On the Money

Southlake is one of those formerly odd communities that had restrictive liquor laws. Now that they’ve been relaxed, some entrepreneurs are taking advantage in the new Town Square development in the heart of the town, a kind of shake-and-bake downtown for the bedroom community. Into the Glass is one of those new Town Square inhabitants: a tiny wine bar developed by Tom and Becky Flookes, who have a wine shop called Off the Vine next door as well as on Main Street in Grapevine. Into the Glass was originally intended to be a Napa Valley tasting-room replica. “The concept just kind of evolved into a wine bar,” says Into the Glass partner Wayne Turner, who cut his teeth in the San Francisco restaurant biz. “Rents in Town Square demanded a little more than just a tasting room.”

But not much more. Into the Glass is a tiny and very purple room with lots of hard surfaces in the form of a cement floor, a stained concrete bar and metal chairs surrounding wooden tables that can make for noisy sipping.

But it’s very focused, fittingly with a mostly California wine selection that makes up in eclecticism what it lacks in breadth. (The tasting-room experience, after all, is like learning wine by the slice.)

Food selections are broadly themed platters arranged by country: tapas and cheese (Spain); antipasto (Italy); charcuterie (France); and another dubbed simply Americana platter. The platters are jammed with cheeses, meats, bits of fruit, mushrooms and a variety of fresh breads and crackers. In addition, there is a delicious roasted red bell pepper hummus to smear on all the bread products, and a nutty rich and smooth foie gras pâté for the same purpose.

Turner says the objective is to make for an ultra-casual, freewheeling canvas for wine. Flight constructions are limited only by the list and the imagination. And the generous platters create an informal, unpretentious medium to pair hooch and grub.