Amazing. The renovation is stunning. Your photos of the front room show how well they have renovated that space but you have to walk to the back of the restaurant to grasp how much gutting and remodeling they did. It now makes sense why they took so long to open. The old upstairs of Sparky’s is now a loft dining area over an open wine cellar. Beyond the loft is a new dining area carved out of the old garage behind sparky’s. Looming over this rear dinins space is a huge picture window looking into the kitchen. The renovation incorporates modern loft elements such as polished concrete floors and exposed ductwork with some more traditional and warmer elements such as heavy milled trim around the windows and wood rafters. The soft lighting from the ultra-mod bare incandescent pendants and tabletop votives added to the warm atmosphere.

Oh, and the food is good! We tried sunchokes (YUM!), calamari (pretty dull and not crisp), roasted tomato and chevre bruschetta (excellent balance of roasted sweetness and cheese), chicken pate with caramelized onion marmelade (awesome) and some nice briney olives. Some of the items are a little pretentious on the menu such as the caesar salad that is called: chopped romaine hearts with creamy anchovy dressing, parmesan and burgundy croutons. Regardless, it was all pretty good and there is an excellent selection of well-priced wines.

We got there early so didn’t have to wait long for a table of 6 in the back. I’ll be very happy to go there more frequently once the mobs have had their crack at it.

We tried–stopped in on Thursday night, but it was packed. We briefly considered getting a drink and standing in a corner, but we couldn’t really read the wine list and the place was quite loud. We’ll try again on a different night.

On an aisde, we ended up hoofing it over to Vinoteca. Aside from a really good wine list, the sliders they serve (from the appetizer menu) are out-of-this-world fabulous. I’d love the place more if they didn’t have that tacky shower wall-esque red tiling thing going on.

Made it on Saturday night. The frites were great, as was the wine, of course. Our waiter was very friendly and fun. Service was slow, but we forgave since they were so packed and so new. The renovations are beautiful. It has cool vibe and the crowd was very chill. I can’t wait to go back when the buzz has worn off a little.