Marc 49 - 4915 Telegraph - Oakland, CA

Marc 49 is a new wine bar that cropped up on Telegraph, in the little stretch that houses Tanjia, Pico Paco and La Val's.

It was mid-week when my Partner in Chow and I hit this place, and we weren't looking to drink. However, we decided that the food menu was substantive enough for dinner and we weren't really in the mood for pizza anyway (La Val's is next on our list). So Marc 49 was actually a happy surprise, sparing us what we fear is most likely sub-par pizza. We shall see...

The interior of this place is nice and clean, with cool square leather couches at the interior. But the big bonus is the patio out back, which has enough heaters to keep everyone warm and is nice and homey.

At some point we'll return to sample the wine; this review is going to be based on the food.

The menu is small and unfussy, and it's way cheaper than the alternative wine bars in the area: A Cote and Franklin Square. They have a couple appetizers and a small selection of salads, panini, bruschetta. Dessert comes in 2 flavors of chocolate - chocolate mousse with whipped cream, or a brownie with white chocolate mousse. Most things on the menu were $6 or $7, with the sandwich/salad combo coming in at $10.

What we ordered: Tomato bruschetta, brie and apple panini with spinach salad, ham & assorted charcuterie yumminess panini with candied walnut & blueberry salad, fig & spice tea (me), black tea (PIC)
Service: super friendly and attentive
Atmo: laid back hip wine bar
Crowd: Mixed
Spent: Around $30
Overall rating: 4 sporks

Warning: you should not come here if you're on the Atkins diet. The things worth ordering on the menu are either made of booze or served on bread.

The bruschetta was a classic tomato and basil bruschetta, and it was delicious. It was also served on fresh bread that didn't cut our mouths up as though we'd been speed-eating Fruit Loops with no milk, which made us both very happy. The portion was big - 3 large pieces - and we realized that our individual sandwich/salad combos might end up being too much food.

The panini came out hot and charred off a panini grill. This bread was also really good - they don't make it there, but whoever's making it is doing a good job. The brie and apple one was OK - the interesting part was the candied walnuts, which are clearly homemade and very candied. This was a good sandwich, if you like melted brie (I don't, really).

The ham sandwich was fantastic - the meat is sliced super duper thin, and the cheese gooed up to make a perfect melty ham 'n cheese sandwich. We can't remember what other meats are in this sandwich, and we don't care. Mmm mmm good.

The salads were slightly overdressed for my taste, but the flavors were good and spending $10 for a full sandwich and side salad was a nice change from the usual wine bar experience. Not that the food is on par with A Cote, but it's nice to have the option to go for something less fancy and way cheaper.

One major standout was the tea. It comes in cool pot/cups and the flavors are awesome. Extra thumbs up to Marc 49 for giving quality drink options to the non-drinkers.

So we were very pleased to find and welcome Marc 49 to the neighborhood, and we'll definitely be back to have some wine and dessert.