restaurant review: Cork Wine Bar

So in keeping with my promise to be more vigilant in writing about wine, it seemed fitting to provide a review based on my recent trip to Cork Wine Bar in the Logan Circle area. Open since late January, Cork is still relatively new in the DC restaurant scene and seems to have a fair amount of buzz attached to it. Nearly every review I had read prior to going was positive and, as someone who loves wine and food, I was excited about dining at Cork.

First Impressions: The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was the size. Cork is small. It's not a huge space by any means and while there is more space than initially meets the eye, it's certainly a tiny place. The second thing I noticed when I walked in was the noise. It was 8:15 on a Friday night and I had an extremely difficult time conversing with my dinner companion who was only about 10 inches from me as we stood waiting for our table. And, sadly, the noise factor was no better when we were seated. Our table was in the small upstairs dining area and the pressed tin ceilings, bare walls, hardwood floors, and table of inconsiderate fools next to us made for a dinner that involved far too many instances of having to repeat something. Memo to self: this is not a place for a romantic or intimate dinner.

Drink Options: I have to say that I didn't even ask or care about beer or mixed drinks here. When you're at a restaurant with a name like Cork, wine is pretty much the focus. Also, I pretty much only gave the wines by the bottle list a passing glance. Unless I'm with a large group of people, bottled wines are a tough sell for me since I like having the option to try a number of different wines in the course of an evening. Cork provides a generous 20 wines by the glass. They focus exclusively on Old World wines - meaning European wines only - with the selection coming from France, Italy, and Spain only, save for one German Riesling. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it does limit the list in two ways (in my opinion).

First, it makes for a list that is generally higher priced. Most of the wines by the glass are between $8 and $11. While this is not horribly exorbitant, adding a few New World wines would provide more options at $6 or $7 a glass which is generally helpful in getting someone to try a new grape or style of wine. The second fault I have with not providing some more variety in the wines is that it creates a list that often highlights wines that are very similar with a few slight nuances. Sauvignon blancs from Bordeaux or Sancerre taste very different from the ones produced in New Zealand, Chile, or California. But, the owners of the restaurant said in several interviews that they wanted to focus on Old World wines and so far be it from me to dispute that desire. I can say that there are a number of fantastic wines on the list. I was particularly pleased to see several great whites from the Loire Valley in France and one of my favorite white wines from Bordeaux (white Bordeaux is not on many lists and that's a shame).

The Food: The menu at Cork is a collection of hot and cold plates that are meant to be shared. During the course of the evening, we tried 4 items: two hot plates and two cold. I think we probably would have tried more or at least gotten to some desserts, but unfortunately the noise level was such that dining became a nerve-wracking and frustrating experience. But that's a different issue so back to the food. For our cold plates we tried the house marinated olives and the roasted eggplant. The olives were fantastic. As someone that adores all olives I was pleased to see a nice variety of truly good black and green olives. The marinade is light and the sprinkling of herbs on top adds a bright note to the pungent and salty olives. The eggplant was also good, but not great. The roasted eggplant was diced finely and mixed with chili and mint. It was served with grilled bread and a tangle of thinly sliced and caramelized onions. The sweet onions worked well with the earthy eggplant and the crusty bread. However, I do think the mint and chili flavors could have been stronger. The mint came through in the eggplant alone but was easily overpowered by the onions when it was all piled on the grilled bread slices. As for the chili, I didn't taste it at all in this dish.

For the hot plates, we got the duck confit and the pan-roasted chicken breast. The duck came on a bed of mushroom polenta and with a serving of some sauteed bitter greens (maybe arugula?) on the side. First of all, let me address another issue with Cork here. The portion sizes are small. Very tiny. In fact, they made us think of the Citi Card commercial where a couple gets reservations at an exclusive restaurant and, upon the arrival of the food, the guy looks at his plate and says "It's like elf food." All of the plates are small portions. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Who doesn't love tapas? But at $14 for a plate of duck confit that was about half the size of what was on the plate during restaurant weekend at T's, I was a bit let down.

Aside from the size, this dish was merely okay in my opinion. Duck confit is always delicious (as is pretty much anything involving duck fat) but this was a bit bland. Even a few grinds of black pepper would have perked this up a bit. Also, this dish fell prey to one of my big pet peeves: a lack of contrast in flavors. The rich duck was paired with a rich and creamy polenta and only a small amount of greens to contrast. Something as decadent as duck confit, in my opinion is best paired with clean flavors that don't compete but rather highlight and compliment the richness of the duck. The dish ended up feeling a bit too rich and almost overly indulgent.

The chicken was definitely lighter tasting. It was lightly pan roasted and paired with a mix of sauteed greens, prunes, olives, preserved lemon and a garlic-tarragon jus. The mix of greens, prunes, olives and lemon was extremely tasty and the jus was nice and savory although I didn't really get the flavor of tarragon since the garlic is a bit strong. Unfortunately the chicken breast itself was not as outstanding. While it did have a nice brown bit of skin on it that made for a pleasingly crisp contrast to the moist chicken breast, I felt like this was another dish that needed some help in the seasoning department. The only seasoning I could detect on the chicken was salt...a lot of salt. And I feel confident in saying that my wine was not overpowering the food since I was drinking a clean white Bordeaux that I've had paired with far more adventurously spiced foods. This was an instance where the accompaniments (the greens, olives, prunes and lemon) easily outshone the main feature of the dish. Fortunately, it's something that can easily be corrected. Getting a roast chicken breast to have a nice brown crust and still be moist can be hard, adding some spice is pretty simple.

Overall: Considering all factors I would give the dining experience at Cork a 2.5 out of 5.

The positives: The wine list is solid and the service was pleasant. Nothing I had to eat was terrible and I think a few dishes could easily be taken from good to great with just a bit of adjustment.

The negatives: I found the food to be overpriced for the portion size, nothing I ate really wowed me, and the noise was extremely unpleasant. I would have loved to have a third glass of wine and try some more food or even dessert but the atmosphere didn't promote relaxation. I am tempted to write this off as an anomaly based on the fact that it was a Friday and that the table next to us was quite loud and obnoxious, but numerous other reviews have commented on the noise level so I fear this is the norm.

On the whole, I think Cork would be a good place to stop in for a glass or two of wine, a small bite, maybe some dessert, or even to bring a group. It is not well suited to romantic or intimate dinners and I wouldn't suggest going with someone you plan on talking to much (but a boring friend or relative might be the perfect companion here!) since it can be a strain on the ears. My best assessment of Cork is that it's a smaller, louder, less Spanish, more expensive version of Jaleo with a better wine list.