Cork

Since we're dogless for the month (she's at Camp in Richmond with all of the weekend wedding travels we have in May), and I had to pick up the gimp husband downtown since he couldn't drive for a couple of days because of the race injuries, we decided to grab drinks in the city.  Cork has been on our list for years, but since it's a little out of the way, it took us forever to finally make it up there. 

It's not at all where you would expect a wine bar such as this one to be.  It's on 14th Street, almost to U Street.  This is an up and coming area...but hasn't fully arrived yet.  When you walk into the bar, you expect it to be closer to where some of the other wine bars in DC are located - Chinatown, Woodly Park, etc. 

We both ordered a glass of wine, and stood up against the bar for a while.  The place is very small, and was extremely crowded.  The restaurant is really beautiful, with a decent sized bar and seating for maybe 20 or so in the front room - I didn't wander to the back room, but husband said it was a nice size.  I loved the decor and the colors in the bar.

Luckily, before we were finished with our first glass and deciding if we were going to stay, 2 girls left and we snagged their spots.  We each ordered another glass of wine, trying different things on the menu.  They have all Italian, French and Spanish wines on their list.  We aren't nearly as familiar with these wines, but their descriptions were pretty good and listed the varietals in each wine - which was certainly helpful when ordering wine in a different language.

Once seated, we ordered a cheese and charcutrie plate.  The cheese plate came first - we had 3 different ones.  The slices were small.  Tiny, actually.  Not that I'm expecting a huge slab of cheese but when the plate is as expensive as it was ($12), the size of the cheeses was definitely surprising.  It was served with raisin walnut bread - husband didn't mind this, but I thought it was a little bizzare.  I want to taste the cheeses, not raisin bread...they change their cheese selection regularly, and honestly I can't remember which ones we got. 

Then came the charcutrie plate ($16).  Thank goodness.  It was wonderful, with large piles of the meats.  It was served with mini-gerkins and spicy mustard, plus slices of regular french bread - much better.  We had the Prosciutto, Soppressata and Chorizo and all were delicious. 

The total bill with tip ended up around $70, which was a bit pricier than we had in mind when we set out for drinks.  While we both enjoyed the food and wine, I'm not sure we'll be rushing back to Cork, although the rest of the menu did look good.

Have you been before?  What did you think?