New spots in town....Coconut Grove

from urban daddy La Bottega Enoteca Sociale 3540 Main Highway Coconut Grove, FL 33133 305-444-3493 official website It's time for an Italian picnic/grotto experience, and we've got just the place: feast your eyes on La Bottega Enoteca Sociale, a rustic wine bar/gourmet food shop that quietly opened in Coconut Grove last week. Completing a culinary trilogy, this epicurean canteen sits in the courtyard alongside its sister restaurants, Calamari and legendary burger purveyor Taurus. Hand your date one of the handmade wicker baskets, and stroll through the shop collecting an array of wine-pairing delicacies—aged French cheeses, crusty baguettes, olive oils from Tuscany and Puglia and balsamic vinegar from Modena (it's the Bordeaux of vinegar). You can choose to consume this bounty at the family-style oak dinner table in the store or retreat to the private wine cellar below, where—if you're a member of the club (starts at $200/month)—you'll get access to your own wine locker, monthly tastings and the space to uncork and quaff that rare Barolo in private, spread out on a leather couch and accompanied by soothing piano music. Think of it as your wine cave away from home. from thrillist Circo Barcelona Now open: 3015 Grand Ave, Ground Fl; CocoWalk, Coconut Grove; 305.442.4335 Europeans have always looked to the New World for fruitful frontiers: the pilgrims sought religious freedom, The Stones sought a bigger audience, and Beckham sought people who'd make him look like he could still play soccer. For guys looking to blow their tapas up on this side of the Atlantic, eat at Circo Barcelona. The first US venture from two Italian guys who also run popular joints in Barcelona and Milan, BC's a narrow tapas spot tucked into CocoWalk (across the hall from Victoria's Secret), echoing Spain with a rustic pub-ish feel via cobblestone floors, earth tones, and a raftered ceiling, all contrasted with an industrial bar whose lines're so smooth, you'll have no choice but to sleep with it. The menu stays mostly Spanish-Med and traditional, with time-tested lighter fare including soups like cold gazpacho and warm creamy cucumber; cold tapas like Spanish chorizo, marinated garbanzo beans, and celery root, citrus & capers; and salads like the Malaga, with mixed greens, chicken, pesto, cranberries, and pine nuts -- pricey little ingredients that makes chefs wish their wallets were evergreen. Less-small small plates come in the form of beef tenderloin Carpaccio with shaved Parm and CB's ceviche with salmon, tuna, sea bass, and shrimp, plus hot tapas like empanadillas stuffed with serrano ham, Manchego cheese & caramelized onions, and Pincho Moruno, a kebab of marinated roasted pork loin with paprika and cumin, a spice that, in the Middle Ages, was said to keep both chickens and lovers from wandering, making it doubly great for holding onto truly hot chicks. There's also a full bar with plenty of Cognacs, single malts, and grappas, as well as cocktails like the the Ibiza (muddled limes, sugar, and mint leaves w/ apricot brandy and prosecco), and the Maracaibo, with vodka, rum, gin, Amaretto, sour Mix & Pepsi, whose four different kinds of booze'll get you bent enough to think that Bending It Like Beckham doesn't have to do with underwear ads. Check out the tapas landscape on the menu

Related Items coconut grove la bottega enoteca sociale