• Grilled Portabello Mushroom Wrap $8.95

I was not sure what to expect from Pairings. From the website, I had hard time imagining what the concept really was. But it reminded me a lot of Yummy, basically a upscale cafeteria where food is made to order and you can have wine with your meal. Oh, and the food is much better than any cafeteria I have been to. It is a great concept for families with children as it is easy to find something that the kids will like and mom and dad can have a more adventuresome meal and also have a glass of wine. It was busy when we were there so it also had enough action to entertain a two year old.

I really enjoyed my Grilled Portabello Mushroom wrap it had great flavors with the goat cheese and carmelized onions. It came with chips which were home made and fine. I also opted for a side caesar which was actually one of the best I have had in a while.

Overall if you are in the area, it would be a great place to stop for dinner or lunch.

• Spicy Sausage Cacciatore Pasta $11.95

I was not impressed with my spicy sausage cacciatore penne pasta. It was not spicy. The sausage was bland. The sauce was bland. The only sign of life in the dish were the roasted yellow and red peppers. The kid’s menu cheese pizza was bland.

Based on my tastes of Renee’s portabello mushroom wrap and Caesar salad, they do a better job with salads. Which then makes the concept very weird to me. The concept is wine paired with food. But if the best food are salads and sandwiches, then just order a basic wine to go along with it. It is really when you have good, complex food that you need a good wine pairing. Also, if you are just having a salad or a sandwich, you may not want to order wine. But as we all know, it’s all about selling it and a little differentiation could go a ways toward selling it