Cork Market

Whole Foods was a mad house today.

It seemed like everyone in the area had neglected to plan ahead for their New Year's Eve dinners. People were either moving at a snale's pace or racing in every direction.

Absolute chaos.

As soon as I checked out and wheeled my groceries up to my ZipCar I was ready to scoot home, but then I remembered that we have dinner plans with friends tomorrow. I wasn't sure if the liquor stores would be open on New Year's day.

Shoot. I just left the store. What now?

A lightbulb went off!

What about the new Cork Market & Tasting Room on 14th Street?

Perfect!

Now, I absolutely adore their sibling restaurant across the street, but the question was -- would they have reasonably priced wines?

Yes; in fact, absolutely.

If you're on a budget or have a big dinner party to plan for, I would highly recommend checking out their selection. Because the owners have chosen to focus on wines from small and mid-size producers, they've been able to stock their shelves with an array of wines in the $8-15 range.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to check out their cheese and charcuterie sections, but at a quick glance everything looked divine.

Now, I have to scoot. Time to ring in the new year!

(Images via Washingtonian's Best Bites Blog)