Anthem couple open wine cafe
Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 2/10/2010

The atmosphere that Chris and Teresa Prather were looking to establish when they opened Wild Vines Tasty Vino and Hip Hops last month in Anthem is succinctly stated on their menu.
“Come in as customers, leave as friends.”
The Anthem couple explains that they don’t come from the restaurant industry and they think that will benefit their patrons.
“Because we’re not from the industry we bring the perspective of being a customer and what they want is what we want to do,” he said. “We want to create a friendly atmosphere. We want to provide our customers great value and we want to offer them a variety.”
The couple admits that they were far from experts when it came to wine when they elected to open the restaurant at 41111 N. Daisy Mountain Drive, but felt it would be a well-received venture.
“We had been in the contracting business in Portland and since that business is pretty tough right now we wanted to try something different,” Chris said. “We found this place and felt we could bring something to the area that has been missing.”
After hiring a consultant in wine the Prather’s established a menu with 29 different selections. While some will be sold by the bottle most will be sold by the glass, ranging in price from $6 - $12.
“We’re learning with our customers,” Teresa said. “A lot of people know what they like, but some people come in and they’re not sure. That’s okay too. We’ll let them get a small sample. Once we get a feel for their tastes we get a direction for what they might like. Some people are more willing to experiment than others.”
In addition to the wine selection the restaurant has five beers on draft and 11 bottled beers. They also have a variety of food options from beef tenderloin and chicken skewers as appetizers, to salads and bruschetta, sandwiches and pastas.
As for the décor Teresa said they were looking to make a departure from the typical wine bar.
“You go to a lot of these places and they’ve got the dark cherry wood bars and they’re very masculine,” she said. “We went a different route. We have mosaic tiles and we wanted a more contemporary feel.”
Not yet open a month Chris said the couple has already seen some regulars emerge.
“The weekends have been very popular,” Teresa said. “But we’re able to serve everybody. Nobody goes waiting for long.”
The restaurant features high top tables and bar seating along with an outdoor patio with heaters.
Wild Vines is open Tuesday-Sunday at 5 p.m., closing at midnight Tuesday-Thursday and at 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
For information on Wild Vines call 623-465-0010 or go to the businesses’ Facebook page that can be found by searching Wild Vines. A website is also under construction at www.WildVines.net.