Right chef, right wine at Kitchen Sync

When Wine Sync, the Northville wine shop, added a menu to its offerings, what better name to give the new entity than Kitchen Sync?

Proprietor Alan Verstraete reconfigured the space to allow for a small, but efficient, open kitchen and removed some wine displays to make room for high-topped tables that can seat up to 40.

Most important of all, he found just the right chef in Jeff Condit, former co-owner of Gala in Farmington, where he had presided over a menu of small plates since 2005. Actually, Condit found him, after he began contacting wine bars to see if his experience with tapas could work for them.

He and Verstraete hit it off, and just four weeks ago, after several months of planning, they unveiled Kitchen Sync.

Condit put together a small but well-chosen menu of small plates that pair well with wine, and also began serving fixed-price dinners on Saturday nights. At $19.95-$24.95 per person, including two glasses of wine, the dinners are quite a deal.

On a recent Saturday night, the theme was Chile, and dinner began with a beautiful salad of haricots vert, thin, tender green beans, multi-colored mini-heirloom and Roma tomatoes and shaved red onion in a simple vinaigrette made with lemon juice, vinegar and light olive oil. That was followed by sweet potato dumplings in a rosemary and roasted garlic cream sauce sparked with toasted hazelnuts, a lovely combination of flavors and textures.

The main course was a choice between puerco estofado con pebre (braised pork shank atop polenta) or chiles rellenos con pebre (bright red piquillos peppers stuffed with chevre) and served, like the pork, atop the creamy polenta. The wine was from Chile's Colchagua Valley, and it worked well with the appealing menu.

On the days when there are no special dinners, a list of tapas is presented on sushi bar-style check-off menus. Dishes include a lively mix of candied pecans, toasted walnuts, olives or toasted almonds; flatbread topped with three cheeses and roasted tomatoes and thin slices of bresaola (dried, salted beef); and lamb chop "pops," bite-sized chops with a cabernet glaze.

There are also paninis made with prosciutto and Brie with artichokes and thyme; and cheese and sausage boards with crackers and fresh fruit. Service is friendly, knowledgeable and unpretentious.

The tiny kitchen, in full view next to the six-seat wine bar, includes only a double-tier convection oven, two induction burners and a panini grill, but it seems to be plenty for the chef.

Verstraete also has a second Wine Sync in downtown Mount Clemens at 65 Macomb Place, and he hopes to add the Kitchen Sync element there.

It looks like a winning combination to me.

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