Blend 111 Is Offering Authentic Cuisine In A Bistro Environment

This Patch article is sponsored by Blend 111.

Blend 111 is an authentic wine bar and restaurant that offers a "blend" of Latin and European cuisine in a relaxed environment. From its 100 percent organic wines and on-site artisanal coffee roaster to its signature dishes and biodynamic ingredients, the bistro focuses on using organic and locally sourced products while also limiting its environmental footprint.

Michael Biddick, owner and head sommelier at Blend 111, opened the restaurant in May 2019 after transforming the northern Virginia space into a modern, old-world wine bar and restaurant.

"While Vienna has a lot of great restaurants, when people walk through the doors, we want them to forget where they are and have an experience that they might find at a café in Barcelona or a bistro in Paris," Biddick says.

Patch caught up with Biddick to learn more about the unique restaurant and everything it has to offer:

Patch: Tell us a bit about your business.

Biddick: We’re a bistro with a focus on organic and locally sourced products.

Patch: How long have you been doing business in town?

Biddick: We opened our doors in May of 2019 — currently, this is our only location, and everyone involved in the project lives in Vienna.

Patch: If you had to sum up the idea of restaurant to a stranger, what would you say?

Biddick: Latin and European plates paired with natural wine.

Patch: How is Blend 111 different from other restaurants in town?

Biddick: My goal was to create a modern, old-world wine bar and restaurant in the heart of Northern Virginia. While Vienna has a lot of great restaurants, when people walk through the doors, we want them to forget where they are and have an experience that they might find at a café in Barcelona or a bistro in Paris. We are also really small, with only 14 tables. This allows us to hyper-focus on quality and the guest experience.

Patch: What’s the biggest challenge or most difficult moment you’ve faced with the restaurant?

Biddick: Opening a restaurant is really hard. We took on a space that was completely empty and transformed it into a restaurant. We commissioned a few art pieces for the space and spent a lot of time on every little detail. After we got through the opening, getting the right staff took several months. I ended up changing head chefs twice in the first six months. Overall, it took us about 10 months to get everything rocking. We have been incredibly lucky that the entire community has been supportive of the concept from the beginning.

Patch: We heard that you roast your own coffee on-site. How does that fit with the concept?

Biddick: A significant part of Latin and European culture centers on coffee. It was really important for me to have incredibly fresh coffee and that we could control quality. In addition to investing in an on-site artisanal coffee roaster, we also have a state-of-the-art espresso machine and wide range of coffee drinks. We roast coffee every few days and measure and grind the beans for every single drink, to order. It’s a little obsessive, but you get a great coffee. For milk-based coffee drinks, we only use oat milk (no dairy) and also have a collection of superfood lattes that blend in turmeric, purple potato, beetroot, chai and other spices to create healthy drinks (with or without coffee).

Patch: Can you tell us a bit about Blend 111's sustainability efforts?

Biddick: Well, one of the goals when opening the restaurant was to limit the environmental impact that we have. Restaurants are notoriously wasteful, and I wanted to try and take a different path. So, we have several programs to limit our footprint. To start, we only serve organic and biodynamic wines. We target all food products from a 200-mile radius. For our coffee (and wine) that comes from Spain, France and other central American countries, we purchase carbon offsets that fund carbon-reduction programs. All of our coffee is also only fair-trade and organic. There is no single-use plastic on-site. We also invest in a commercial composting program that collects our food waste and scraps. Our goal is to have a single bag of trash per day. We also built a live green wall near the entrance. In addition to filtering the air, it represents our commitment to the planet.

Patch: How often do you change your menu?

Biddick: We tweak our menu daily based on what we find at the markets, but we will change our overall menu four times per year. Some of our signature dishes like the arroz negro, bouillabaisse and butter leaves salad stay on the menu. We have a great collaboration process with the kitchen to create and develop new menu items. Experimentation is a big part of the process. We have about 50 wines on-site and offer 15 of them by the glass. We also rotate different wines in our flights to allow people the opportunity to try wines that they may otherwise not be that familiar with.

Patch: Aside from wine, do you have a full bar?

Biddick: Oh yes. We have all of the classic cocktails and a number of signature drinks that we created. We grow our own mint on-site, so our mojitos are amazing! At brunch, our mimosas, Bloody Mary and papaya passion fruit drinks are very popular. We also have many non-alcoholic drinks on the menu. Our wine is pretty incredible, though. Most of the bottles that we have are only available at Blend 111. One hundred percent of the wines are organic. We have well-known grape varietals like sauvignon blanc and cabernet sauvignon, as well as more unusual grapes like Romorantin and Grolleau that few people have heard of before. We also have a retail license, so guests can just drop in and buy a bottle of wine to go.

Patch: Do you have any events coming up in your community?

Biddick: We love to have live music. It’s a great opportunity to feature local musicians and bring the community together around great food, music and wine. On our webpage, we have an events section with all of our upcoming special dinners, music and other events.

Patch: How can Patch readers learn more about the restaurant?

Biddick: Our website is the best place to start. We also have a Facebook page and an Instagram. All of our contact information is on our website, and you can also sign up for our newsletter for exclusive access to special events, wine tastings and special dinners.