13.5% in Hamden
If you’re going to do something, do it right. Hampden isn’t the first neighborhood you think of when you think of “wine bar,” so if you’re going to put one in Hampden you may as well make the front bright orange and drop some futuristic Jetsons-style bar stools in it.
That’s the first thing you notice about 13.5%: The decor. It would be at home in Ballston or Clarendon or even Dupont Circle. Nice, hip, very orange. I dig it.
But we’re here to drink wine not become an interior design critic. 13.5% prices its bottles at retail+$8. Really nice to see that. We were eating dinner, so I stood at their wall of wine picking out our bottle for about twenty minutes before picking up a 2007 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Red that was nice and lush. A solid bottle in a restaurant for sub $35 makes dinner that much better.
They have 10-15 wines by the glass, including local favorite Black Ankle and Lovinsgton from down in Virginia. They’ll put together flights for you too, build your own!
Dinner was good but I lost my notes and can’t remember a thing about what we ate. Maybe it was the wine! Overall, definitely worth a drive into the city.
And finally, as a technie, I can’t let this one go. Very clever website address: http://13.5winebar.com/
13.5%
1117 W. 36th Street
Baltimore, MD 21211
March 14th, 2010 at 3:17 am
You wouldnt believe how long ive been looking for something like this. Through 8 pages of Google results couldnt find diddly squat. Quick search on bing. There this is…. Gotta start using that more often