There have always been wine bars with great food and restaurants with great wine, but lately, our favorite places seem to be a hybrid of the two. We’re seeing Michelin-star-level fine dining in walk-in counter-seating environments, and casual neighborhood restaurants with glass and bottle lists that rival the world’s best but in playful settings.
These 50 establishments—the New American Wine Bar—range wildly in terms of concept and atmosphere, but they’re all places that put wine and food on equal footing. The wines are adventurous, of course, for those with discovery in mind (many will be pouring from more unlisted open bottles than many proper restaurants offer by the glass) and the food often inventive—expect the likes of Nashville hot quail, rabbit larb and sardine bánh mì.
Whether you experience them as a fun wine-bar hang or as destination dining is entirely up to you.
A.KITCHEN+BAR
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Go for the full restaurant experience at a.kitchen or the wine bar vibe at the walk-in-only a.bar; at either place you’ll find the extensive and entertaining bottle list and a glass list in constant flux. And unlike most wine bars, its craft cocktail program is also worth popping in for—it’s one of Philadelphia’s best.
ADA’S FOOD + WINE
Las Vegas, Nevada
Chef-partner James Trees’ comfort-food standards—burrata, kale salad, pasta, chicken, steak and the like—taste anything but standard. There’s watermelon and spicy mojo with tea-brined pork loin; fried capers and grapefruit vinaigrette with grilled asparagus. To drink, choose from over two dozen glass pours and generous flights (try the “Nerd Out” flight with a friend).
ANTICA TERRA
Dundee, Oregon
Most people trek to Antica Terra winery for a taste of winemaker Maggie Harrison’s ethereal wines and maybe a chance to meet her. Book the “A Very Nice Lunch” experience, however, and be treated to one of the best meals in the Pacific Northwest, with six paired wines. Even the regular tasting, though, comes with snacks from chef Timothy Wastell that would constitute a great meal anywhere else.
THE ANTLER ROOM
Kansas City, Missouri
Leslie and Nick Goellner’s Antler Room is proof that a brief but well-curated wine and food menu in a warm hospitable environment is all you need to be a neighborhood favorite. (It helps that Nick has been thrice nominated for the “Best Chef: Midwest” James Beard Foundation Award). The refined menu of creative global small plates and pastas supports an expansive wine list that offers everything from an Ozark Traminette to Austrian Zweigelt.
AVEC
Chicago, Illinois
When it opened 20 years ago, avec quickly morphed from a forward-thinking wine bar into a destination restaurant—a pioneer of the kinds of places we’re celebrating in this
