The Incline District’s Somm Wine Bar is a sophisticated lounge for sips, snacks and city views

Light bites and wine pairings are the stock-in-trade of East Price Hill’s Somm Wine Bar. Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Somm Wine Bar makes it perilously easy to have a fun weeknight out. For one, they serve half glasses of wine (half full, that is), perfect if you’re indecisive, sampling or pretending not to drink very much. For another, the inviting back patio conjures up words like “sophisticated” and “adulting.” And finally, before you know it, the bowl of citrus-marinated olives you ordered has disappeared and you’re selecting another easily nibbled bite from the “snacks” section on the menu.

Somm’s snacks range from marinated olives, mixed nuts and pickled vegetables to bondookies. I’m sure you know what to look for in a delicious bondookie. No? Google’s not sure either. However, general manager Kevin Armon is: “Bondookies are Lithuanian yeast rolls filled with crispy bacon and caramelized onions,” he says.

And don’t be afraid to ask which wine from Somm’s selection should be paired with your bondookie (or olives or pickles). That’s the bar’s stock in trade — excellent pairing wines with approachable menu descriptions so you can choose what drink goes with which dish or ask your server, who will undoubtedly have an excellent suggestion.

After snacks, you can check out the appetizers. If you’re confused as to why the menu offers snacks and appetizers separately, you’re not the only one, but the snacks really are bite-sized and a more European-style accompaniment for a drink sans dinner. The aforementioned citrus olives ($4) are briny, but not too salty, and infused with lemon.

I preferred the fruity, mild green olives, but the smaller, slightly bitter black olives were the majority of the dish. The appetizers are more substantial and the offerings include roasted red pepper hummus, roasted red and golden beets, Maryland crab cakes and escargots de Bourgogne.

The next time I’m there, I plan to order the crab cakes ($13) — our server said they’re exceptional. The main ingredient is pure, unadulterated crab, not mayo, as is so often the case. Instead, I got a fennel and grapefruit salad ($9) with arugula and shaved Parmesan; the cheese was a perfectly creamy antidote to the strong anise and bitter flavors of the fennel and grapefruit. The whole thing was tossed with a basic olive oil dressing, again perfect for cutting through the strong acidity and tartness of the other ingredients. Although simple, the refreshing salad seemed like a natural fit with the dry white wine I ordered.

Somm also makes mozzarella cheese in-house, showcased in a caprese salad, and there are several other salads available, plus a meat and cheese board and a list of paninis. My partner got the steak and blue cheese panini ($12), like a grown-up grilled cheese. It was delicious — the steak was tender and juicy and the cheese was high quality — but don’t skip lunch in anticipation of an evening spent at Somm. The food is more reasonably portioned than our American stomachs are used to, but that allowed us to order from each and every section of the menu.

Although it’s pricier ($11-$28), the meats and cheese segment of the menu is possibly the most exciting. There are sheep, goat and cow cheeses from Italy and cow cheese from Wisconsin and the Netherlands, along with a list of five Italian porks from which to choose.

The small plate (choose two items) is $11, the medium (choose four) is $20 and the large (choose six) is $28. Plates are served with crostini and daily house accompaniments. The variety of prosciutto, capicola, percorino and more offers a lovely parallel to a sampling of half pours of red and white wine — each combination and pairing will create something new.

If you’re not into the whole half-glass attitude (half-glasses run from $4 to $7), you can also order wine by the full glass or bottle, and Somm does offer official “flights” the final Wednesday of every month, which have themes like “The South of France” or “Spain” — perfect for a midweek boost.

If you’ve been pulled into Somm and wine just isn’t your cuppa, the bar offers a list of cocktails, and they’re not consolation prizes — they’re delicious in their own right. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a rum and lime drink; Miles a Wayne features vodka, elderflower liquor and grapefruit; the Bee’s Knees is a gin drink with honey and lemon; and the Boulevardier has bourbon, Campari, Cocchi (a wine) and vermouth. There’s also a list of beer, including local favorites and some more popular choices.

The entire menu can be enjoyed in Somm’s modern interior or out back on the patio. The restaurant has had complications with licensing, but eventually there will be fire pits, string lights and regular music outside. Right now, there are couch-style loungers and tables and a water feature that provides a subtle background of white noise. It’s a wonderful place to spend a relaxing night, but the fire pits will soon be a welcome addition during fall’s chilly evenings.

The Incline District is rapidly becoming more of a destination, and Somm Wine Bar joins the ranks of other, more well-established local haunts — like Primavista and the Incline Public House — and injects some new blood into the mix. For a fun night out, you could take in dinner at the Public House, catch a play at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater and enjoy a post-show critical discussion over wine. Or, you could simply do like the Europeans do and spend the evening sampling snacks and sipping wine at Somm.