“I think every neighborhood should have something like this,” says Justin Abad of his A.M. Wine Shoppe in DC’s Adams Morgan. The three-month-old gourmet grocery has all the makings for a casual European meal: salumi, cheese, bread, and wine. Abad, co-owner of the nearby Cashion’s Eat Place, fills most of the shelves with a changing collection of about 75 wines, which he says are curated primarily for value—many are between $10 and $20, and most nights the staff opens a few bottles for samples. He also stocks a small but well-edited selection of cheese and artisanal charcuterie as well as bread from the local Lyon Bakery.
There’s no kitchen in the basement-level shop, but a deli counter acts as a sandwich station where sliced meats are layered with provolone for the Italian-style AdMo, pulled pork is pressed with mustard and pickles for a Cubano panino, and olive-oil-poached tuna is mixed with olive tapenade for a pan bagnat.
Abad uses the Cashion’s stoves to prepare a handful of seasonal antipasti, such as lemon-thyme artichokes and roasted beets with rosemary, and to cook weekend specials. Saturday brings freshly fried Italian-style yeast doughnuts starting at 11 AM, and Sunday there’s house-made cannoli as well as a $28 dinner that includes half a roast chicken, a side, dessert, and a bottle of wine; preorder it by the Thursday before.
Abad, who lives 200 feet from the store, gives a 10-percent discount to anyone who shows an ID with a 20009 Zip code.
Open Monday through Thursday 11 to 9, Friday 11 to 10, Saturday 10 to 10, Sunday 10 to 6.
This article appears in the July 2010 issue of The Washingtonian.
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