When I need a reminder of my love for Baltimore — and we all do sometimes, for reasons complex and simple — I look to the neighborhoods, not only for their residents and histories but because they often find new ways to surprise.
A prime example is Little Italy, a neighborhood with no shortage of character. The cuisine it's known for is a given, but the area's charms are far from confined to a plate of Bolognese. I play in a weekly bocce league at the outdoor courts at D'Alessandro Park on Stiles Street, and rarely miss the sights, sounds and bingo of the annual Feast of St. Anthony Festival.
So, let me add a recent surprise to the list: Pane e Vino, the companion bar to corner restaurant Cafe Gia that opened last month. Sure, Little Italy has plenty of bars inside its restaurants, but Pane e Vino — which is run by Cafe Gia owner Gia Blattermann, her brother Steven Blattermann and Cafe Gia chef Gianfranco Fracassetti — feels like the rare location that could succeed as a stand-alone bar.
On a recent Friday evening, a couple of friends and I had plans to grab drinks before heading to Federal Hill, but the Pane e Vino experience — from the attentive staff to the cozy atmosphere, and especially the cocktails — was simply too comfortable to leave.
The first thing to know about Pane e Vino is its small size. At around dinnertime, a dozen patrons dotted the bar and its few dining tables. The number sounds modest, but from my view, the bar could only comfortably hold 25 or so. That works in Pane e Vino's favor, though, as the limited space makes the bar feel appealingly intimate. But this is not a dungeon. We almost felt like we were drinking outside, thanks to the wide-open front doors that invited the sounds of the neighborhood in on a calm spring night.
The setting was nice, and unlike any bar I have visited in Little Italy. The cocktails, however, were what really kept us there. I had seen Pane e Vino promoting its Negroni ($10), a classic Italian pre-meal cocktail, so it seemed like a logical starting point. The nicely poured combination of Hendrick's gin, Campari and Carpano Antica vermouth over ice made a fine choice, and established a high standard Pane e Vino's bartenders reached consistently.
"I think it's all in the vermouth," bar manager Brian Taylor said after a compliment. He came to Pane e Vino, he said, with years of professional experience serving Italian drinks, and it showed. The Negroni, one of the best I have tasted in Baltimore, was the night's gold standard, but other cocktails worked nearly as well. Liaison on High Street ($10) found a surprisingly smooth balance between Milagro Reposado tequila, Aperol, grapefruit juice and basil syrup. It was bright like a cocktail in mid-April needs to be.
The bartenders also worked on the fly. A friend with too many regrets associated with vodka liked the way a Charm City Girl ($10) sounded (Sloop Betty vodka, grapefruit juice, ginger syrup and club soda) but needed a spirit substitute. The bartender swapped in Milagro Reposado, much to the approval of my cohort.
In a small setting, staff behavior feels magnified and the line between overzealous and forgetful is as thin as ever. But Taylor, along with a bartender-in-training, made striking conversations with patrons look easy, while further explaining the thought process behind the bar. (Taylor, for example, is very happy with the new wine list, while his partner explained that beer drafts — of which there are currently none — were coming later this year. Pane e Vino currently serves familiar brands of bottled beer.) Customers, who lived in Little Italy and in nearby neighborhoods, appeared happy to have it.
The motivation to open Pane e Vino was practical, Gia Blattermann said. In the past five years, she said, Cafe Gia's ownership realized they were missing out on a "niche of people who were bar-centric," or the type of customer who would rather eat at the bar or not eat at all. The restaurant, which opened in 2006, has a liquor license, but lacks a comfortable area for patrons to wait as their tables are prepared. Blatterman would actually send patrons to other restaurants and call their cellphones when it was time to return.
Those days should be over. A family of five waiting for Cafe Gia dinner reservations sat inside Pane e Vino, next to the lone flatscreen TV to the right of the bar. (It was playing the Orioles game.) When it was time to relocate next door, the father figure complimented the staff on his way out, vowing to return. It is easy to imagine word traveling from satisfied first-timers like him, which could make it more difficult to find a spot by the bar in the future. A selfish side of me hopes not, but in my heart, I know Pane e Vino deserves more crowded nights ahead.