Hot seats for beverages and a bite

In case you haven't noticed, savvy chefs and restaurateurs, food-focused mixologists and entrepreneurial oenophiles have been raising the bar around here: literally. These folks are everywhere, searching out small spaces with good bones and then — before you can say "I'll have the sangiovese and salumi" or "She'll have a limoncello and a lamb chop" — inventing another great place for a nibble or a nightcap. Setting the standard, and three distinctly different moods, is this trio of neighborhood newcomers.

DiVino

5310 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle; 206-297-0143; 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Mondays-Thursdays,4 p.m.-2 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays.

DiVino is one slick Ballard boozery — a mod nod to the neighborhood's lounge-act lifestyle. Its lengthy bar, illuminated from below, is backed by an array of adult beverages and lined with hydraulically assisted tractor-seat barstools. The white-on-white design, relieved by an exposed brick wall and warmly lit wine cellar, extends to tabletops, tableware, the shapely tush-coddling chairs and the menu covers.

While the visuals have caused more than one keen observer to liken the place to an Italian airport, those viewing DiVino with Seattle-centric eyes will be more inclined to note its resemblance to restaurant hotties like Crush and Veil: modernist, minimalist and — when enjoyed by candlelight with a stem of blushing rosato in hand — ever so urban-chic.

Owners Corino Bonjrada and Giuseppe Forte, of Belltown's La Vita è Bella and Magnolia's Mondello Ristorante, have re-envisioned the former Portalis wine shop and wine bar (which has since relocated down the block) as a place where they — and you — might lay low with a drink and a nibble. Their amiable bartenders muddle a contemporary "New Old Fashioned" ($8), mix a mean negroni ($7) and mask the bitter notes of that classic Campari cocktail when serving "The Sicilian" — sweetened with amaretto and orange ($7.50).

Ask for the wine list — which, oddly enough, fails to mention vintage dates yet notes alcoholic percentages — and you'll find it covers the map of Italy, with regional variations and reasonable pricing. Ask for a glass of red with some oomph, and your waiter might suggest a Valtellina Inferno, a soft ripe nebbiolo and the high-end of the glass pours ($7-$12) that pair perfectly with imported Italian salumi — sliced to order. Choose one (say, the spicy Calabrese salami, $4) or an assortment of three ($8), and make sure it includes some prosciutto crudo.

Finger-food fanciers can focus on a variety of formaggi (pray for sottocenere, the truffled cow's milk cheese from Piemonte). Or opt for bruschetta that is thin-sliced, panini-grilled and crowned with everything from warm portobellos to prawns and sweet peppers (or better still, served as an assortment, $8). Fancy-food fanciers should skip the rubbery gnocchi with speck and radicchio ($9), choosing instead a perfect panzanella salad ($8), a bountiful bowlful of mussels and clams ($9) or elegant slices of pork loin and pear meant for swabbing in herbed oil and gorgonzola sauce ($9).

Licorous

928 12th Ave., Seattle, 206-325-6947 or www.licorous.com; 6 p.m.-1 a.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays.

Yes, you now have a place to wait for an unreserved seat at John Sundstrom's luscious Lark, next door. But that's far from the only reason to delight in Lark's little sister, Licorous.

With its fashionable pours and fanciful food pairings, this bar-centric beauty is a dream date dolled up in Seattle-sexy. The wood flooring once lived as shelving at Chubby & Tubby. The embossed tin ceiling is hung with sea-glass chandeliers designed and strung together with paper clips (!) by co-owner Michelle Magidow, who heads a sympathetic service team poised to lead you down the road to indulgence.

Pumpkin-colored sheers shade the storefront, casting a warm glow over imbibers seated on banquettes, their knees grazing the small settees soon to hold coy cocktails like the kaffir lime sour — a Southeast Asian refresher propitiously paired with a spoonful of tuna tartare ($10.50). Or the limoncello-laced "Renaissance" — a drink whose brandy component is echoed in that most bodacious of bonbons: a candy kiss made with foie gras and cream that melts into a magnificent memory. Bet you can't eat just one ($2).

While bartenders tinker with high-end hooch, infusing vodka and gin with fruits and herbs, chef Gordon Wishard takes charge in the kitchen, borrowing from the Sundstrom playbook for all things seasonal and wonderful. Say, white corn soup in an espresso cup floating baby chanterelles ($4); Spanish sardines spritzed with lemon and grilled ($12); a single lamb chop layered over Lucques olives and precious purple potatoes ($5); and chilies-sparked ceviches with geoduck, Spanish mackerel or sweet Carolina prawns ($9/$10).

Saint-Germain

2811A E. Madison St., Seattle, 206-323-9800 or www.saintgermainseattle.com; 11 a.m.-midnight Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Homesick Parisians and Madison Park matrons join friendly Francophiles at this Madison Valley wine bar, a cozy cousin to nearby Voila! Bistrot. Throughout the day and well into the evening, they sit and snack at one of seven marble-topped tables, sipping vin not-so-ordinaire from stem-less wine glasses while considering the brief and very French menu.

Blue-and-white cane chairs and striped demi-curtains cue the American-in-Paris mood, while pony-tailed proprietor Jean-Michel Omnés plays to a captive audience. Omnés is known to hoist an accordion or guitar — when he's not too busy pouring wines by the glass (listed on a chalkboard), pulling corks from one of many half-bottles (not all of which are French), schmoozing in his native language (depending on whom he's talking to — or about) and suggesting a little something from a menu built around a simple seduction: les tartines.

Those open-faced sandwiches ($5.50-$7.50), dual swaths of rustic bread, are carefully grilled, each a crunchy canvas for a variety of taste treats. Breathing garlic, "Monsieur Seguin" comes smeared with fresh goat cheese and draped with rosy slices of smoked duck breast. The "Norvegienne" offers smoked salmon and cream cheese with the zing of fresh lemon. And "La Paysanne" — sweet caramelized onions with an oozy wedge of warm crottin — is as au courant in Paris as the French-pop soundtrack.

Expect a daily soup, a special or two, plus impeccable sandwiches including the classics croque monsieur and pan bagnat, the latter lusciously layered with hard-cooked eggs, tomato, onion, olives and anchovy ($5.75).

Lighter appetites will be appeased by seasonal salads like the thyme-strewn summer sensation bearing teensy cherry tomatoes and Niçoise olives ($7), recently replaced with an autumnal offering of Belgian endive, Bleu D'Auvergne and walnuts ($9). Desserts, strong Italian coffee and unique European beers offer yet another reason to seek out this petite cafe on the rue Madison.

Share your news or restaurant tips with Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com. More reviews at seattletimes.com/restaurants.