Credit: Tovala Olmstead Photography
In 2006, Jason Miller was feeling burned out in corporate America and knew he needed to make a change.
“I took a pretty hard left turn in life,” Miller tells Southern Living. “I took a wine class after work and got completely hooked by all the variables and the way wine is always changing.”
Miller went all in, working retail for $10 an hour at the wine shop across the street from his apartment before heading to Australia where he studied wine and business. When he came back to Virginia and was working at a wine bar, Miller met his initial business partner, Michael Mercer.
“After a couple years together, I finally convinced him we could build the kind of place we actually wanted to spend time in,” Miller says. “A place that was welcoming, more honest, more connected to where we live. We both agreed that any good party at someone’s house always ends up in the kitchen. That became the whole idea … create that feeling of a party in your chef friend’s kitchen right in downtown Leesburg.”
Leesburg is surrounded by farms and wineries, but at the time there wasn’t a true farm-to-table restaurant committed to cooking from local ingredients. So, in November 2008, Miller and Mercer decided to change that, and The Wine Kitchen was born.
Wine And Conversation
That hard left turn, as Miller calls it, has worked out. The Wine Kitchen, originally conceived as a wine store, has evolved into a full-service, seasonal restaurant with wine as the focus and one of the most popular restaurants in Leesburg, Virginia.
Miller says their philosophy starts with creating a great place to work, because if the team feels supported, guests feel it immediately.
“From there, the whole point is food, wine, and conversation,” he explains. “Wine flights, shared plates, and those moments with friends—new and old—and family while enjoying the bounty of the communities around us.”
Nearly 20 years after opening, people are still waiting around the block to get a table, a fact that humbles Miller.
“I never really allowed myself to imagine we’d still be here at all. When you open a small restaurant in an old building in a small downtown, you’re mostly hoping you can earn enough trust to become someone’s ‘regular place’ and live to see tomorrow,” he says. “The fact that we’re heading toward two decades of operation, and people continue to show up—sometimes literally lining up in the cold—is humbling.”
Credit: Tovala Olmstead Photography
What To Order
Walking inside the cozy Leesburg eatery feels like stepping into a friend’s kitchen, not an award-winning restaurant. It’s an intentional detail Miller hopes all guests enjoy.
“It’s a cozy old building, but the goal is simple elegance that is approachable, not precious,” he explains. “We take ingredients and hospitality seriously, without taking ourselves too seriously. It’s high-quality, seasonal food served honestly, with a dash of fun and an absence of pretense.”
So what is the best thing on the menu? That depends entirely on who you ask. My husband and I agree that the best way to start is with the house-made tater tots, a pile of crispy potatoes topped with pepperoni, barbecue sauce, Parmesan cheese, basil pesto, and pickled shallots. I like pairing this with the flight of bubbles, which includes three sparkling wines from France, California, and Italy, while he prefers the bar’s bourbon selection (yes, they have more than wine!).
“Wine is still the core. Even though [The Wine Kitchen] grew beyond the original wine shop idea, we keep that retail DNA with bottles to-go, and the belief that great wine should be part of everyday life, not locked away for special occasions,” Miller says. “You can’t really enjoy a bottle of wine by looking at it. You have to open it and destroy it so you can truly enjoy it.”
The Wine Kitchen’s homemade pasta selection cannot be beat, but my favorite is a toss up between the Red Wine-Infused Rigatoni Bolognese, which features pork and beef bolognese, pancetta, and 24-month aged Parmigiano, or their Butternut Squash Ravioli, which is served with sage-brown butter sauce, wilted greens and toasted pepitas.
If you’re looking for something a bit heartier, don’t miss the boneless pork chop served with semolina gnocchi, chestnut mushrooms, baby carrots, date-mustard jus, and a celery root puree.
Credit: Courtesy Tovala Olmstead Photography
“The Best Meals Are The Ones Shared”
Following the success of the Leesburg location, Miller and his team opened a second location, The Wine Kitchen on the Creek in Frederick, Maryland, in October 2011.
“The ‘why’ was pretty simple,” he explains. “We wanted another neighborhood where we could keep building, keep pushing ideas and bring what we loved about The Wine Kitchen—great sourcing, a welcoming vibe, and honest hospitality—to a new community.”
At its core, Miller says, The Wine Kitchen is about far more than what’s on the plate.
“The Wine Kitchen exists because our community supports what we do and the farmers, growers, ranchers, and small producers behind every plate and every glass,” Miller says. “We want our restaurants to feel like a celebration of where we live, and a reminder that the best meals are the ones shared and made possible by the people who live and work in your community.”
Read the original article on Southern Living
Dining and Cooking