Meet Bar Enoteca, the Latest Fine Dining Venture in Teton Village
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort skiers whose tastes are becoming more and more refined will be delighted to find a new European style wine bar and restaurant to hang their helmets at in Hotel Terra this ski season.
Enoteca (translation: Wine Bar) is a Mediterranean style restaurant with small plates of sophisticated dishes like mojama (salt cured tuna) with marcona almonds, rabbit rilette on toast point and fromage de tete (a pate made from artisan meats) – literally translated head cheese.
But don’t let the translations throw you for a loop. While the octopus carpaccio with lomo (loin) sounds precious, the dish is heartier than it appears and the atmosphere is welcoming with plenty of space for ski boots behind the banquet seats across from the bar. They even serve a traditional tomato soup.
The wine bar concept is the latest experiment by the Fine Dining Restaurant Group, which also serves brick oven pizza and Italian fare at a sister restaurant, Il Villaggio Osteria, across the lobby. They will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and cannolis for dessert starting December 15.
“You eat with every sense you have,” says Fine Dining Spokesperson Kendra Allesandro. “When we create a restaurant, we make it a multi-sensory experience. This is our (theater) stage where we get to orchestrate a particular experience for our guests.”
With an open kitchen that will only be staffed by three chefs, the experience at Enoteca is as crisp as a dry chardonnay. The menu is sparse but delicious and the décor is simple.
It is in the pairing of these delicacies with wine where the symphony of the senses truly begins.
The glass walls are lined with bottles of wine including Fine Dining’s exclusive import Don Cosimo, a selection of wines from Sicily. The stuffed peppers with ricotta, peach and a kiwi calabrese sauce are not only crisp but tangy and tart – the only fried food on the menu. They go well with the Brussels sprout salad with sardine vinaigrette and the mushroom fettunta (a fancy word for yummy toast made with a variety of toppings.)
Enoteca Chef Serge Smith, who was classically trained in Italy, is also the chef at Osteria.
“With every restaurant we open, we are responding to a need – what’s desired and missing for culinary experiences in this valley,” Owner Gavin Fine says. “Enoteca will be nice place to have to sit, grab a small plate and a glass of wine, all at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.”
Enoteca was designed by Peggy Gilday of GYLDE Architects and uses a similar vocabulary as Osteria with reclaimed wood and white marble. The floor to ceiling glass brings transparency to the lobby and creates a bridge between the hotel lobby and Osteria.
“We wanted to create a family feeling with a classy wine bar and bring more clarity to the flow of the space,” Gilday says. “Before you couldn’t go straight to the commons from the lobby.”
Enoteca is the sixth option in dining experiences created by Restaurateur Gavin Fine and his business partner Roger Freedman. Fine, who is very active in the nonprofit community, has a penchant for Italian wines and cured meats, most of which you can find at his restaurant and wine shop Bin22, a block from the Town Square. They also run the Bodega at the gas station in the village, and three other literally named restaurants in town including The Bistro (the first Fine Dining restaurant that opened in 2001), The Kitchen and next summer, Roadhouse Pub & Eatery.
Fine is also a partner in Roadhouse Brewery, a craft microbrewery off the beaten path on Gregory Lane in Jackson and The Refinery across the parking lot, where Fine Dining makes artisan ice cream and craft sausages. The ice cream is sold in pints or scooped into bite size artisan cookie sandwiches. The labels, Cream + Sugar and Bovine + Swine, will soon be available in grocery stores.
The quality and consistency of the food at all of these Fine Dining experiences is carried through at Enoteca.
