360 Nueces Street #20
512 320-0297
Mulberry is a small wine bar offering some tasty snacks that is located in the first level of the Austin 360 building. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something light to eat with a nice, but not complicated, glass of wine.
The tiny space tries to take full advantage of the location - the outdoor seating area is larger than the indoor to capitalize on the pleasant view of Austin Music Hall and the Shoal Creek trail. It is quite pleasant to sit outdoors in the evening, almost any time of year, and take in the passersby and the scenery. The interior space has a very NYC vibe - it's dark browns and marble and raised ceilings. It is of course designed by Michael Hsu (what hasn't that man designed in the Austin restaurant world???).
The wine list used to be longer... It now consists of about 8-10 options for red and white and 2-3 options for rose and sparkling. As I mentioned above, they are all tasty wines, but not super complicated. They are wines you would buy for yourself on a Tuesday evening to have with a nice dinner at home. For example, on a recent evening, Stephen and I had glasses of Naia's Verdejo (from Rueda). Totally a wine I have in my fridge at home. It's a good deal! The wine by the bottle list is more extensive, though I confess, whenever I go to wine bars I hardly ever order a bottle of wine. For me, their whole purpose is to allow me to sample a bunch of stuff, not linger over one....
The food is tasty, if not remarkable. It tries to be of the moment and so offers some avant-garde dishes that don't perform that well (check out the watermelon salad - chunks of watermelon on some green goo). It does do some basics very well - paninis, crostinis and the cheese and charcuterie plates. Stephen enjoyed a very good prosciutto, mozzarella and pesto version last night; I had some lovely, simple spinach and a little tomato and mozzarella salad. And when it comes to the cheese plates, they do not scrimp on the amount the give you, which is nice. None of the dishes really grabs me as a "need to have".
Overall, the concept is executed decently. This wine bar is not super-pretentious and offers food and wine in the same vein. It's a nice place to relax in the evenings. ☆☆
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