’Wine Bar’ Restaurants Have Taken Hold In the U.S. The Trend Is Spreading Globally.

When the James Beard Foundation announced its national culinary awards this summer, both the hospitality industry and the general public tuned in to see who topped the list in each category. Big winners included Los Angeles’s Kato for best wine program, Scotch Lodge in Portland, Ore., for outstanding bar, Philadelphia’s Kalaya for outstanding restaurant, and NYC’s Lei, which took home the prize as the country’s best new restaurant. On one level, that last award was hardly surprising.