Bites and Sips at the J&G Wine Bar

J&G Steakhouse is one of the more critically-acclaimed steak restaurants in the city, but I'm guessing most of us have never visited.  Aside from being in a hotel (most of us are naturally suspicious of hotel dining), its very expensive, as one would expect from a name brand steak joint in a trendy hotel downtown.  But there are deals to be had if you look hard enough...

Last night, the MTB and I went downstairs to the J&G Wine Bar (found through the restaurant and down the stairs, or through the entrance at the corner of Penn Ave and 15th St).  The wine bar is a pleasant space, with outdoor seating, and has the entire J&G wine list, full bar, and an abbreviated J&G menu available to patrons.  It also has a special Bites and Sips menu, available by request.

Here's the gist: small (and they mean small) tastes of J&G food, each paired with a tasting of wine from the cellar, for 8$ per piece or $20 for three.  Now first lets dispense with the single option, order the three to get a decent sampling and make it more cost effective.

We tried the Bacon-wrapped shrimp, served with a Chardonnay on the sweet side that paired well with the seafood.  It was one jumbo shrimp with the aforementioned bacon, sitting on top of a slice of ripe avocado, next to a pile of diced papaya mixed with spicy dry mustard.  Next up was three mini sliders (and I mean mini) with wee little sesame seed buns, wee little tomato relish, wee little cheese slices and a wee little burger patty.  This was paired with a Montapulcino red that was very good and also went well with the sliders.  Last up was a pair of tenderloin crustini, medium rare with a spot of J&G steak sauce on the top, served with a Viginia Cab/Merlot blend. 

Let me say something for a second about Virginia wines.  The MTB and I went on a wine tasting a few weeks ago around Haymarket and Warrenton, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of some of these wines.  They didn't have the depth of a California Cabernet in taste or smell, but were by no means bad.  However, this was a bad glass of wine at J&G last night.  Little-to-no nose whatsoever, and a strong ammonia taste that came through and, when mixed with the beef flavor, tasted very off-putting.  On our tasting in VA recently, I ran into this one other time with a malbec that was all but undrinkable with a similar ammonia flavor.  So be wary of Virginia reds - some are very good, some are very not.

But back to the subject at hand...  3 tastings of food, plus 3 tastings of wine, for $20 at one of the better restaurants in town, between 5pm-7pm Monday - Friday.  Not a bad deal at all.