Since opening in August 2024, Quench! has surpassed all expectations.

The initial concept for Quench! Wine Bistro is right there in the name. “When Gina, John and I started talking about this, it was going to be a wine bar with some cheese and stuff,” says chef Sam Ethridge. Gina Trippi and John Kerr have owned and operated Metro Wines on Charlotte Street since 2013, the same year Sam opened his popular Ambrozia Bar and Bistro on Merrimon Avenue.

When Sam closed it in 2019, it was with the intent of reclaiming some semblance of a normal life, with time for family, including two young teens. “I was done with the restaurant business,” he states firmly.

But he wasn’t done with cooking. He continued to do events around town, private parties, an occasional wedding, and more regularly, wine dinners with Metro Wines in their store.

After one of those dinners, the trio was relaxing with a glass of wine, and half-seriously talking about undertaking a small, simple project. “Gina and I joked about doing soup to go,” he recalls. “Soup was easy enough and everyone likes soup. Then we thought we’d need bread if we had soup, and if we had bread, we’d need cheese. And if we had bread and cheese, we could do grilled cheese.”

Metro Wines had a space in Reynolds Village that was not open to the public other than tastings for wedding and party clients to choose their wines, with storage in the rear.

Within weeks the partners were building out that raw square footage – a wall to separate front of house from back of house, a bar with six stools facing that wall, on which they mounted a chalkboard to list wines by the glass, the day’s soup and the day’s grilled cheese. Another small bar was set against the storefront window, and tables and chairs placed in between.

A simple kitchen was installed; no hood system which means no fryers or grill, but no big deal since they were just doing soup, cheese, bread and grilled cheese.

Sam, Mr. Done With the Restaurant Business, felt good about the pared down endeavor.

Quench! opened August 21, 2024 with the four major food groups – bread, cheese, soup and grilled cheese.

Currently, guests can still get soup and grilled cheese. At lunch – served Wednesday through Friday starting at 11am and Saturday at noon – they can also get snacks like baked goat cheese dip, Sunburst trout dip and Sam’s Deviled Eggs, a cult item since Ambrozia days. Two soups, three salads, three grilled cheese and four hot and cold sandwiches round out the menu.

Dinner expands to more snacks, small plates (duck wings, empanadas, pancetta-wrapped shrimp for example), two protein mains, a vegetarian main, and a couple of sandwiches, including Sam’s popular Cuban.

What happened to simple? Sam laughs. “I just can’t help myself.”

The primary driver, he says, was the addition of staff, both back and front of house. His sous chef from Ambroiza, Jim Harmon, came on as sous chef at Quench! Also in the kitchen is a 7-year chef of Smoky Park Supper Club and a culinary instructor at AB-Tech. Front of house is staffed by former Ambrozia people, as well as friends he has known since their four-year-old boys (now in college) became best friends.

Quench! is fully invested in their wine program. Weekly tastings hosted by wine reps are every Wednesday from 3 – 5pm, there are regularly at least 30 wines by the glass to try and well over 100 bottles, and they host coursed-wine dinners at least once a month.

John Kerr says that the first goal at both Metro Wines and Quench! Wine Bistro is value — each wine has to taste more expensive than its actual price. “At Metro, we try 100 to 200 wines per month. Roughly 1% makes the cut to end up on our shelves,” John explains. “We stand behind our wines because we’ve tried each and every one of the 1,500 wines on the shelf.”

Sam tastes and selects wines for Quench! to ensure they pair well with his menu and style of cuisine. John notes that Quench’s selection leans to more adventurous than Metro. “For example, Sam just put two wines from Ukraine on the menu not only to support the country but because they’re really good.”

Even though Quench is a full-on restaurant (reservations strongly recommended for dinner), Sam says the entire ethos supports a healthy quality of life. “All my friends work there, and we have lots of regulars who become friends. We all like each other, we enjoy hanging out with each other and we have fun every day.”

More about Quench! Wine Bistro and Metro Wines

— Written by Kay West
— AIRfare is sponsored by McGuire Wood & Bissette

Photos courtesy of Quench! and Metro Wines
First photo: Chef Sam Ethridge
Second photo: A Wednesday Wine Tasting at Quench!
Third photo: The fish course from a recent wine dinner at Quench!