
Beth and I had a free Wednesday evening the other week so we decided to head over to one of the newer local wine destinations in the East Bay,
Artisan Wine Lounge and Cafe. The lounge sits just off the much busier Locust St in
downtown Walnut Creek. The map says Stave Wine Lounge and Cafe, because the business partners that own Artisan, Lena Chu and Kevin Ng, also own
Stave, situated in Napa.
Lena chooses
wines from small and cult
California wine producers, as well as those that remind her of her years living in
Spain. This is also shown in the great small plates
menu that they offer. Beth and I weren't that hungry the night we were there, so we just chose a couple "Small Bites" to nibble on, the Marinated Olives and the Artisan Cheese Plate. We really liked the
Manchego cheese, which went quite well with just about every wine we tried that night. The stronger blue cheese that was offered was also outstanding, but we had to leave it towards the end when we had some tastes of the dessert wine.