Fresh Today

It's fun to try new wines, but a wine-sampling session can get expensive. The depth of the wine lists can vary from restaurant to restaurant and it may be difficult to find any vintage off the beaten path.

One exception, however, is the Bungalow Wine Bar and Cafe in Wallingford, which offers any of 60 wines by the bottle, by the glass or even by the 2-ounce "taste." Co-owner Jeff Treistman said he and Polly Young created The Bungalow for "people who like wine, whether they're neophytes or people with jaded palates."

The idea, he said, is that you can try many different wines without spending a fortune: "You might never think of buying a $50 bottle of wine, but you can try a $4 or $5 taste, and have the same experience."

Treistman, who has cooked at Rossellini's Other Place, has created a wine-friendly menu of salads, appetizers and desserts drawn from the Mediterranean and Caribbean: fish stew, pork ribs in garlic sauce, chickpea salad and vegetarian baked stuffed peppers, spiced rice salad, cold sliced flank steak and cheese plates.

Many of the wines offered at The Bungalow are not necessarily expensive, Treistman said, just difficult to come by.

"We have a new release of Oregon pinot noirs, for instance, including the St. Innocent 1993, which can be hard to find because it's usually bought up fairly quickly. We have Barolo, from the Piedmont region of Italy, by the glass, and we have a South African pinotage, also fairly rare here."

The wide-ranging wine list comes from City Cellars, the Wallingford wine shop, which Treistman and Young also own. The Bungalow is a cozy old turn-of-the-century house at 2412 N. 45th St. Hours are 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

-- The Food Lifeline Backyard Barbecue & Blues Festival this weekend in North Seattle offers a rare chance to see some white-tablecloth chefs slinging ribs. Among the celebrity chefs tending the coals will be Tom Douglas of the Dahlia Lounge, Monique Barbeau of Fullers, Thierry Rautureau of Rovers, Charles Ramseyer of Ray's Boathouse and Kaspar Donier of Kaspar's. Five blues bands will keep the mood mellow. The $10 tickets benefit Food Lifeline, a regional food bank supplier. The event is 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, on the Food Lifeline campus, 15230 15th Ave. N.E. Tickets: 545-FOOD.

RESTAURANTOURING

-- New in Belltown is Mondo Burrito, which offers a new twist on an old favorite. Mexican burritos are on the menu, of course. But there are also Thai burritos, filled with spicy peanut-coconut rice; Italian burritos filled with garlic pesto, roma tomatoes and hot sausage; Greek burritos with minted couscous, Kalamata olives and feta cheese - you get the idea. Co-owners are Lisa Oehrli, formerly of Serafina, and Linda Wilmer, a former advertising executive. Mondo Burrito is in the old Paisan's, 2121 First Ave.

-- That new hamburger joint on Capitol Hill, the one that looks like something from a '50s movie? It's Johnny Rockets, part of a chain of 75 nostalgia-concept restaurants out of Los Angeles. The food is classic red-meat American, and they have a lot of fun with the '50s furnishings: red bar stools, chrome accents, tabletop jukeboxes that look like Nash grilles. Johnny Rockets is at 510 Broadway Ave. E.

-- Zoopa, the build-your-own-lunch cafeteria chain, plans to open two more outlets in the Puget Sound area: Tacoma in December and North Seattle by next February. Restaurants Unlimited of Seattle owns the group, which has outlets in Southcenter and Bellevue Square, is looking at additional sites in Northgate, Redmond and Federal. Spokeswoman Susan Ward says Restaurants Unlimited's recent decision to sell the Kayak Lakefront Cafe is part of a plan to concentrate efforts on the successful Zoopa concept. The North Seattle restaurant will be just off Interstate 5 at Ballinger Way. The Tacoma version will be in the Tacoma Place shopping mall.