It’s been a little hard the past couple of days, because of the Wilco show. After such a joyous occasion, life seems sort of boring. I want every night to be like a going-to-see-Wilco night, but of course this is impossible, unless you are in Wilco, or doing lights or sound for Wilco, or having sex with someone in Wilco, and then it probably wouldn’t be so great anyway.

But we move on in our lives and lucky for me, something momentous has happened in the neighborhood. Something I have been waiting for, for months – no, since I moved here. Actually, I think I have been waiting my whole life, but I just didn’t know it yet. This momentous something? It’s a WINE BAR!!!!

The bars in my neighborhood of Ocean Beach, San Diego are not really known for their wine selections – it’s more like a surfer, stoner, and biker crowd around here, and they drink Bud Light and Margaritas. I love Ocean Beach for it’s non-yuppifiedness, but it also sucks that I don’t have anywhere in the ‘hood I can go and have a glass of wine and read a book, something that I have been known to do from time to time. So I do my outdoor wine-drinking and reading down at Sunset Cliffs, but it is getting a little cold out there for that now.

On the corner of Bacon and Niagara there used to be a funky Italian place that had pizza and pasta and had major spelling errors on their specials board outside. I never went in, because it looked awful. I used to walk by and think “oh, how I would love to open a wine bar in that place.” I mentioned it to the two people I know around here, even. And then, nastypizza closes, and there is a sign in the window, a WINE BAR is coming soon! That was a long time ago, and I have been waiting not-so-patiently for the new wine bar to open.

Well, tonight they did. The bar is called The OB Vine, and I have been walking by every day for weeks to check on the situation. I watched the place transform from a dingy pizzeria to a more open space, then more open space with tables, then a nicely-painted more open space with tables and tableclothes. The past few days I have been practically peeing my pants wondering WHEN, oh WHEN; today (because in some ways I am seriously in contact with higher powers) I finally called.

Sky: “Hello, The Vine, this is Sky.”
Me: (panting) “Are you open yet?”
Sky: “Yes.”
Me: (Falling over, practically dropping the phone) “Really? Since when?”
Sky: “Today is our first day, we have a limited menu, but…”
Me: “I’LL BE RIGHT OVER.”

Well, I sort of had to finish working first but I walked to the post office at 5:15 and then I went straight to The Vine. And even though Wilco is over, The OB Vine is here to stay! (We hope.) I sat down at the bar and tried not to gush, unsuccessfully. The Vine looks good – a nice bar, well lit, with little hooks under the bar to hang your coat or purse (something totally unheard of in OB till now, I am fairly sure.) They have a well-thought out wine list of several pages with lots of interesting selections. It is the best wine list I have seen at any wine bar in San Diego, for sure, and right here in my own backyard! Also, when I walked in there were a bunch of cute guys lined up against the wall, waiting to serve people. This, in a neighborhood where all the servers are young blond chicks! The owner, I think, is either really smart, or he is gay.

I hung out there and drank a glass of Albarino and after, a glass of Leal Cabernet, and checked things out. The limited menu had a cheese plate with cheeses from Chimay in Belgium and from goats in Spain; there was ahi tartare and a guacamole salad. The mood was subdued, but still I managed to sneak in a couple of exchanges with Sky, who has a profile like Michelangelo?s David, but with better eyes and nostrils.

Me: “How come the Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale is the same price as a Bud?”
Sky (sweetly): “That is a good question.”

I have a big problem now. I am going to be spending too much money in this place. It is going to be hard not to sit there for hours, hard not to want to splurge on a bottle of Veuve, now that there’s a place in the ‘hood that I can do this. But I am ecstatic that there is a place for me, outside of my house. If you can’t find me at home, and you know I am not traveling, I’ll be at The Vine.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Tales from a Strange Land. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.