Fishtown’s restaurant scene continues to surge as one of the neighborhood’s newest additions opened its doors to the public on Thursday, March 10th. Fishtown Social, a casual and cozy wine cafe, has made its home on the corner of Frankford Avenue and East Oxford Street. Owner Vanessa Wong and her husband Ryan Slaven acquired the property in the summer of 2014 and with the slow transformation of the building’s façade, the bar’s opening has been highly anticipated.

Upon initially purchasing the property, Wong and Slaven had no intentions of turning it into a wine bar. At first, some commercial options stood a chance before the couple got to thinking about something that could fill the space with something that the neighborhood didn’t already have.

While renting their home and temporarily residing with Wong’s parents in Washington Square, Wong and Slaven found themselves spending a lot of time at Tria and realized that Fishtown didn’t have it’s own wine bar. While you can find many fine alcoholic beverages and snacks anywhere in the neighborhood, Fishtown didn’t really have a bar or restaurant that solely highlighted wine in a simple and approachable way. For a neighborhood that’s starting to feel like it’s got everything, we’ve now got a venue where wine is the true focus.

Fishtown Social highlights wines from around the globe, old world and new world, poured from bottles and taps. And the bar doesn’t need a fully equipped kitchen to incorporate wine’s two best friends — cheese and charcuterie. The small menu of snacks incorporates perfect accompaniments — like olives, nuts and rotating crostini — to pair with the wine. With brief tasting notes and origins, the list of wines by the glass is not intimidating.

Wine can sometimes be associated with stuffy snobbery, but Fishtown Social is breaking that stereotype. One step in the right direction is their choice of sommelier and bar manager, Nick Brydels.  Having gained experience at Fork and Tria, Brydels is still a young guy and his fresh look fits the spot’s model. He represents a younger demographic that Fishtown Social intends to reach. Wine doesn’t have to be pretentious and stiff. It can be $14 a glass and it can also be $8 a glass. Wong described wanting to do justice to both the wine and the people drinking it.

Classily dressed in black and white with accents of green, Fishtown Social is tasteful and simple. On the eve that friends and family came to offer their support before opening night, candles accompanied tins of popcorn on the tops of the high tables alongside the windows facing Frankford Ave. Meat and cheese boards displayed a few of the café’s menu items. The new bar glowed in candlelight, but Slaven clearly remembers what the place looked like when they first obtained it. The ground floor of the building used to house a dive bar that Slaven recalls as being quite a mess way back when. What used to be a kitchen is now a small, half-hidden, alcove to the left of the bar, with a few benches built into the wall and pillows for added coziness.

While it is easy to envision Fishtown Social as a sexy date spot, it somehow also feels casual and inviting. First and foremost, Wong wants this place to feel like a neighborhood bar. As a mother of three with a jam-packed schedule, she wants other people like her to feel like they can stop in for a glass of wine and be comfortable for what may be a few, brief moments of relaxation. And because so many people can easily relate to the aforementioned scenario, just like that, wine is now casual.

There are already plans for the future of Fishtown Social. Because this neighborhood thrives on local partnerships, Wong described already looking into collaborating with a local yoga studio for wine and yoga events. For real wine enthusiasts or those looking to educate themselves, there’s talk of classes and clubs. It is important to Wong for the café to be a contributing part of Fishtown. Just this past October, the owners posted up at the Fishtown Night Market on Frankford Avenue and asked locals for input on the logo for the café. Months later, and just in time for spring, Fishtown Social is up and running. Neighbors have also given approval for a few outdoor tables.

Fishtown Social will fit comfortably into the area’s flourishing restaurant scene, as a neighborhood bar of its own simple and classy kind. On a sunny afternoon, with the breeze drifting in from open windows, it’s easy to envision Fishtown Social as a perfect place to simply enjoy a glass of wine with some friends and a meat and cheese board.