Top Wine & Cheese Bars for The Emerald Coast
By Margit Bisztray, Food Critic

NOTE: The Fall 2006 Top Five Video is available online. Just click to watch Margit's Top Five Restaurants for The Emerald Coast

Let me make a confession: I don’t drink.

Anything but wine, that is.

I love the whole look and culture and descriptions of all the martinis out there today (I mean, green tea martinis? Lychee? Kumquat? How tempting those sound!) but the fact is, I really can’t do hard alcohol. The price the next day is too harsh. My “shot” days are long gone…not that I miss them much.

But wine?

Oh my goodness, put a good bottle in front of me and, oops, did I have a deadline?

Do I have to get up early tomorrow?

Did I say I was tired?

Everything else goes out the window, and I’m in the moment of that bottle, that glass, and especially, that warm sense of being in the moment with something timeless and delicious. Wine, like a cup of coffee, helps us pause and enjoy.

I’m a major multi-tasker, but drinking wine in good company is one of the few things I can honestly say I do all by itself. There’s nowhere I’d rather be, and all that matters is the NOW. I make it sound so healthy and therapeutic. But it is! Not because of all that antioxidant information, or the anti-heart disease properties you hear about a glass of red wine. Please. It isn’t medicine I’m talking about, but a good attitude: the healthiest lifestyle choice of all. Wine gives me a good attitude.

So the new Top Five I just did for the Emerald Coast–––Wine & Cheese & More–––is all about a few of my favorite wine bars in the area, and it’s a personal favorite program I’ve done. Why? Because, not only are the places, the settings, so great to be in every time, the PEOPLE are so special. We had so much fun making the show, hanging out with Wendy and Jean-Noel, talking to Adam at Larder (the videographer I worked with, a self-proclaimed picky eater, sat down with his USDA prime steak and a glass of Spanish red, looked at me and confessed, “Yeah, that’s gooooood.” I loved watching his face!)

The Emerald Coast is SO past that stupid “redneck Riviera” nickname I first heard years ago, but I still don’t think most people, who’ve never been there, realize the quality you can find in that stretch of Florida. The wine shops, however small, rank among some of the best I’ve ever visited. Not only are the selections excellent––-with abundant “boutique” or small grower labels I particularly love, because you get the same high-quality, or even better, wine as you do with big labels, but at a much lower cost–––but the service is so warm and personal. You feel like the owners of these wine bars really love what they do (they do!) and greet each day with expectancy. Who will they get to share a travel story with? Who will they get to introduce their favorite new Portuguese red to today? The one that’s only ten bucks but tastes like it costs thirty!

And the cheeses!

Have I mentioned that I love cheese, too?

We Americans are finally allowing ourselves this pleasure again (Europeans never stopped of course) after years of worrying too much about fats (come on, you can only eat so much cheese, and every bite will be worth it!) My advice is skip that muffin at breakfast, or that afternoon candy bar or, better yet, that high calorie can of soda and save room for a slice of good, handmade cheese with a glass of wine. Please? Will you try it? It’s so worth it, and any of the places I introduce in this Top Five (but especially Larder and Courtyard) will give you a cheese that will blow your mind, especially with a nice glass of red. I hope you enjoy this segment as much as I did. And I hope I don’t ramble on tooooooo much. Tasting as we went along was part of the job!



NOTE: Margit Bisztray has been reviewing restaurants and writing about food for ten years. She has published three editions of The Complete Key West Dining Guide, and her work has appeared in such publications as Vogue, Gourmet, Islands and Metropolitan Home. To read more restaurant reviews, log your own personal opinions, rate your favorite restaurants and watch streaming video archives of this show and other reviews, visit Margit's Top 5.