"This is just what Hyde Park needed," gushes the woman sporting diamond earrings that even someone legally blind couldn't miss. We're seated at the Wine Exchange's posh, expansive new location in the gilded center of Old Hyde Park Village. Diamond Earrings' female friend smiles in agreement and makes a similar complimentary comment about the establishment. But I can't quite catch it because she's seated three barstools down from me, and the place is abuzz with Friday happy-hour chatter. Local artist Marc Seidenberg introduced me to the women with the mommy makeovers as "the guy from Creative Loafing who writes about bars" — and, understandably, they want a favorable piece written about their beloved neighborhood bistro/wine bar. Seidenberg, whose digitally manipulated photographs of a Seattle art installation adorn the wall to our right, notices Diamond Earrings isn't wearing wedding gold and tells me he's going to make a move.
I offer to play wingman: "Do you want me to casually mention that you're the man responsible for the art?"
"Don't worry," Marc says with a sly smile, "I'll work that in there."
I need to use the restroom and don't particularly care to be present if Marc's opening salvo doesn't succeed — but I'm afraid to leave my seat. People are two and three deep, looking to pounce on an empty stool. Chances are, Marc won't do much of a job defending my spot while regaling Diamond Earrings with his musings on the artistic process. The dining room and patio are also packed. Families wait at the door for a table. It's 7:30 on a Friday, and this is the place to be in Hyde Park.
On March 6, the Wine Exchange, which has been a neighborhood staple for nearly two decades, relocated to its current Snow Avenue address from a spot around the corner. The handsome new setting teems with natural light thanks to the glass front wall. With nearly every face clearly visible, it's an ideal place to see and be seen.
Barry Cohen, dressed in cowboy boots, blue jeans and a sports coat, sits with his family in one of the booths with a view of the shopping plaza. The prominent, wealthy attorney is "prominent" and "wealthy" even by South Tampa standards. His greatest hits include winning a wrongful death suit of $500 million and getting teacher Jennifer Porter — the one who killed two kids with her car and then fled the scene — a sentence of two years of house arrest and community service. Hulk Hogan's speed-racing kid will be counting on Cohen to keep him out of the slammer for a similar crime.
On an unrelated case, Cohen says to Wayne Garcia, CL political editor and former Tampa Tribune reporter (among other things), "That Trib editorial got it all wrong." Garcia, who has joined me for a post-work glass of wine, has known Cohen for years, and the two men chat after meeting on our way inside.
"Yes, this is definitely the spot for local movers and shakers," Garcia says to me after listening to Cohen gripe about his treatment in the Trib. Surely, there are folks Cohen has trounced in court who liken him to Satan, but in here he's a star, the first guy most of the Wine Exchange regulars would call if they ever got sideways with the law. While Cohen enjoys a salad at a table behind us, Garcia and I drink while discussing national, local and office politics. Garcia also enlightens me on the subject of wine, one of the many topics on which he has accrued a wealth of knowledge over the years. Unfortunately, the selection he made isn't blowing away his palate. Garcia swishes the $12 glass of petite syrah, sniffs, sips and grimaces. He then politely asks the bartender how long the bottle has been open.
"Just opened it today," she replies.
My $7 glass of Lagaria pinot grigio is excellent, but for my second (and third) beverage of the evening I upgrade to my old standby of Jameson and soda — it's been a long week, and I need something stronger than wine to unwind. Garcia returns home to his wife and sons, while I stick around and have a chat with Rick Drummond, the man with the rich Southern drawl who owns and operates Wine Exchange with his partner Dr. Mark Smith.
Drummond's an instantly likeable fellow and makes a point to greet the many customers he considers friends. Our conversation turns to Savannah, Ga., and Drummond tells me an interesting tale about partying one night when he was in his late teens at the home of antique dealer Jim Williams, the man portrayed by Kevin Spacey in the film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
"That must have been an interesting evening," I tell Drummond.
"Oh, it was," he says and then offers to buy me a drink. I decline on grounds of ethics, which sucks, because I wouldn't mind soaking up a bit more of the Hyde Park high life but have already gone way over my reimbursement limit and don't have the funds to continue imbibing $8 cocktails. I'll spend the rest of the evening at the nearby Tiny Tap Tavern, where people like me, my neighbor Mike and kitchen workers from SideBern's drink $2 beers.
The Wine Exchange Bistro and Wine Bar, 1609 Snow Ave., Tampa, 813-254-9463 or wineexchangetampa.com.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2008.