$$$$
Wine barMid City
Offhand Wine Bar gives the Westside Winos crew a Santa Monica Boulevard room of their own, low-fuss pours and plates from lunch to midnight pours.
PourRotating by-the-glass chalkboard
WineLow-intervention pours from the Westside Winos crew
FoodLunch and dinner plates
TipFriday and Saturday it holds the corner till midnight, rare for this stretch; lunch service makes it a day-drinking sleeper.
$$$$
Wine barDowntown
AJA Vineyards pours its Malibu Coast AVA estate wines in a 2nd Street tasting room in Santa Monica, flights and glasses beside boards of cheese and snacks.
PourMalibu Coast estate flight
WineMalibu Coast AVA estate wines
FoodArtisanal snacks and grazing boards
TipHappy hour knocks 5 dollars off flights Wednesday to Friday 15:00-18:00; outside food is allowed for a 15 dollar fee.
$$$$
ItalianMontana Avenue
Sogno Toscano stacks an espresso bar, Italian market and wine bar into one Montana Avenue corner in Santa Monica, panini by day and aperitivo by night.
PourTuscan red with a Bufalina panino
WineTuscan producers and Italian classics
FoodPanini, salumi and market plates
TipBookable wine tastings run in the evenings; otherwise take a Bufalina panino and a glass at the window.
$$$$
Cheese shopPico
Lady & Larder builds California cheese boards and stacked deli sandwiches on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, a sister-run shop with serious wine to go.
PourBoard-friendly California chenin
WineCalifornia small growers, bottles to go
FoodCheese boards and deli sandwiches
TipSandwiches like the Hot Girl Salami sell out before 14:00; order boards for pickup a day ahead.
$$$$
SpanishDowntown
Xuntos fills a 1926 Art Deco building in downtown Santa Monica with Sandra Cordero's Galician tapas, razor clams, percebes and vermouth over two floors.
PourVermouth on tap, poured over ice
WineSpanish wines, vermouth and Basque cider
FoodGalician pintxos and tapas
TipThe menu runs from jamon iberico to Galician empanadas; ask for the mezzanine seats above the bar.
$$$$
SeafoodMain Street
Crudo e Nudo runs a chalkboard of daily raw fish on Main Street in Santa Monica, chef Brian Bornemann dry-aging ikejime catch from Baja up to Monterey.
PourChilled biodynamic white with the crudo flight
WineBiodynamic small producers for raw fish
FoodDaily crudo and sustainable seafood
TipWine director Simona Topuzovska pours biodynamic small growers; the daily happy hour 15:00-17:00 is the value window.