Business & Tech

Pure Wine Cafe Opens Expansion on Main Street

The expansion of Pure Wine Cafe features an outdoor patio overlooking Ellicott City's Historic Main Street.

The little wine cafe known for its intimacy, small plates and vino opened its expansion earlier this month, after a couple months of delays.

The new second-floor dining room and patio will double the size of the restaurant from about 30 seats to over 60. The addition of a second fast-cooking oven enabled chef Kevin Brothers to expand the menu to include entrees.


The second-floor dining room is already open for reservations and walk-ins. Its small size is similar to the downstairs dining room, minus the bar.

"That was one of the main things—to keep it intimate," said Dan Seward, the wine and beverage coordinator for Pure Wine. "We thought let's make it what it is now, but a little bigger."

The 16-seat stone patio is not officially open—concrete and bricks need to be added on one side—but Seward said they'll start serving customers on it in two to three weeks. 

Pure Wine's owner P.J. Strain hoped to open the expansion in May, when Patch last caught up with him. But inspection and construction delays pushed the opening back to August.

The restaurant also added a new bathroom and a "wine cave", a wine cellar accented by a large granite rock, as part of the expansion. Previously Pure Wine only had one unisex bathroom, now it has two.

New entrees will be seasonal and market-based, according to Seward. For now, the restaurant is offering entrees like blueberry duck, seared duck breast in a blueberry sauce with polenta ($22); and a Maryland crab melt, crab stuffed patty pan squash, with fingerling potatoes and roasted corn ($20).


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