Small Biz: Tapas, wines taking Flight

Bill Marcie, who got his "feet wet" in the bar business in 1996 when he opened Rum Runners in downtown Athens, has returned to the Classic City to open another and very different type of establishment.

Marcie and business partner/girlfriend Lecian Gardner plan to launch Flight Tapas and Bar sometime this week next to the Georgia Theatre on South Lumpkin Street.

Flight will offer 20-plus tapas-style - snacks or small plates of food - menu items that range from soups to pan-seared salmon. In planning the restaurant, Marcie and Gardner brought in their neighbor and friend David Marlow to serve as chef after they tasted some of his cooking at private dinner parties.

"We would get together for dinner parties and I liked to cook," Marlow said. "They really appreciate food, but hadn't started shopping for a chef. Then someone came up with the idea to ask me to be the chef."

At Flight, Marlow will prepare the meals in a full kitchen that recently was added to the space. Marlow developed a menu that will cover a range of fares that he hopes customers will want to match with certain wine varietals, including a lot of Spanish wines, among Flight's selections.

"We'll have a nice selection of Spanish wines because we all love Spanish wines, but there will be an international selection," Marlow said.

The restaurant also will include a full bar and an extensive wine cellar under the dining area.

"The Flight idea is to pair flights of food with flights of wine," Marlow said. "Our sommelier (wine steward) will be (making those suggestions.)"

A sampling of the menu includes these choices:

► Carrot ginger soup with basil oil

► Wild mushroom soup with porcini

► Risotto with gorgonzola cheese and porcini mushrooms

► Bocadillo - a baguette with lavender pulled pork, brie cheese with purple potato salad

► Warm spinach salad with pickled red onions, blue cheese and warm bacon vinaigrette

► Prince Edward Island mussels with garlic, red curry broth and cilantro

► Grilled pettite filet - a tender shoulder cut of beef with new potatoes and a demi-glace

► Trio of spring rolls - duck confit, lobster and vege

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