Grabbing Some Final Outdoor Meals -- Pure Wine Cafe's New Space And The Main Street Patios

View from Pure Wine's patio

The Pure Wine Cafe is one of many places that we enjoyed, but rarely found ourself revisiting.

Now is the time to eat there again -- especially if you can try their new patio in the fleeting nights of the year when we can eat outside.

Pure Wine started as a tiny place on Main Street in Ellicott City.  Small plates.  Good wines.  But such a tiny space that they didn't take reservations, and it often took second place to restaurants where we knew that we could get parking and a seat.

Now, they've blown through a wall and spread upstairs into a second dining room and a stone patio overlooking Main Street.  It's beautiful space and -- like the new patio at Portalli's -- a real reason to explore downtown Ellicott City.

The patio.

Pure Wine has always had a fun kitchen.  A small, seasonal menu.  On Sunday nights, some dishes even sell out because they only buy what they expect to use.  It's also a fun joint.  We arrived on one of those Sunday nights when all the outdoor seats were filled.  The hostess set us up on two chairs a few steps above the patio.  We drank wine and a cider from Millstone Cellars in Monkton, then slid into a table once one opened.

We missed some sliders that looked terrific, but we ate well.  A salad with spinach, peaches and goat cheese.  Some fish tacos.  And a terrific charcuterie plate headlined by salami and an amazing blue cheese.  The cheese was creamy with a blue flavor, but milder so that it went well with everything else on the plate.

Sitting outside gives a new feel to Pure Wine.  You overlook the Old Columbia Pike intersection.  It's almost a city feel.  The entire new space is modern.  A sleek bathroom.  A wine cellar built into the bedrock with glass walls so that you can see inside as you walk upstairs.  A new second-floor dining room where 10 people were watching a pair of guitar players perform while we ate.  With original bar on the first floor, you now have three really different options -- and they take reservations.

When we were there, the Pure Wine folks were talking about heaters to extend the season.  It's all new. They're figuring it out.