Archive

May '11

ElToro

Bar Bouchon

April '11

Marix

BLT

Mirabelle

March '11

District

Street

February '11

Checkers

La Poubelle

Isla

January '11

Mexico

December '10

Waterloo & City

November

The Tar Pit

"Ciudad Downtown"

October

"CraftBar"

"My Baby Blues"

Septemper

"Chaya Can Stand Under my Umbrella"

"Katsu-Yeah"

August

"Barney's Beanery"

"The Cat & Fiddle"

"Nic's Martini Lounge"

July

"Six Degrees of Belmont"

"The Hudson"

"The Lobster"

June

"Been There, Den That"

"La Boheme"

"St. Felix"

Cuvée

By Tara Redfield

Dear Love,

I was thrilled to be in charge of planning a ladies night with some very good girlfriends that my roomie, Emily and I, hadn't seen in way too long. I suggested a happy hour on a Tuesday night. Surprisingly that worked with five different ladies schedules. Amazing. We had the night, I just needed to pick the place. It would definitely need to be west of Fairfax. "What's on Robertson?" I thought. Then I remembered that a few days ago I had driven by Cuvée and had noticed a Happy Hour sign winking from the window. Perfect. Cuvée on Robertson at 6:30 Tuesday night.

I was the first to arrive and I didn't know what to expect. The place always looked cute when I drove by it. I walked inside and saw that it was a fancy little deli. There were glass cases of fresh salads, sides, cookies, cupcakes and all kinds of other yummies. The back walls were lined with rows and rows of wine! "I'm here for your happy hour, can I sit outside?" I said to the kind young woman working behind the counter. "Of course," she replied. I went outside to the courtyard. There I found a long wooden table under a glowing canopy of string of lights. I am a huge fan of eating outside in places that feel like Europe!

After I sat, an energetic/flamboyant server came out to greet and menu me. Oh man, only drinks on the Happy Hour menu, no snacks. That's okay, better than nothing. I got a glass of Pinot Grigio for $4.00. Nope, nothing wrong with that.

The next to arrive was mentioned roomie, comedienne, Emily Ingersoll. We live together, but we rarely go out together, so this was an incredibly special night already! She joined me with a glass of Pinot Grigio.

Next to greet us was the ever charming Natalie Gellar. We're only friends with her because she has a British accent...well, she's nice too and pretty. Then came Meade Nichol, who recently appeared in that Best Buy commercial with Justin Beiber and Ozzy Osborne. Yeah, she's kinda cool too I guess. Okay, she's really cool. These two guests went for the red wine, they're deep like that.

Where was our final guest, miss Laura Monaco? We couldn't officially start celebrating this reunion without her! A few text messages and phone calls later, she found us. She had gotten lost...which is adorable because we thought she knew the neighborhood the best! We love you Laura. The server came out again and it was now three reds to two whites and time to add some plates to the glasses.

We ordered the cheese plate and coconut prawns. At first we thought that might not be enough for five ladies, but it turned out to be perfect. The cheese plate was a large assortment. There were four different cheeses, nuts, strawberries and grapes. We were also given never ending baskets of bread, so that helped fill us up adequately. The prawns were huge, crispy, and accompanied by a well blended sweet and spicy sauce.

We soon became "that table." You know, when you're out, "that table" is so obnoxious! Everyone is buzzed and laughing too loudly and you hate them but wish you were them at the same time. That was us. Five smart, funny, good looking girls catching each other up on their life's adventures mixed with about 3 glasses of wine each. Nothing less should have been expected! I think at first we annoyed our server, but he ended up falling in love with us and just kept the wine pouring...free of charge. LOVE that and I love these girls. I'm pretty sure that carrot cake cupcake was on the house too.

Cuvée, is the French word literally meaning "tank" or "vat". It is used in the wine world to refer to specific blends of wine or champagne. In the cuvée, certain grape juices are blended together to create a unique taste. For example, you may see a bottle of wine referred to as "Summers Cuvée" which would mean it was a blend of summer grapes. The five of us are definitely a Cuvée...sweet, rich, sharp, light, and bubbly. Crazy Cuvée! That's the best kind.

xx,

Tara