Ripple Wine Bar is one of those sweet little spots that hits all the right notes. Too often, restaurants chase a gimmick or sweat it out over laborious minutiae. That’s not to say Ripple doesn’t pay attention to the details, but husband-and-wife owners Matthew and Kathleen Haws don’t forget the bigger picture, either. Which, for them, is simple: good wine, lots of it, paired with good food.
“Small-plate restaurants have definitely taken off, and that concept is nothing new, but pairing it with a significant wine program is definitely new, especially to our area,” says Kathleen of the impetus behind Ripple.
She and Matthew are both wine fans and found a need to commit to a fine-dining experience to get the kind of wine variety they were looking for when dining out. But Ripple is more of a boutique restaurant, while maintaining a full-service experience.
The bar at Ripple offers 40 varietals, many of which are served via a sleek, stainless steel Cruvinet system (“the Porsche of Cruvinets,” according to Matt) that accommodates 29 wines. A Cruvinet uses nitrogen to extract the wine, ensuring next to no oxygen gets in the bottle, keeping it fresh for up to three months.
On a recent visit, I tried the Terrae, a bright, medium-bodied garnacha that set the upbeat tone for the whole dining experience. Wine at Ripple comes by the glass or half glass, bottle or half bottle. I loved the range of options because I am not a wine aficionado and can be timid when it comes to purchasing a full amount of anything about which I’m unsure. This was an intentional move. Ripple also does a $10 half-bottle happy hour (4-6 p.m.) for gun-shy consumers or folks dining solo.
“We’re able to offer some high-end wines at more of an affordable price. You don’t have to dedicate yourself to the entire bottle; you can order a half-glass,” Kathleen says. “You’re tasting a quality wine that otherwise you may not have been able to try somewhere else, and you’re not breaking the bank. After you have the opportunity to try it and you know that you like it, maybe next time, you might buy the bottle, and you might introduce your friends to it because you were able to try it on a smaller scale.”
Dinner started with a choose-four charcuterie board ($16), followed by the roasted beet salad ($12.50) with butternut squash, chevre, pepitas, prosciutto and an orange-parsley vinaigrette. You can also choose two or six items for your charcuterie from a nice selection of meats and cheeses, including local Urban Stead cheddar. The butternut squash in the salad was perfectly done, and the vinaigrette had a nice kick. My dining partner and I couldn’t resist ordering the beef Wellington popovers ($13.50), which chef Will Smith says are one of Ripple’s most popular items.
“Every Wellington bite that you’ve had here, I’ve rolled personally,” he says.
Smith worked in a number of restaurants locally and nationally before Ripple (including a stint at Gloria Estefan’s now-shuttered Cuban-flavored Bongos restaurant in Miami) and graduated from Sullivan University’s culinary program in Louisville.
Working in an exclusively electric kitchen, Smith goes through about 25 pounds of short rib a week to create the popovers, which come eight to an order.
“We braise the crap out of it,” he says, in a mixture of red wine, garlic and shallots, “low and long, until it’s fork-tender.”
“Then I chill it, and I pick it to get all the impurities out. And then I’ll season it again,” he says.
The juicy little pastry packets are stuffed with the beef and surrounded by a mushroom duxelle, with a pert tarragon aioli to balance the meatiness. I could have eaten the popovers alone for dinner and been stuffed (and delighted), but I like a challenge, so we also tried the scallops ($15), which were nicely seared, and the stuffed portobello mushroom ($12), which also could have been a meal on its own. There are a handful of entrées and several other additional small plates to choose from as well.
The menu’s overall vibe is laid-back, a true “California kitchen,” as Matthew says, with wine-friendly food that’s seasonally inspired. Moving into the earnest summer months, Smith says the menu will feature a watermelon and feta salad, among other warm-weather offerings.
“We’re a small operation and we don’t have much storage space or prep area, so we buy local and seasonal as much as we can,” Kathleen says.
In addition to Urban Stead’s cheddar, other locally provided fare includes bread from Peppe Cucina in Covington; on another recent visit during the restaurant’s pre-dinner hours, a baker hand-delivered a tray of fresh loaves. Grateful Grahams in Newport provides the cracker crunch in two of the dessert options (the “Fine Fondue for Two” more than lives up to its name).
The space is indeed small, seating just about 70 folks in a full house, but the Haws’ have made the most of it, knocking out most of the second floor to leave wood beams exposed and natural light draping the restaurant. White tiles and blond wood provide the main design elements, along with some fun, angular light fixtures. The lighting was a bit too dim for me as the night wore on, but that didn’t stop me from consuming everything with relish.
Oh, and the name. It’s inspired by the Grateful Dead song “Ripple,” but it goes beyond that.
“The lyrics sort of speak to our journey of opening a restaurant,” Kathleen says. “There’s (a line that says), ‘Reach out your hand if your cup be empty/if your cup is full, may it be again’ and we just think that’s such a great lyric to live by as we run our bar. We want to fill your cup, not only with wine but with knowledge. We want it to be an experience, we want it to be fun, we want you to enjoy your life through your experiences, especially here.”
Ripple Wine Bar, 4 W. Pike St., Covington, ripplewinebar.com
