Morso Wine Bar
Where:  9014 Peacock Hill Ave., Gig Harbor, 253.530.3463
Hours: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, noon to midnight Friday and Saturday,
2 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday
Cuisine: Internationally-inspired, Northwest, small plate shareable dishes
Scene: Comfort meets swank with a view, 21 and older
Drinkies: Wine and beer
Prices: $3-$13

ANNOUNCER: If the innovative Morso Wine Bar in Gig Harbor was a movie, it would have all the elements of a smashing blockbuster hit: a menu of small plates big on flavor and artful presentation with a focus on quality ingredients uniquely combined that pair handsomely with an impressive selection of wines from as global as New Zealand to as local as Woodinville. Take all of that and serve it by informative, sweetly efficient staff in a tastefully, if minimally, decorated environment for prices that match the product. Though the rotating food and wine are the stars of the show, Chef Jeff Bishop certainly deserves an honorable mention. Locally sourced ingredients are used when possible in the crafting of internationally influenced micro dishes perfect for sharing or for self-indulgent solo dining

JAKE: Oh, me likey - water view, clean and uncluttered interior, simple bar, raised chairs - all of it. Nontraditional menu layout means item names and descriptions are on separate sheets. A very attractive older woman served us. I appreciated her no-bullshit style: honest suggestions of what she preferred. And she knew the menu.

JASON: As we were unable to decide on wine, our server patiently brought us several to try. Some had a muddy or overly strong mineral aftertaste; one was so blah it barely existed. I wanted to love Clos de los Siete 2007 - an Argentinean malbec, cab, syrah, merlot blend - but it just fell flat on my tongue. I settled on a 2008 Italian Capestrano montepulciano for its mellow sweetness. Wines are like women - Someone somewhere will love each one; it just won't be me.

JAKE: Hah! You got that right. I enjoyed jammy, earthy plum and blackberry and deep hues of the Bodegas Goulart 2008 malbec reserve.  Morso serves some wines via an Enomatic, a machine that dispenses wine while injecting gas into it to preserve an open bottle. I was skeptical but got over it as we dug into a parade of small plates, and I sipped and sipped.

JASON: Served with six semi-hard oblong toasts, the crostini sampler allowed us to try dark brown olive tapenade with punchy flavor hits, moderately smooth red pepper, tomato, garlic, basil romesco, and silky white bean, cilantro, and citrus puree. A tiny little cup held about 10 large black, medium green and small brown olives. I thought maybe we'd each get our own dish, but no. After being roasted in sweet marsala wine, a handful of crimini and button mushrooms circled large, cut up portabella served in a heavy, square cast iron skillet. Fat, pale yellow polenta disk held center ground beneath fungi. Mmmm, buttery richness. If only I'd thought to do this with Liberty Caps and Blue Ringers in high school; it would have been a whole different kind of trip.

JAKE: Like you could cook anything this good. Here, fishy fishy - one 3- to 4-inch long Spanish sardine wore soft pesto that increased the already nicely oily fish. It maintained creamy texture on its own, too. I was surprised at how it melted in my mouth. About half a foot long, veggie flatbread consisted of micro-sliced, slightly charred, reddish purple eggplant that mocked the appearance of a Red Delicious apple. Chopped basil, sautéed white onions and roasted sweet red peppers lay on the thin crust as if they were napping comfortably under sporadic crumbles of tangy white goat cheese. A bit of Fontina and more of that bean puree compounded complexity.

JASON: Hand-formed to be flat on one side as to remain stable and not roll off the pillowy pita triangles, moist meatballs made of visible onion bits, herbs and lamb - raised locally in Ellensburg to boot - was a personal meat fave. I like my tzatziki (yogurt sauce) to have more spice and garlic than what was spooned between meat and bread. I did enjoy the extra dollops placed in two corners of the plate and certainly used them.

JAKE: And now we've reached Jason's real favorite: dessert. A flourless chocolate torte that was more cake than torte was moist and hinted at almond. Brilliant purple blackberry ice cream from Olympic Mountain went famously with polenta cake.

JASON: Yeah, the polenta cake was a big, fat surprise. I link polenta with savory dishes; yet, it played double agent beautifully and even with slightly crunchy texture had an amazingly light mouth-feel. Spongy like corn bread, it tasted of zippy citrus and honey accents. The torte and cake were topped with fresh whipped cream with detectable powdered sugar. Starbuck's French press decaf coffee won out over vino; though, I was sorely tempted. Man, do I enjoy finely crafted things.

JAKE: Post visits, I discovered Morso's large deck is now open. It would be just like you to take a girl to the ocean off-season.

JASON: Uh, Jake, you just called yourself a girl.