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Business & Tech

Prefer Local Vino Picks? Get Your Kicks at Brix

After four years, the popular wine cafe is settling in nicely to its comfortable location at Kirkland's Juanita Village.

ON A CRISP, sunny autumn day, co-owner Dave Zimmerman met me at the door of the casual Juanita Village wine bar wearing the standard Northwest uniform of jeans, fleece and a baseball cap.

Chef Aaron Lee had his classic rock tunes cranked in the kitchen, simmering sauces in preparation for the evening’s dinner service. It was to the swell of Hotel California's dueling guitar solo that Zimmerman unfolded the story of his wine bar-turned-restaurant.

It starts with two women meeting by chance at dental hygiene school. The women became instant friends -- “like sisters almost” -- and introduced their husbands to each other.

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“It’s been eight or nine years now,” says Zimmerman of when he met his friend and business partner Keith Mourer. The families have kids of similar ages and both live in the Kirkland area.

Though Mourer’s background is as an accountant in the high tech field, Zimmerman describes him as having a very entrepreneurial spirit. Zimmerman has worked in business management for REI, as a stock broker for Smith Barney, a high school basketball coach in Bellevue and even an algebra teacher at a homeschool coop.

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Then he bought a wine kit and 100 pounds of grapes.

“I tried making wine for a while and it was really bad...I got some help from some guys in Woodinville and it gradually got better, but my wife got sick of the smell and I didn’t have the room. So that was the end of that,” says Zimmerman.

Sometimes the end of one thing can spark the beginning of something else. Zimmerman and Mourer knew they wanted to start a business involving wine.

“We tossed around the idea of a 'Dinner’s Ready' concept that included wine, but ran into some issues with liquor laws and so on,” says Zimmerman.

They finally decided on a wine bar, which Zimmerman says has morphed into more of a restaurant. Named after the 19th century German chemist A.F.W. Brix who developed a scale for measuring sugar content in liquids -- Brix opened in 2007 in a corner unit of the slow-to-fill Juanita Village.

“We like this front, this little neighborhood community right here,” says Zimmerman of why they chose Juanita Village over downtown Kirkland. “I think Kirkland is going through a lot of changes, downtown especially. We thought this was pretty solid. We liked the front, the patio area and the overall feel.”

Kirkland has become a hotbed for wine bars in recent years with Brix, , , and the new . Zimmerman attributes their popularity to Kirkland’s proximity to Woodinville, the winery hub of Western Washington.

“I like the demographics around here. It’s a great fit. It’s definitely the Northwest palate at Brix.”

THE WINE BAR carries around 200 different wines at any given time, predominately Northwest labels. He created the list through endless wine tasting sessions and by paying careful attention to what locals want to drink.

“It’s different vs. downtown (Seattle), where a lot of places will go eclectic with people wanting to go all across the board trying wines from everywhere. This area is more ‘locally-centric’ -- people love local wines. We originally thought it would be great to have wines from everywhere, a massive list, but we slowly weaned it down to what people really want here. They like the local stuff.”

Chef Aaron Lee, most recently from Bellevue’s 0/8 Seafood Grill, joined the Brix team in 2009, adding his own touch to the restaurant. He was attracted to Brix because it afforded him the opportunity to have more responsibility and a chance to do his own thing.

Every couple of weeks, Lee offers new dishes, such as spinach and shrimp stuffed sole with red pepper buerre blanc. The flatbread choices are always popular with guests stopping in for a happy hour snack and glass of wine.

“We are at a point where we are very happy with the way things are going here,” says Zimmerman.

He says that starting a restaurant is a steep learning curve at the beginning and wishes he had known all of the little costs involved.

“But you live and learn. Our customers are great people and our staff is amazing.”

Zimmerman is perfectly content recognizing that Brix is not a destination restaurant like .

“Our goal is to provide quality food and wine in a friendly, casual environment.”

Brix is open for dinner nightly starting at 4 p.m., with happy hour until 6 p.m. and during the last hour of business. It offers daily specials listed on the Brix website. Brix does not accept reservations, with the exception of the private dining room. Call 425-242-0280 for more information.

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