While some restaurants trumpet large portions and thick burgers, a new Rapid City restaurant is going small.
Uncork'd Wine and Tapas Bar, at the corner of Sheridan Lake Road and Catron Boulevard, just opened this week and brings a new dining experience to the area.
Tapas - the food served by the restaurant - might sound unusual. But it's more about the size of the dish than the nature of what's on the menu.
"We wanted to do something very different," said Debbie Michealree, who owns the restaurant along with partners Everett and Carol Jackson.
The food, which includes cheeses, olives, steak tips and other small edibles, is served on individual plates. Diners can nibble while they sip from the restaurant's wine list and array of 40 micro-brew and craft beers.
"It's a place where you can come and have a type a dining people are not used to," Michealree said.
The small plates mean diners can focus on each other instead of the food - no wolfing down a large dinner plate full of grub.
"It really gets people to converse," Michealree said. "It's not just a place you stop and have an appetizer. You can spend an evening."
While the tapas concept comes from Spain, where the restaurants are very popular, the small-plate concept is common in many countries.
Michealree said to help customers with food and drink pairings, each table has flip cards with details about wine pairings and the various plate options.
Wine is available by the glass or bottle, and "flights" are available, which give patrons the option of trying small amounts of three kinds of wines. The restaurant also offers French-pressed coffee and desserts.
Prices for the plates range between $3.95 and 8.95, and a board of artisan cheeses rings up at $17.95, the most expensive food item. Glasses of wine are priced between $5.95 and $9, with the flights ranging in price between $9 and $10.
Two diners can easily fill up on two or three plates. Add in the cost of the wine, and the cost can be about the same as a meal at any other upscale eatery.
The expense of it is less than getting an entree, and you can afford a decent glass of wine, Michealree said.
Although the owners first considered another location, they settled on the west-side spot for the restaurant because of the high volume of nearby traffic and the lack of other eating options in the area.
"Because of all of the traffic on Sheridan Lake Road, and the fact there isn't a lot of things on that side of town for people to go to, we had people say, 'Why don't you do it on the west side?'" Michealree said.
Uncork'd is in Stoney Creek Plaza at 5734 Sheridan Lake Road. It's open Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
The restaurant, which seats 52 and an additional 30 to 40 on an outdoor patio, can be rented out for private events or parties by appointment. For more information, call Uncork'd at 348-0005.
