogosphere about slow service. If anything, the problem has swung to the other extreme. The young, enthusiastic, and otherwise attentive wait staff—and the kitchen crew—seem to be trying to get every diner to a game or theater curtain, even those who don’t need the speed.

A Conglomerate
It can be easy to miss, but two doors down from the main entrance, there’s a door that leads into a more relaxed, TV-outfitted lounge. It’s a long narrow room with tables along one side and a bar along the other. The menu and wines are identical to that served in the dining room. And if you like the wines you sample, you can use your receipt to get a 10 percent discount at the compact wine store that’s located at the rear of the lounge and also accessible by a door to the parking lot.