Review: The Grove Wine Bar / Kitchen

It was my first food-induced coma.

A friend and I went to The Grove Wine Bar / Kitchen for a leisurely lunch today. It’s a new wine bar/restaurant just west of the corner of 360 and Bee Caves, on Bee Caves. It has an awesome patio with huge tress shading the entire thing–hence the name The Grove. Even today when we hit 100 degrees outside, it was comfortable to sit on the patio. There’s even a waterfall to block out the road noise.

But back to the wine … We tried two flights, one chardonnay (for a hot summer day) and one mixed reds (because we both like reds better). The menu promises that the wines will be very different from each other and very delicious, and it did not disappoint. The menu–which is amazingly expansive–also features a really nice range of prices. One of the best wines we tried was a mere $4.75 a glass!

… and the food … to die for. (As it should be, co-owner Reed Clemons is a veritable fixture on the Austin restaurant scene, albeit most before my time–Mezzaluna, Bitter End Bistro & Brewery, the B-Side bar, the Granite Cafe, and Capitol Brasserie) We started with some bruschetta. There’s a list of nine different combos and you pick three. It’s hard to choose, but you absolutely MUST get the grilled asparagus, Crescenza cheese, and proscuitto one. I don’t even like proscuitto. The cheese is ridiculously amazing, and further research revealed that it’s not often imported into the States–so exclusive! Anyway, the bread is superb, chewy in the middle with a crust, crunchy crust (is that redundant?).

We also ordered some mussels, though neither of us is particularly a mussel connoisseur. We saw the dish on so many other people’s tables we thought we must try it. The mussels were a lovely texture, and sat in a just-right white wine, garlic, and basil sauce. We also tried the crabcakes, and while they were definitely good, they just didn’t stand out as much as the rest of our dishes.

The rest of our dishes?! Because we also ordered a pizza. The Popeye and Olive Oyl, a spinach and tomato pizza with crunchy bacon on top. The dough was chewy and just flavorful enough, the pizza not too cheesy–it was pretty much perfect. All of the ingredients seemed very fresh, not just on the pizza. I’d even bring my super-health-conscious mom here and I bet she’d be able to find things that made her happy to eat. She might even love it.

In summary: delicious food, relaxing, happy atmosphere, great wine selection. The food is fairly pricey ($11.50 for a medium pizza, $9.50 for the bruschetta, $14 for the crab cake salad, $9.50 for the mussels), but for a great date or a lunch with someone you need to impress, it’s definitely worth it.

After all, it sent both me and my friend into food comas. “I took a nap after our lunch,” he said, “it turned into me sleeping for three hours.” The food is THAT good.