• Parking: Street
• Details: Beer, Wine
• Hours:
  6 to 11 p.m. Tuesdays to Thursdays and Sundays
  6 p.m. to midnight Fridays
  5 p.m. to midnight Saturdays

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City Sip hits all the right notes of sleek and sexy without slipping into cheesy. The room is shaped like a barbell, with a few thick wooden tables by a large window in the front, a few in the back and a long bar in the middle. The back wall contains a neat row of hollowed-out spaces occupied by wine bottles and candles embellished with corks.

There is a deli case filled with meats for the many charcuterie plates (Spanish chorizo, Speck, salami, prosciutto), loads of wine racks and a wine-centric mural on the back wall that looks as if it were uncovered during an archaeological dig. It turns out it was created by a local artist who spent two months creating layers using materials as diverse as cheesecloth, metal, crayon, acrylic and stamps.

Owner Nicole Daddio keeps her wine list full of small producers, including some that are hard to find elsewhere and many that fall in the $20 and less range. "Our niche is boutique-style wines that are value priced," says Daddio.

Like many of today's young and modern oenophiles, Daddio just wants to keep fermented grapes fun. "Everyone has a different palate; there's no right and wrong," she says. A good way to sample wine at City Sip is to enjoy one of the many $14 flights Daddio has curated. There's "Temper! Temper! Temper!," which guides you through the feisty world of Spanish and Portuguese Tempranillos, or "Explore the Body," a trio of Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Merlot. The "Rainbow" tempts the taste buds with Pinot Gris, rosé and Zinfandel.

To complement the wines, Daddio has put together a menu of hot panini sandwiches and salads with the help of chef Reggie Southerland (who was a runner-up on "The Next Food Network Star"; winning would have earned him his own TV show). Happily, that menu launches tonight, and on it you'll find the likes of marinated eggplant, and chocolate and hazelnut pressed sandwiches.

--Jessica Gelt 1/16/09