Now Open On Washington Avenue: Barcelona Wine Bar
For the past couple of weeks, the staff at the beautiful new Barcelona Wine Bar have been going through training in what they hoped would be a low-key, under-the-radar soft opening. (In fact, they asked us not to post right away until the servers and kitchen staff could get their routines down).
But as word started spreading through the North Loop that the door was open and the lights were on, Barcelona started filling up night after night anyway.
“North Loop is an especially incredible place,” said Drew McConnell, Barcelona’s creative director whose photos and artwork adorn the walls. “There’s absolute jewels of buildings and history here. And there’s jewels of people pouring into incredible bars, restaurants and retail here.”
Along with more than 400 labels of wine, Barcelona has an extensive list of Mediterranean-style tapas from Executive Chef Andrew Dayton, who said he’s passionate about small plates and sharing food in a setting like this.
“It’s a chance for me to present my cuisine in a different way that people in this city haven’t had before necessarily,” he said. “We try to stay very seasonal. We’re changing all the time and we try to keep it interesting so people are excited to come back.”
While nearly 60% of the wines on the menu are Spanish, you’ll also find wines from regions as varied as Lebanon and Uruguay.
They’re curated to pair well with the style of food served at Barcelona. And there’s an emphasis on affordability as well, with more than half of them listed below $50 per bottle.
“These are quality wines,” said Gretchen Thomas, Barcelona’s chief creative officer. “They’re artisinal, the vast majority of them are organic and biodynamic.”
The building, at 508 North Washington, is a 114-year-old warehouse that hadn’t been in use for many, many years.
The design team took great care to showcase the historic brick and pine beams while also adding a lot of warm wooden elements that pay homage to the region’s forestry industry.
Barcelona opens at 4pm each day with a full menu available until 1am close (midnight on Sunday and Monday).
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer
