For five years, Ben Poremba and his wine director/right-hand-person, Luciano Racca, have been talking about opening a wine bar and bottle shop. The idea was to transport diners to the sort of enotecas and bodegas you’d find in the Old Country.
Now, they’re finally on the cusp of realizing that dream with Esca Vino Spuntino (5090 Delmar). The wine and small plates bar and retail wine shop is slated to open in the original home of his restaurant Florentine in the heart of the buzzy Delmar Maker District the first week of November.
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As its name suggests, Esca Vino Spuntino is the spiritual sister of the acclaimed Esca, Poremba’s coastal Mediterranean restaurant and bar that opened in 2024. Although the concepts are quite different (Esca is a full-service dinner restaurant, while Esca Vino Spuntino is more of a snacks and wine spot), Poremba sees a throughline in both their styles and the way that they are both meant to evoke the feeling of a dining in the Mediterranean, whether that’s for a full meal or a casual nosh.
Photography by Cheryl BaehrPhotography by Cheryl Baehr
In addition to Esca, the new restaurant and wine shop joins Poremba’s other Delmar Maker District restaurants—Nixta, Del Bono, and Florentine—with more concepts in various stages of development. As Poremba explains, it’s one more piece of his Tetris-like puzzle to make the burgeoning restaurant district a must-visit destination.
“I started thinking from a bird’s-eye view about our presence on Delmar and saw that we have the bookends of the Maker’s Yard with Nixta, Del Bono, and Florentin on one end, Esca on the other end, and a middle, which is where Elaia and Olio will be. The idea is to create this cluster of businesses, which will fill in the void between these spaces. Jokingly, in my head, I see this as being like an internal competition if you are a Bengelina fan. Are you a west side Maker’s Yard person, a middle Elaia-Olio fan, or an Eastern Esca person?”
Photography by Cheryl BaehrPhotography by Cheryl Baehr
The Space
Poremba is known for creating immersive, transportive restaurant experiences through design, and Esca Vino Spuntino carries on that tradition.
“As I was putting this together, my staff joked with me about whether I was opening a restaurant or an antique shop,” Poremba says with a laugh. “I wanted it to be timeless, warm, and with layers. It feels like it’s been around for a long time and has been lived in.”
To that end, Esca Vino Spuntino is a stunning, Italian vintage-inspired space filled with antique furniture, original artwork, shelves or retail wine and chocolate, trinkets, books, old cigar boxes, and other unique items that Poremba has curated to give the room a lived-in feel. Rather than a traditional dining room filled with matching tables and a dedicated dining space, Esca Vino Spuntino’s seating consists of nooks and surprise spaces scattered throughout the room; there are a couple of seats at a bar nook, a few upholstered chairs and antique tables by the front windows, leather armchairs tucked in front of a glassware-filled breakfront, and some high-top cocktail tables. The seating centerpiece is a long metal table that Poremba got from France; he calls it a “floating table” because of a very unique feature: The stools tuck in underneath, giving the illusion that they are floating several inches above the ground.
The large bar, which occupies nearly the entire side of the main room, is another focal point. Although it has a few seating areas here and there, this is not the sort of bar flanked by stools for guests to sit at, but rather has a walk-up retail feel. A gorgeous, white-tiled wall serves as the backdrop for an impressive wine selection, while vintage-looking scales and meat slicers nod to the restaurant’s cheese and charcuterie offerings. A large patio, located out front and to the side of the restaurant’s entrance, is adorned with potted trees and plants to give the area an oasis-in-the-city feel.
Photography by Cheryl BaehrPhotography by Cheryl Baehr
The Menu
Although Esca Vino Spuntino will serve food and drink to enjoy on site, Poremba hesitates to call it a restaurant.
“In Italy, you have these wine shops that turn into a place where people drink because it just happens; it’s not planned or intended,” Poremba says. “That’s why I didn’t want to have a bar. I wanted things to just feel like a wine shop during the day and then transform into an enoteca at night.”
Wine is the centerpiece of Esca Vino Spuntino’s beverage offerings, especially its large bottle selection. Although a few glass pours will be offered, Poremba and Racca are encouraging guests to order by the bottle, and they have an enticing way of doing so: All bottles are priced for retail; for those who wish to enjoy them on site, a small corkage feel will be added.
The wine list leans Italian, thanks in large part to Racca’s expertise and experience in Italian wines and wine-making. Racca owns a winery in northern Italy’s Barolo growing region, and the wines it produces are served in Poremba’s restaurants. You’ll find them at Esca Vino Spuntino as glass pours and bottles. Because the bottle offerings will be so extensive, Racca will be on hand to provide guidance and will also have a weekly list of recommendations that will be presented to guests in an envelope attached to the beverage menu.
Photography by Cheryl BaehrPhotography by Cheryl Baehr
That menu will also contain offerings in addition to wine, such as a handful of classic cocktails like an Aperol spritz, a negroni, and martinis. A few spirits will also be available for guests to choose from, though Poremba encourages people to opt for wine when possible—so much so that he has a fun note on the menu: “Cocktails? Sure. But let’s not get carried away. This is wine territory. This is us being generous.”
Food offerings are traditional Italian wine bar fare—think tapas or small plates, Italian style, with the menu divided into categories. “Basics” refers to snacks such as olives, focaccia, nuts, cheese and salami; “Antipasti” offerings include items such as marinated zucchini, blistered tomatoes, and “world’s best” caponata. The restaurant will offer a few different crostini, a selection of “Spuntini” like vitello tonnato, country pate, and tuna crudo; “Suppli” such as pomodoro, ragu, chicken bianco, and arancini; and a “Reserve” list of delicacies like prosciutto di Parma, mozzarella di bufala, and caviar service.
“The idea is that you can come here before Esca and have a drink while you wait for a table; you can also come here for a night cap after and have desserts and chocolate, or you can come just here and make a dinner out of several small plates,” Poremba says. “There are many ways you can experience it.”
Photography by Cheryl BaehrPhotography by Cheryl Baehr
The Backstory
After launching a successful restaurant empire in the Botanical Heights neighborhood—and earning national acclaim in the process— Poremba packed up and moved north to the Delmar Maker District with the vision of helping create another vibrant dining destination for St. Louis diners. The move meant temporarily shuttering his restaurants Elaia and Olio (which he plans to reopen in the district in the future), reopening his Latin American concept Nixta in the area, and launching the new restaurants Esca, Florentin, and Del Bono.
The May 2025 tornado that decimated the district upended some of his plans but did not deter his spirit. After reshuffling some of his spaces, he’s now excited for the way things are coming together and is excited to share this latest chapter in his vision with diners.
“This restaurant makes me feel home and has so many layers,” Poremba says. “We are excited for people to experience it.”
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