his little Mile End wine bar seems intent on promulgating precisely the small, daily pleasures that make Montreal life so beguiling. Tasting "flights" is a wine menu option in which you can sample three two-ounce glasses of wine thematically related by varietals, region, producer or some other thread.

The genuine Italian cuisine woos the eye and the palate with simple beauty and pure quality, while the restaurant wins hearts with its relaxed and generous warmth. The short menu changes often, according to what is fresh and available, so it is always new to even the most frequent of regulars.

And there's not a bad seat in the place. Add to this mix divine food and a classic wine list, and it only makes sense that your chances of impressing your date here are very good. However, it is the wine that is the draw; an exhaustive wine list, featuring more than 300 references, with some old vintages, as well as about 30 different wines by the glass that change on a weekly basis.

Bring a big appetite for wine, a smaller appetite for food and a credit card and let this restaurant have its way with you: The great service, comfortable seats, course after course of carefully prepared Italian dishes all add up, element by element, to a complete, pleasurable and singularly experience. - R.B.