BODEGA MENDOZA
The best thing about Bodega Mendoza is how little it advertises itself. From the street it reads as one more neighborhood bodega on Ramon Turró; inside is a wine list of roughly a hundred and fifty Spanish references spanning the traditional, the natural, the organic and the biodynamic, plus a southern-hemisphere corner for the curious — and, crucially, one of the more serious sherry programs in this part of town. Manzanilla, fino, oloroso, PX, poured by people who understand that sherry is a category and not a dessert. It is an official sherry spot, and it earns the badge. The food is deliberately supporting: small plates built to be eaten alongside a glass rather than instead of it, toasted bread with peppers stuffed with salt cod or mushrooms, a burrata, the usual well-chosen suspects. There are thirty-odd vermouths for the hours before wine becomes reasonable. It opens Wednesday to Saturday and not a day more, which tells you the priorities are correct. Prices are modest. Nobody will explain the philosophy of anything to you. In a neighborhood being rebuilt as a brand, this is a bar that still behaves like a bar.
