Cote-du-Bone-Roan

Oh hooray. We have found the local wine bar. It really isn't that local, since it takes half an hour to drive there, but it's wonderful, if new and a little disorganized. Iron Bridge Wine Company is out in Howard County, and has over 250 wines, with good retail prices, and a $5 corkage fee if you drink a bottle there, which is pretty reasonable. They have some great stuff on the menu. I had a fontina/prosciutto/caramelized onion flatbread 'pizza' (large pita sized), and the onions were actually done sweet and caramelly, not just grilled brown as many places make their onions. Tim had a spinach salad and an amazing roasted sweet potato soup - I think it must've been made with heavy cream as a base or something - I've never had one so rich, plus it was garnished with frothy cream and maple syrup. Mmmm. We shared chocolatey gelato dessert thing that was well-presented and a neat blend of flavors and textures. Plus, of course, we had a bottle of wine - a simple, Cotes du Rhone (I'd put the accent over the o, but I have no idea what the code for that is), and bought a bottle of something fancy for my parents for Xmas. They had a bunch of really pretty bottles, and some that were just fun. There was a white that had a bunch of different variations on the labels with different watercolory paintings. There was a bottle from San Francisco labelled 'Cote du Bone Roan,' covered with paw prints and such. Very cute. Between foods and our bottle, we spent under $50, which we consider a pretty successful date night, especially when we drink a bottle of wine and get dessert. The service was questionable, but I think part of it was that we were sitting at the bar. Check it out if you're in the area!