Comments (0) Best Greek Wine Bar - 2008
Paréa Wine Bar and Cafe
795 Valencia
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-255-2102
The name is derived from one of those evocative, multilayered Greek phrases that's nearly impossible to translate, but if you think back to the last time you got together with a few good friends over a nice bottle of wine, the glow of the spirits enhancing the talk and the fellowship, you understand the essence of paréa. This beautiful little rendezvous is in the affable tradition of cozy Hellenic tavernas where mezes are nibbled and retsina is quaffed, and there's plenty of paréa to go around. The comfortable setting — plush sofas and ottomans, flickering candlelight, lilting music, the sunny yellow/deep-red color scheme — invites lingering and repose. The nibbles (olives, roasted almonds, tiny pizzas, and the like) are simple and delicious. And the 95-bottle wine list, mostly Mediterranean with a few Argentine, Australian, German, and California vintages thrown in, is rife with liquid opportunities both unique and affordable — most are in the $30-$50 range, and many are available by the three-ounce taste or the six-ounce glass.
