Tom B.
Yelp
In short:
A fantastic, laid-back wine bar with an ambitious kitchen.
In long:
There are a couple of courtyard clusters of businesses along 5th near the fountain circle. This one has outdoor seating and a tall water feature that I hesitate to call another fountain.
Vinbero sits at the Maple St end of the courtyard, with maybe 8-10 tables inside and a little more seating outside. It all opens up pretty well in nice weather to let fresh air flow through.
You get 4 menus here--all the wines, all the foods, some cocktails, some specials. We intended only to have a couple glasses of wine but couldn't resist adding food to the table.
The staff are super friendly, nice kids who know their stuff inside and out. This is a pretty geeky wine bar, and even though there might be little kids coloring at some of the tables, the kitchen is not messing around at all.
We ordered the mushroom toast, which absolutely delivered. Chewy medium-dark bread with tons of seasoning flavors, Andre Triple Cream, and a few shiitakes, all under microgreens. Everything works really well together. There's a bottle of Ballyhoo Garlic Ghost Pepper sauce on the table, and, well, don't tell the kitchen, but I tuned up two bites of the toast with it and it was fantastic.
The wines are the namesake here, and for good reason. Lots of natural wines, quite a few orange ones. PNW bottles, some CA, an Australian, and quite a few western European selections. They divide them into red, white, rose/orange, sparkling, and rare.
The rare glasses we tried were pretty good. We might not be quite geeky enough to appreciate what was there, but for our money the better values were with the regular PNW and EU offerings. We had an Oregon white blend that was out of this world, as was the Spanish white blend, and an Italian sparkling rose that was equally good. The rare champagne was excellent, just spendy. As far as orange wines go, I tend to find them a bit under-flavored, but people flip over them so I am happy to take a seat in a tasting room like this that has a lot of 'em.
The decor here is clean, modern, and unobtrusive. You focus on the food, drink, and company, as we all should. We'll be back many times.