DeVino Wine Studio

On Saturday night we went with friends to DeVino Wine Studio on Preston Street. Since our friends had been before a number of times we were greeted by the owner, Antonio and sat at the bar. The bar is very cool as there is seating on both sides (so you can actually talk to the people you are with!). In our case we were facing the open kitchen so I could watch the two young chefs at work.
The restaurant is an interesting concept - basically an "enoteca", an Italian wine bar, serving small plates and unique wines, mostly imported directly from Italy by Antonio. There is a young and very engaging sommelier who explained the wines we were drinking (we all chose the $80, four course tasting menu with wines).
The food itself was fun, but somewhat inconsistent. Our first course was three "balls" - a risotto ball, a salt cod ball and a deep fried olive. The second course was a tasty salad of thinly sliced mushrooms, a "dry" gorgonzola, pesto and a mound of baby spinach. This was followed by papperdelle (a bit too al dente for my taste) with wild boar ragu. The final course was a small lamb "lollipop" served with Jerusalem artichoke puree, heirloom carrots and a small mound of risotto.

The service was pleasant but somewhat slow - there was a large group in the back room and the kitchen was having a hard time keeping up - and the food was somewhat inconsistent but it was fun and I'd definitely go back.