Novel bar brings big city wine to Bull City

Durham's first wine bar takes its name quite seriously.

Six Plates offers just that, six seasonal small plates with six paired wines make up the bulk of the menu. A pizza-like flatbread and the occasional dessert round out the kitchen's nightly offerings. Although the bar's raison d'etre is its wide selection of value-oriented wines by the bottle and boutique beers, its culinary offerings are what make the genre-busting eatery unique.

Six Plates, though a wine bar by name, is not so easily defined. It may best be called a lounge-restaurant, but there are no servers who work the floor-all orders are taken at the bar-and seating is limited. Proprietor Matthew Beason has created a casual-yet-chic space that favors cozy couches over tightly spaced tables and a vibe more buzzing than boisterous.

Beason oversees the long granite bar and front of the house, and chef Tom Domville runs the kitchen and devises the short menu that changes every several weeks. Close collaboration between Beason and Domville allows for intelligent food and wine pairings that help demystify the oft-daunting food-wine divide. For this reason alone, Six Plates is a worthy stop for its ability to strip wine of much of its stereotypical pretense.

The menu itself features the local produce that has become de rigueur of the area's recent restaurant openings, but what sets Six Plates apart is its contemporary take on American cuisine. Perhaps this style of cooking would not be particularly distinctive in the likes of New York or Chicago, but in Durham, Six Plates' offerings, while limited, are refreshingly creative. Comfort foods like sloppy joes and chicken potpie are recast with a lighter, eclectic touch. The former showcase a spiced mixture of ground lamb in lieu of the traditional beef, and the latter features a creamy chicken base topped with chanterelle mushrooms and crispy puff pastry. Raw oysters take on more modern accompaniments in the form of a yuzu granita and spicy sriracha consomme. Perhaps the kitchen's most significant shortfall lies in its penchant for underseasoning. On recent visits, a braised pork dish and the aforementioned chicken potpie both called for more salt.

The wine program is at once novel yet slightly frustrating. The emphasis on bottles below $50 is commendable for those looking to try as many varietals as possible with minimal financial hardship. The fact that only six wines are offered by the glass each evening, however, is limiting. Many oenophiles frequent wine bars for the purpose of trying small tastes of obscure wines or those too expensive to purchase by the bottle. The fact that Six Plates does not offer this variety is not so much a criticism of the wine program itself but of the area's inability to support a serious wine bar. Yet.

These minor quibbles aside, Six Plates is an exciting place to eat and drink. With a kitchen that is open until 2 a.m., it's a great spot for a refined late-night meal. Upcoming wine tastings also stand to improve the education-side of the venture. Bar, restaurant, lounge and classroom, Six Plates can't seem to define itself. Surprisingly enough, this is actually for the better.