Vino Rosina

Well, it is final. The wine bar fad has finally taken over Baltimore. Not that it is a bad thing, but as fads come and go, I hope this place stays. My wife and I ended up there on a recent evening on accident. We could not decide on where to go for dinner and were considering on going to one of our standards, Salt. But wanting to try something new, we decided to drive through Harbor East just to see what was new down there. We stumbled on Vino Rosina and liked the look of the bar, so we decided to give it a shot.
This place takes food more seriously than most Wine bars that I have seen. The portions were small, but really good.

Vino Rosina prides themselves on a decent selection of wines by the glass in 3oz and 6 oz pours. They also have some interesting cocktails based on house infused liqueurs. I started with a cocktail which had a Domaine de Canton (Ginger liqueur), Ketel one, lime juice, cucumber and soda. After a quick adjustment, due to excessive ginger flavor and sweetness, the drink was perfect for the heat of the day.

After much vacillation, we decided on the bison tartare for an appetizer. Wow, good choice. The bison was finely chopped with a little bit of chopped cheese (not a weird as it sounds) and what I estimate to be a well balanced mustard flavor. This was topped with poached quail egg and perfect toast points as a vehicle for getting all the yumminess to your mouth. Really fantastic.

Dinner was a roasted quail stuffed with a pecan stuffing served in a cast iron pan with green beans. Rustic, but the Quail was perfectly cooked, the stuffing was not too dense, and the green beans had perfect crunch.

Crispy duck was also had. Nice, crispy duck with nice vanilla flavored sauce that added to richness of dish.

Molten chocolate cakes with homemade mint ice cream were dessert. The mint ice cream was notable. The mint favor came through very strong in a good way and was perfect counter to the rich chocolate cakes.

Had a great meal, although I am sure many people would be taken aback by the diminutive portions. I would argue that they are the size they should be, given the craft of the food and locally sourced ingredients.