My girlfriend Lindsay and I stumbled upon the coolest new wine bar/restaurant in the mission last night after our old standard, Beretta, was (not shockingly) totally packed. I quickly fell in love with this new place, notably named Heart.

Heart was laid back and casual, with a cool, modern vibe. We seated ourselves at the bar, but could have chosen one of the many self-seating communal fir tables. We happened to want to be closer to the making of the food (mostly done at the bar) and the pouring of the wine that night.

After tasting 3, 4, potentially 5 of the wines on the list, Lindsay decided on the South African 2008 DeMorgenzon Chenin Blanc, which Heart described as  having “Charlize Theron beauty, J. M. Coetzee intellect, Nelson Mandela power.” I settled on the House white (yep, I’m a cheap date, but it was gooood people): 2008 Closerie des Lys Blanc-  “Our unbelievably good (and cheap) house white.” We loved their descriptions of each wine. We were definitely intrigued by the Gerhard Kabinett Riesling Trocken described as “dropping acid minus the nasty flashbacks” and tempted by the Hogl Gruner Veltliner Federspiel with a “finish on this shit is bananas (no, seriously).”

And then, of course, we ordered food- multiple small dishes to share. Delishhhhh. Little Gems salad with the best dressing I’ve had in a long time, Halibut with a lemoney flavor that blew our minds and smokey piggie tacos.

Besides the yummy-ness of the food and drink, this place won me over due to the fact that it just has style. Wine is served in small mason jars, water is poured from large french-style milk bottles and silverware is self-chosen mix-and-match out of larger mason jars. We ate on a galvanized steel bar and sat on reclaimed blonde wood bar stools. We drank and ate to a hip hop and blues soundtrack. On the way out, we checked out an up-and-coming artist on the back wall they have turned into a rotating gallery. This place pretty much stole my heart on so many levels.

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