My goal with this blog is to provide not only fun stories about the wine experience, but also profiles of the places I visit in case you want to check them out yourself. Here is my first attempt:
The Face: The Barrel Room bills itself as "North County's only retail, wine bar, and full casual dining restaurant..."It’s located in a shopping center between a Big 5 and a Round Table Pizza. Inside, the décor is informal, with a style that our group placed somewhere between hacienda and casual lodge; hacienda for the dark wood and wrought-iron accents, casual lodge for the massive flat screen mounted above the bar, ensuring that the single men sitting there don’t miss a second of football playoff coverage.
An impressive collection of more than 180 bottles occupies one wall in the main dining area, a sea of soldiers ready to battle our limited will power. The lighting is dim in a romantic way, and the amped up noise level indicates that people are having a good time.
Find out the rest after the jump:
The Case: My boyfriend and I went to The Barrel Room for the first time on Friday night, after hearing from several people that they had a great wine selection and fun atmosphere. When we arrived, we randomly spotted some of our fellow wine-rabid friends, who happened to be visiting with a bona fide Barrel regular we'll call G. G is a self-proclaimed wine nut who frequently comes in after work to unwin(e)d with some of her favorite Cabernet. She loves the casual atmosphere and the appetizers (she recommends the duck quesadilla and the cheese plates. Tonight, she is also enamored of the bottle of Caymus Special Select that our friends have ordered. Good taste.
Two hours and two bottles later, G and our friends bid us adieu so we can shift into date night mode. The wine list is long and diverse; I see many familiar friends from California, including Nickel and Nickel, Rombauer, Tobin James, and Justin, interspersed with choices from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Oregon. We settle on a Cab/Merlot blend from Duckhorn’s second label, Decoy, to enjoy with our olive plate, baked brie, and later, our steak. The appetizers were delicious and portioned bigger than two people could handle; I would recommend stocking up on several of the apps and skipping the dinner menu altogether.
The Crowd: The main dining area, patio, and bar are all full – The Barrel Room is hopping on Friday night. The demographic starts around age 40, skewing heavily toward the 50+ crowd. Most of the patrons are coupled up, prompting my boyfriend to give The Barrel a Cougar Rating of only 3 on a scale of 10. He does point out, however, that that is the maximum rating Rancho Bernardo could probably earn; we are saving the 10 rating for Del Mar and maybe a select few areas of La Jolla.
Tips: The Barrel Room offers its own wine club and hosts wine tastings every Sunday around 2 pm. The hostesses were very accommodating even after we crashed our friends’ table and didn’t check back in with them for an hour after requesting a table.
The end: There you go. I’m thinking of mixing up these types of place profiles with other stories that occur when wine is involved…let me know what you think in the comments section below.
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