Apothecary

Had lunch at Apothecary on a recent Saturday, my first time there (4800 Burnet Road). By day, they are a coffee house and by night, a wine bar. Their full menu of food stuffs seems to carry through the entire day. It appears to be a concept that's working; one person in our lunch party is quite fond of the place, and wants to have a birthday celebration there; another has told me the wine bar is quite nice. It's not a huge place; it's got a large bar and various tables, plus a couple picnic tables outside. It's a darker interior, which I think by night, would give it some nice ambiance.

For lunch, they were running a salad and half sandwich special, so I got the Caesar salad and the brie, pear, and honey panini with truffle oil and arugula. I asked for a light dose of truffle oil, and our server repeated that back to me as he wrote it down, so I know he got it right. When the food was delivered though, it was our server and someone (one of the chefs?) from the kitchen, the plate was presented as "brie & pear with no truffle oil," so somewhere, someone didn't read the ticket correctly.

The panini used a nice bread that didn't tear the roof of your mouth; it could have used a bit more brie & arugula, not to mention truffle oil, but the flavor without it was good. The salad was not over-dressed, had nice crisp Romaine, and a distinct yet not off-putting anchovy taste in the dressing. The mark of a true Caesar dressing! We split a pumpkin spice creme brulee for dessert, which had a great creamy texture, no lumps or egginess. The flavor seemed a bit more chai and fall-like than pumpkin, which was fine for me, as I am not the biggest lover of pumpkin flavored desserts.  A tirimisu was also brought to the table by the same guy who brought out my sandwich; he said give it try, it was made last night. So we indulged. The mascarpone had good flavor, but the lady fingers were too soggy. Overall, I'd say the food was solid, but not exceptional.

Just looked at their wine list, and their September one is still up. No prices given, but it does say wines start at $5 a glass, and they have happy hour specials. Will have to get back up there to check out the night-time ambiance and of course, the wines!