BAR BRUNO (1664 S. Lumpkin St., 770-215-9100, @barbrunoathens): If you’ve been to one of Shea and Ryan Sims’ restaurants before—ZZ & Simone’s or the now departed Dinner Party, which was previously Donna Chang’s—then the vibe at Bar Bruno, which replaced Dinner Party late last year, will be no surprise to you. It’s classy in a way that seems effortless but, in fact, takes a lot of effort, calm, encouraging leisure, suffused with an appreciation for nice things even when they cost money.
That noted, Bar Bruno isn’t a restaurant, as its name tells you. It’s more like Krista Slater’s The Lark, on Prince Avenue at Hill Street: a wine bar that’s also a store, with a focus on choices you may not have heard of, and a few lovely snacks to fortify you while you hang out. It’s about as easy to spend $100 at Bar Bruno as it is at a restaurant, especially if there are two of you, and I wouldn’t plan on it for a meal, but the atmosphere is lovely. Greg Smolko runs the place, focusing on Italian offerings, which gives it a different flair from The Lark. The surroundings are both absolutely photographable/aspirational and, at the same time, actually comfortable, with varieties of seating inside and out that are the opposite of divey while still being livable. Don’t recognize any of the glasses and half glasses on the menu? The folks behind the bar are excellent guides, and the presence of those half pours encourages sampling with less pressure. Think you don’t like orange wine? They have one that will change your mind. Curious about a cream limoncello? Here they are to oblige. Aperitifs and all sorts of spritzes are as sippable as the wine. The bar doesn’t present itself as a store as much as The Lark does, but you can buy bottles to take home in a cute cardboard box with a handle.
What’s there to eat changes semi-regularly but is worth investigating, tending to grown-up flavors: softly bitter, grassy, salty. A plate of Cantabrian anchovies laid out in stripes with roasted sweet peppers and dressed with chili flake is not as sweetly fleshy as you would expect, despite the ingredients. Instead, it has loads of minerality, matching nicely with the kind of white wine that tickles your nasal passages. Baccalà mantecato does the same thing with cod, shredding the salted and dried fish and blending it with enough ricotta, garlic and good olive oil to temper but not remove the sense of a big breath of sea air. Whole caper berries, plated neatly on the side, bust open in your mouth with intense, pleasurable weirdness. Various lovely cured meats and cheeses, including a prosciutto that tasted like butter turned ham, are available singly or in combos. Other things have turned up as well: little sandwiches, sauteed chicory greens, sausage rolls. Dessert of some sort (a dense, fruity olive oil cake, a pistachio tart) is available on the bar. Not into wine? A Peroni is refreshing. There’s also a selection of coffee drinks and other nonalcoholic beverages.
Bar Bruno is open Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday 3–9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 3–10 p.m.
@LOCAL (198 College Ave.): Missing the ‘90s? Never experienced them but deeply desire a time when people didn’t have powerful computers in their pockets at all times? This new coffeehouse, an offshoot of a location in Covington, does a decent job recapturing the vibe of that era. Occupying the upstairs and downstairs of a corner location in downtown Athens by what is now a small pedestrian mall, the store is small and cheerful, but not so brightly lit as to feel of the present moment. Art and music paraphernalia cover about every inch of the walls. A big neon sign quotes Nirvana’s “Come as You Are,” a song about mixed messages that here seems to be encouraging folks to sit down for a while and chill. Hatch Show Prints of the Ramones add a little punk rock. It’s not as neat as Central Perk, a point in its favor. The goal is for people to hang out, and the hours are accordingly long (8 a.m. to midnight, except Friday and Saturday, when it’s open until 2 a.m.). The coffee offerings are much more elaborate than the not particularly well-brewed drip stuff of the actual ‘90s in Georgia, with an intense amount of customization provided. Want glitter in your cold-brew with coconut milk, cold foam, light ice, pumpkin spice drizzle, butter pecan syrup and cinnadust? @local will be happy to add that for you. All the foofaraw aside, the basic cup of coffee is totally good, and the fresh-faced staff is happy to steer you in a direction you might like should you find the array of decisions entirely too much. Unremarkable snacks, including a cereal bar, are available for munching. Free live music abounds, and @local bills itself as a great place to study.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
