Most restaurants select a wine list that complements their menu. At Fine’s Cellar, it’s the other way around: Owner Michael Fine started with wines, then sought food to go with them.

It’s not an unusual methodology considering he spent two decades running Sportsman’s Fine Wine & Spirits, long considered the best wine shops in the Valley.

Last year, Fine sold his three stores, and this January he opened Fine’s Cellar, a wine bar and bistro, in the former Callaloo location in Old Town Scottsdale.

The heavily renovated interior, where a barrel vault ceiling supported by curved wood beams and bottled-lined walls reinforce the cellar motif, is divided into three areas: an L-shaped bar, an intimate 50-seat dining room and a retail shop.

Outside, a back courtyard plays host to a spacious, smoke-free patio.

Executive chef Cullen Campbell’s all-day, Italian-influenced menu is refined but affordably priced for breakfast and lunch.

Eight types of breakfast wraps (see breakfast menu pdf) include the Italiano with eggs, prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoe and mozzarella ($5.95) and the Russian with eggs, black caviar, créme fraiche and fresh dill ($6.95). Beverages are provided by an Italian coffee bar.

Lunch sandwiches, also in eight varieties (see lunch menu pdf), range from a delicious Monte Cristo panini on sweet challah ($10) to bacon and grilled green apples on toasted focaccia ($6) to roast beef with pickled onions on ciabatta with a chive créme fraiche dipping sauce ($10).

The dinner menu (see dinner menu pdf) is a bit pricier, but also more ambitious.

Duck confit bratwurst ($9, pictured above), made in house, is a must-have appetizer. I also enjoyed the trio of rich macaroni and cheeses ($9) — blue cheese, truffled oil and carbonara — but you’ll probably need to share the three bowls.

Looking for a non-traditional salad? Try the Orincini ($9, pictured at right), a fried risotto ball filled with goat cheese that pairs surprisingly well with arugula with a truffled balsamic vinaigrette.

A braised beef short rib ($19, pictured below) comes with polenta fries and is a highlight among entrees. Roasted butternut squash gnocchi ($16) and a brown sugar-cured chicken breast ($16) also are flavorful.

But, over several visits, I also experienced occasional lapses in execution, ranging room-temperature ribs to mushy risotto to undercooked pasta. Worse yet, all occurred on fairly slow evenings.

When the kitchen is on its game, though, the results are impressive, as, not surprisingly, is the wine list. More than 100 are available by the glass, although bottles are decidedly a better value.

For the adventurous who want to do some exploring, Fine’s also offers two-ounce “tastes.” They’re especially well-suited to seasonal, multi-course tasting menus — $35, excluding wine — that will spotlight different regions.

(Through March, an Italian tasting menu was available; the current Spanish tasting menu runs through June.)

Best of all, if you discover a new wine you really love, you can grab a bottle from the retail shop. Or maybe a case. Just think of it as a to-go box.

FINE’S CELLAR
Where: 7051 E. Fifth Ave., Scottsdale (southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Marshall Way)
Open: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Prices: Breakfast wraps $3.95-$6.50, appetizers $7-$14, salads $5-$12, sandwiches $6-$10, entrees $16-$26, desserts $6-$9.
Info: (480) 994-3463 or website.

Posted in: Scottsdale |

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