A Renee’s Wine Café
306 N. Center Street, Corner of Center and Jefferson On The Square
Monday-Saturday 9 am to 5 pm, Sundays 11 am to 5 pm
Call 827-3524 to reserve seats at the Wine Bar
Party Catering service also available
Website: http://www.arenee.com/cafe/default.shtml
Rating: Four Stars
Downtown Bloomington has been the home to a unique store for about six years now, A Renee’s Wines and Gifts, located on the corner of Center and Jefferson on the ground floor of the Illinois House. Maybe you’ve noticed it, maybe not.
In case you’re not hip to the talk, that’s pronounced “A Renee” as in “a glass of Shiraz.” The store’s name comes from one of the store’s two owners, Amy Renee Calhoun, who opened A Renee’s in 2004 with her mother, Cindy.
Amy and Cindy’s creation is one of those miracles of small business, especially in BoNo. They started an upscale wine and fine gift store Downtown—and without bank financing. It was bootstrapping all the way, and while some people thought “Oh, this will never last,” boy, were they ever wrong. Not only has A Renee’s survived, it’s thrived.
If you’re not into Wine, or Fine Gifts related to wine, A Renee’s may get a shrug of the shoulders from you, granted. But A Renee’s can induce you to “get into” Wine. That’s the brilliance behind Amy and Cindy’s concept: they not only sell wine, they teach you about wine. They’re Educators disguised as Retailers.
If you know you’re “wine ignorant” but you’d like to learn how to tell the good stuff from the swill, or which wines to give as gifts on special occasions, there is no other wine purveyor in BoNo worth going to for help: A Renee’s has got you covered. Amy and Cindy have “the touch” without a doubt. They are welcoming, fun, energetic, down-to-earth women who love to share their knowledge about wine—and do it without being stuffy or condescending.
A Renee’s was always a place you could pop in and ask the gals “What is a Shiraz and why should I like it?” and get a quick answer that makes sense. And probably a quick taste. It was always a good bet for that perfect special gift too.
Now, it’s even better.
In March of this year, after months of preparation (again, bootstrapped from the ground up), A Renee’s opened their new next door Wine Café for an initial shake down. They’ll be celebrating their Grand Opening of their new creation on Saturday, October 16.
Diner Spy stopped in the other night to see what they came up with, knowing that the gals had been coveting that former office space next door for years, waiting for the previous tenants (a social service agency) to get the heck out of that valuable retail space and let A Renee’s flow into some more square footage.
And it’s a WOW.
Amy and Cindy have created a very special place in BoNo, a true “Chicago Style” Wine Café. There is nothing else like this in McLean County.
Visually, the Café is stunning in its décor. The space isn’t very large, but Amy and Cindy have used that “cozy” element to full advantage. The interior is painted a soft dark brown, walls and ceilings alike, as if the space had been dipped in chocolate. The furnishings —low tables and chairs, high tables and chairs, semi-circular upholstered couches—are all rich and inviting. The seating is engineered, obviously, to make you want to sit for an hour or so.
The lighting is low, but not too dark. You can see who’s there, and read the Café menu. Qu’elle relief! There are many “clubs” and cafes in BoNo that are too dark, mostly because, I suspect, the owners have no concept of lighting design and think black out conditions equals “hip” or “romantic.” Actually, it’s just annoying. Amateurs.
Obviously Amy and Cindy know what they are doing. They know good interior design is always half the “show.” And they’ve aced it here.
A Renee's was packed on Friday
The music is also low—including the live soft jazz music we listened to on a Friday night. We overheard Cindy talking with someone about the music volume, in fact, making sure it didn’t get too loud and overwhelm the customers. That’s a nice touch right there: far too many venues in this town feature blaring music that just kills human interactions.
The centerpiece of the Café is of course the bar. The bar at A Renee’s is a stunning creation made of inlaid wood, not too long and not too wide. Just right. Human scale. Comfy bar stools with backs and generous foot rests invite you to come sit at the bar and get waited on by Cindy or Amy or one of their other attractive, knowledgeable employees.
My only note here is that my bar chair felt a little wobbly. No doubt from lots of use over the past eight months of “trials.” The gals may want to swap these out for more robust models because I predict these chairs are going to get lots more ‘sit time.’
The menu at A Renee’s is easy to navigate, and educational. Amy and Cindy list a wide variety of wines you can enjoy by the glass or by the bottle (some “Library” items are only available by the bottle) in a descriptive manner that helps you choose a wine even if you don’t know beans about good wine.
And, if the menu doesn’t help, you can always just ask, “What do I want?” The staff will chat with you about your taste preferences and then suggest something. I’d trust them, if I were you. These folks know wine.
Wine by the glass is decanted into a small glass carafe, with a little of the wine poured into attractive stemware. You can take a sip and then decide if you like it. If you do, the carafe is yours to control. If you don’t like it, you can scratch that choice right now and try something else. This is a brilliant way to be customer-friendly without wasting a lot of product. A far better way to do it than plunking an over-full $8 glass of something strange in front of you and putting all the responsibility on your shoulders.
Granted, this is a Wine Café, not a full restaurant. You’re not going to come to A Renee’s for a meal. Yet. I have no doubt an expanded food service is in the future for this venue—and I can’t wait to see what they do with a dinner or lunch menu. Meanwhile, this is a perfect solution for that pre-dinner period, before you amble over to Rosie’s, Central Station, Lancasters, or Reality Bites for full-blown dinner Downtown.
There is provision for some nice “noshing” while you enjoy your wine though. Complimentary popcorn is served, for example. And before you turn up your nose at such a plebian offering, think again: even the popcorn at A Renee’s is to die for. They spice it up with all kinds of things. Totally addicting.
Order an Antipasti tray while you sip wines with friends. The selection of cheeses, sausage, fruit, crackers, nuts, and other goodies is excellent, and a perfect way to enhance the whole experience. The large tray goes for $18 and the small tray is $9. The small tray satisfied two of us quite nicely but we still wished we’d had time for more. If you take a gang of four people with you to A Renee’s do order the large tray. Service includes a nice china side dish and utensils wrapped in a napkin. Utter class.
A Renee co-owner Cindy
A Renee’s is the perfect location for a late afternoon “happy hour” type gathering. It captures that potentially magical moment between the end of the work day and the start of the leisure evening. Not all bars or lounges are able to harness this potential—or pull off the ideal setting for getting off the gerbil wheel and into a state of relaxation. But A Renee’s does it beautifully. You walk in –and drop 25 stress points immediately.
A visit there would also be perfect for a romantic date, or a secret business or political strategy meeting (you can see people, but you can’t overhear their conversations). It has a “gal’s night out” vibe, sure, but not overly so. Men will be comfortable in this setting, without a doubt. And yes, A Renee’s is a place to meet someone new perhaps.
What was indeed extraordinary about A Renee’s was the diversity in clientele we saw during our visit. Everybody is going there: student-types, Seniors, bankers, working gals, art hipsters, State Farmers, you name it. Obviously, everybody feels comfortable here, both in terms of ease and economics. While the wine isn’t cheap certainly—about $7 per glass—the value is excellent. You feel like you are getting a lot for your money—and that’s the true definition of “affordable,” I think.
So, bravo Amy and Cindy. In A Renee’s you’ve created something brilliant in a community that often times seems to specialize in mediocre. Wow.
