Best Wine Store: Avondale Food & Wine
Avondale Food & Wine is part-werewolf, part-vampire, part-wine shop, part-restaurant—and 100 percent sexy. This hybrid concept is romantically sleek in design and whereas you’re picking out bottles in the shop from big hitters like Dunn Vineyards or fun new producers like Jauma, just steps away they can be enjoyed in a dining setting—or on the patio, definitely the scene for Sunday get togethers. Vinyl selections could be Coltrane, could be Daft Punk, could be Fleetwood Mac, with crystal-clear quality that vibrates at the perfect volume.
The wine catalogue, manicured by consultant Nate Rose, embraces the natural wine movement and is progressive in that there might not be another shop in town, in Texas, that is carrying some of these bottles. But on the other hand, if you want a big, juicy, unapologetic Cab, they offer that too.
Wine dinners hosting prominent producers like Lee Hudson, or harvest parties featuring Matthiasson and whole suckling pig, or Thursday night fried chicken night, or pasta night, or steak night—owners Mary Clarkson and chef Olivier Ciesielski operate this venture on all cylinders. But whatever you buy, whatever you do, stay long enough to have chef put a bowl of fresh-cut pasta in front of you.
When wine shops dream of what they want to be when they grow up—it looks a little bit like Avondale Food & Wine.
240 Westheimer, Houston
713-360-6313
avondalefoodandwine.com
Readers’ Choice: Spec’s Fine Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods
Multiple Locations
specsonline.com
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2020.
