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Wine Exchange fans raise toast

By Rick Gershman
Published June 8, 2007

The Wine Exchange Bistro closed May 15 but reopened over the weekend after a meeting of the business minds. It will move to a space a few hundred feet away, off Snow Circle, around November, said managing partner Rick Drummond.
	[Times photo: Melissa Lyttle]

If the cars parked outside and diners on the patio didn't give it away, the big yellow banners probably did the job.

Most anyone traveling on W Swann Avenue through the village got the picture: The Wine Exchange Bistro is back in business.

Old Hyde Park Village's most venerated restaurant, more than 17 years strong, reopened last weekend after being closed for almost three weeks.

The reopening was the latest twist in a complicated saga.

When a developer purchased Old Hyde Park Village in 2005, representatives worked out a plan for the Wine Exchange to move to a larger, more central location in the village.

The plans fell through. In May, restaurant owner Mark Smith announced that the popular destination would close for good.

"There were good-faith efforts by both parties to continue the presence of the Wine Exchange in Old Hyde Park, " Smith said then. "But ultimately the decision was made by myself, and that was to cease operations."

Wine Exchange managers wouldn't get into the particulars of what changed since then.

But the restaurant's managing partner, Rick Drummond, said one consideration was "all the attention we got" from dismayed regulars when the closing was announced. "We realized just how important we were to the village, " Drummond said.

The new plan has the Wine Exchange remaining at W Swann and S Rome avenues until about November, Drummond said. Then it will move to a space a few hundred feet away, off Snow Circle.

The restaurant's reopening was music to the ears of Stanton Storer, 47, a Wine Exchange regular.

He dined and wined Tuesday with his friend Toby Linzy, 43, in the restaurant's courtyard.

"I'm loving the fact that a local, independent, successful establishment is back in business, " said Storer, who has been eating here for about 15 years.

The food and wine are great, Storer said, but the Wine Exchange's greatest appeals are "the people who work here, and I love the courtyard feel."

Times staff writer Melissa Lyttle contributed to this report. Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.

[Last modified June 7, 2007, 14:23:01]