by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Calling a downtown-area bar a lawyer hangout might seem redundant, but The Grotto wine bar in San Marco is building a case as the bar attorneys have the hardest time passing. For the lawyers who gather there every Thursday, The Grotto is the bar where everybody knows your claim.
Although a lawyer himself, owner Mitch Woodlief never envisioned he’d be spending so much time surrounded by his contemporaries when he and partner Chad Munsey opened the bar three years ago. But given The Grotto’s location in San Marco square and its extensive wine cellar, it
was only a matter of time before the lawyers
came calling.
“It wasn’t like I was out there talking this place up on the job,” said Woodlief. “But there’s a lot of lawyers living in the area and one would bring a friend, then they’d bring a friend and so on.”
Among the regulars, Harrell and Harrell attorney Tim Martin is generally credited with setting the precedent for the Thursday evening get-togethers. Martin lives in the surrounding San Marco neighborhood and started showing up shortly after the bar opened. He was part of the legal crowd last Thursday clustered around their usual table just inside the front door.
From a distance, the group looks like a standard gathering of professionals sharing good wine and chatting amiably at happy hour. It’s only the subject of their conversation that leaves no doubt about how they earn their living.
Today the conversation centers around a medical clamp that was sewn into a patient during surgery. The table buzzes about who might be fortunate enough to catch this case, which looks like a slam-dunk winner to just about everyone.
“There are medical malpractice cases and then there are ‘What the hell were you thinking?’ cases,” says one.
Despite that conversation, attorney Tom Edwards of Peek, Cobb, Edwards and Ashton said he comes to The Grotto because the shop talk is kept to
a minimum
“It’s one of the few places I can go to get away from work,” said Edwards. “That’s what’s good about
this place.”
But the escapist atmosphere isn’t the only attraction. The main draw at The Grotto remains the bottles of red and white stacked on racks running the length of the bar.
Like many of his customers, Woodlief is a reformed beer drinker.
It wasn’t until a friend poured him a glass of Chateau de Beaucatel
(he still remembers the 1981 vintage) that he began to rethink his dinner drink.
“I just remember everything coming together. The wine complemented the steak so well and the conversation about the bottle really added
to the conversation around the table. Wine is such a social thing,”
said Woodlief.
Woodlief’s palette was still developing when he opened The Grotto. He has since passed the first-level test toward becoming a master sommelier, a kind of master’s degree for wine enthusiasts, but he counted on partner Munsey, who had previously helped open Bistro Aix, to stock the bar’s wine racks.
“I knew that this was a good business opportunity, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Chad,” said Woodlief. “I knew he had the knowledge and experience to run it. And that allowed me to concentrate on my practice when I needed to.”
Woodlief admits to facing “a steep learning curve” in the bar’s first year but business steadily has increased, a trend the owners think will continue as Jacksonville, and downtown, continue to develop.
“As Jacksonville develops, and more people move here from
other cities, I think the city’s appreciation for wine will only grow,” said
Woodlief.