Grand Cru Wine Bar
This post starts off with a lengthy explanation of why I'm reviewing this place (which seems counterintuitive, but I swear it's not). If you aren't interested in my crazed tangents, skip ahead kind reader.
Grand Cru Wine Bar is, well, a wine bar. They have flights of wine for tastings, bottles to purchase, and all around the experience is clearly geared towards an appreciation first of wine, second of the food. Yet I've never actually had the wine here. Why? Because I work in Ballston, I don't live there, and it wouldn't be appropriate to drink during my lunch hour...or would it? I could go after work, but at that point I'm tired and just want to go home.
So I was worried that it wouldn't be fair to review a wine bar having never had the wine (see my posts on Orzo and Kluge). But then I realized that I'm not the only one in a position never to actually drink at Grand Cru - in fact, Ballston is a ghost town come 7pm. The people that live here get dinner in downtown DC. The people that work here don't eat dinner here. There may be dozens of people just looking for a new lunch spot, wine or no wine. So, fearless and intrepid Ballston nine-to-fiver, I come to fulfill my obligation to you. Let this review be your guide to new and delicious sandwiches.
With Big Buns, Pupatella food cart, the sandwich shops (like Potbelly and Cosi), and the foot court at the mall, it's hard to justify another lunch spot. Which I think is why Grand Cru is largely abandoned at noon. But don't let that turn you away - the sandwiches are some of the best around, and competitively priced (well, to Big Buns anyways).
The parisian tartine is a delicious country ham and melted gruyere open-faced sandwich on some "rustic" French bread. It's better than 'good', and including a tiny mixed green salad with balsamic reduction it's only $7. The crabcake sandwich on brioche is just a few more bucks, and it beats a burger from next door anyday. Other offerings are various salads, antipastos, and (for the wine tasters) tapas. A carpaccio for lunch will cost you only $9.
In the end, Grand Cru is a change from the ordinary. It's a little gourmet, a little treat-yourself spot with ambiance and charm. After 8 straight weeks of Potbelly and Lean Cuisine, the change is more than welcome. Plus, you can sit outside. How amazing is that?
-M.
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There's only one thing to do around here. Eat.
