Anticipating the Big Game in Arlington

Like most Dallas football fans, I am anxiously looking forward to watching "the big game" on Sunday which is being broadcast from Arlington, Texas. Did you know that unless you are directly associated with the league or are paying for the rights to use the name, you are not allowed to use *uper *owl, in your advertising statements ?

Even though the local team is not going to be featured, I am still looking forward to what should be a very entertaining game. I have never been to a city which had hosted the big game before but I have heard some interesting stories. I think the most interesting stories, (which have been backed up by numerous advertisements around town) concerns homeowners which have leased their residences for the week long festivities at......pretty exorbitant rates. Some fortunate homeowners, if successful, could garner enough income to satisfy their mortgage payments for several months.

Also, supposedly there is a local motel chain in the Arlington area (rated two stars) which has rented out their rooms at a whopping $600 a night. Unbelievable ! From the media, I have heard reports from prior years events in which they condemned restaurant operators for issuing brand spanking new menus with a greatly inflated pricing structure. Mercy actually may re-print some of our own menus this week as well. In our case, it will be more for cosmetic reasons as a white menu collects a variety of splashes from wine glasses.

Another item of note: Mercy will be "Open For Business" at 2:00 pm instead of our customary 3:57 pm during this week of big game festivities. Addison is a major hotel venue so we anticipate numerous visitors to the area. So, for those of you that are staying in town and have not leased out your residence, stop in for a glass of wine and something to eat during our extended hours of operations.

Mike Castagne
Operations Manager

In Great Company

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and New Year. Like most, we are all happy to see 2010 etched into the history books.

We started off 2011 at Mercy off with a bang!!! We received notification from one of the top industry periodicals, Bar and Nightclub Magazine, that they once again named Mercy as a finalist for Wine Bar of the Year for the entire country.

Last year we were voted in the top 4 and this year we made it to the finals. The winner will be announced in early February. We sure hope this represents the tone of 2011. The panel of judges reviews our wine list, our menu, overview of our web site and traffic on the site. They look at on line guest reviews as well as a lengthy write up of our concept. I am thrilled we made it this far and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that we will receive positive news in the next few weeks.

We were absolutely thrilled this past year when D Magazine voted us Best Wine Bar in Dallas. These recognition awards continue to motivate us and supports that we are moving in the right direction in providing a high quality service to our guests. We so want Mercy to be “the best part of your day”!! Will keep you posted!!!

Mercy !

Glen Agritelley
Owner

You might need a doctor's prescription

I always believe a winemaker is an artist and what a perfect locale like Sedona, Arizona to implant a boutique winery. Owner and winemaker Maynard Keenan, from the rock band Tool, opened Caduceus Cellars winery. With a name which is akin to the Greek symbol of medicine; you might think that you would need a doctor's prescription to partake in this wine.

Their web site is amazing. It has great animation and interaction and I spent an hour exploring and learning about their offerings. Mr. Keenan really has a passion for food and wine having spent months in Europe learning and cooking to experience the diverse culinary paths of the old world.

At Mercy now is Caduceus Primer Paso 2008 : a blend of Syrah and Malvasia Bianca. It like a Côte-Rôtie from the desert of Arizona. You can enjoy Caduceus Primer Paso 2008 for $90 a bottle (in limited avaibility).

Vincent Havard
General Manager and Operating Partner .

The holidays seem a distant memory already

2011 is in full swing and the holidays seem a distant memory already. I am very excited about 2011. I really think great things are going to happen this year. We are off to a great start at Mercy and looking forward to new and exciting things for this year. This past Sunday we kicked off our Sunday night live music nights. We will be doing two a month. We will be having live music every other Sunday from 7-9 pm. This is a great way to end your week. An early night with dinner out, a nice glass of wine and some mellow music to relax by. Don Brown and sidekick Bob will be playing Sunday nights. Stop by and catch them. I can’t think of a better way to wind down the weekend!

Now that the liquor laws have been updated and we are allowed to sell wine for off premises consumption we are gearing up to add this service to our Mercy guests. Vincent continues to do a great job at sourcing hard-to-get wines from smaller boutique wineries. You will now be able to get those wines directly from Mercy. We are busy, right now, working on sourcing several really quality Mercy logo items, such as stemware, wine keys, wine boxes as well as Mercy apparel. We expect everything will be in place for us to launch this in the March timeframe. You will also be able to order directly from our website. For those of you that haven’t had a chance to visit our site lately please do. (mercywinebar.com) I think you notice some very appealing changes. The Music of Mercy has been added throughout the site. We have added some recommendations on food and wine pairing as well. Also as reminder that this is a great source to stay updated on who is performing at Mercy each week. Our calendar lists all of the activities at Mercy you will need to know about. For those of you with iPhones we also have a Mercy mobile app that you can easily download and stay updated via your phone.

We hope you are optimistic about the coming year and look forward to serving you at Mercy!!! Make this the “best part of your day”!! Happy New Year from all of us at Mercy Wine Bar!

Glen
Owner

Breathing a big sigh of relief

I love the holidays; I really do, but they do wear you down, don't they ? Mercy has a lot to be thankful for this past holiday season. We do want to extend our thanks again to all the companies and individuals that came to Mercy for their holiday parties. To those regular guests that we displaced (because of these holiday parties), thank you for your understanding.

The hidden benefit to hosting large scale events as it allows Mercy to directly market a large captive audience. We get to show what we are capable of providing on a large scale and as we always distribute Mercy brochures, we are permitted to introduce ourselves to a new group of potential guests.

Mercy will be closed to the public this Saturday, January 8th as we will host another large private function. We will resume normal operations on Sunday, January 9th.

The first week in February will approach us very shortly as football fans from around the globe will make their journey to our area. We are excited at the prospect of showing new guests what we offer at Mercy and to give the world a taste of some Texas-style hospitality.

We will have just enough time to recover from the Big Game to start making preparations for Valentine's Day !

Thank you for being part of the Mercy family.

Mike Castagne
Operations Manager