WINO: The downtown Purple…Inspired, right?

LK: Yeah, you know, it was a big step for us to go downtown. We had a restaurant in Las Vegas that was similar in style, you know, wine bar concept, but then we moved up here and it was the same sort of philosophy that we wanted to use to approach Purple up in this market. And then, it was really a suburban neighborhood restaurant, and then our next step after we opened Kirkland, we thought we’d look at other suburban neighborhoods and maybe a more urban population, and this space became available, our broker found it. We looked at it, got along with the landlord, and it evolved. We thought, let’s try it, let’s see what it’s like in a downtown neighborhood.

WINO: When you saw this space, were you like, “We have to make this work”?

LK: Honestly, we were looking at this space and another suburban neighborhood in town, and we were looking at different options, but this one was just so different and so amazing. … Our architect is a good friend of mine, he came up and was just like, “This is amazing.” It’s just a glass box, and I think with the development of this space, it’s not that it was difficult, but I think that we definitely knew that we needed to show restraint when it came to the design. You can do a lot of things you can do with a big open box, but it was these huge glass windows and transparency, it’s like a fishbowl. We don’t feel like we did a lot architecturally with this space, nor did we need to do a lot. The tower, of course, is something that’s relatively dramatic, but there’s not much more there.

WINO: What made you think of the tower?

LK: It was really an inspiration from our architect. If you look at our other locations, if you’ve been in Kirkland before, there’s a really mini-tower in the back bar, so it was kind of taking that and adapting it to this space. And it’s elliptical shaped like a grape, and there are some cross-references there.

WINO: Is Purple as a concept something that was inspired by your previous restaurant ventures, or was it like you decided, “I want to do food and wine.”

LK: Well, that was the previous restaurant venture, and the way it all came about for me was that I was in graduate school in Boston getting my MBA, and thinking—I was never in the restaurant industry before—but I was thinking, “I like food and I like wine,” and at that time, this was like the mid-nineties and there was this perception of wine prices being totally inflated in the restaurant industry, and it was something I really started looking at, thinking that that doesn’t make sense. Then I was looking at wine bars, and I didn’t really see any examples of a wine bar with a really significant full-service food menu. So, why not bring the two together, bring the pricing down, maybe add a little retail element to it, and that was the inspiration for the restaurant we had in Las Vegas. We decided to go after it. … About two years into it, I realized I didn’t want to be in Las Vegas, we had a kid, we travelled up here on vacation and loved it, so we decided to sell our interest and then move up here and start over. So, we took the same foundation, and started looking around in this market, became familiar with wine country here in Woodinville, found this little space, and just started over. … It took a while, it was a struggle, and then we realized that for me and my personality, and for the business in itself, we needed to grow it a little bit for us to do what we wanted to do with it, and that was the inspiration behind Kirkland.

We entered into a discussion of the wine industry, and we told Larry a little about the mission of WINO Magazine.

LK: That was really—back to how we got into it—pricing was part of that, but there was also the pretentiousness of “scary,” you know, wine being out there and “Oh I don’t want to ask a question because I’ll look stupid as a guest” or making everyone feel very comfortable with it and more approachable.

WINO: Is that why you don’t have any sommes walking around?

LK: Kinda… I mean, it’s funny, we were talking earlier about this. We revisit this every so often, where, hey maybe we need to hire a somme for Seattle, and it doesn’t work for us, versus having our staff educated as well as we can. It’s very challenging, especially with our list ever-changing and being so big. And our managers. We want our guests to feel that when they’re on our floor, our staff is educated enough to get through and to offer up good advice to get through that experience, and then there should be someone at any given time who’s more of a specialist like a somme, and I’m saying this like it’s pretentious, but it’s not so much like that anymore. We really want people to understand what we’re trying to do, and if they can walk away feeling like they’ve learned something too without shoving it down their throat, that’s a huge benefit for us as well.

WINO: You’ve been open on Capitol Hill for a couple of years now, and with evident success. What inspired you to open Poco?

Bart: Temporary insanity!
Peter: [Laughs] There’s nothing like a couple of glasses of wine to make opening your own wine bar sound like a great idea.
Bart: Totally!

WINO: Naming a business can be a daunting task—trying to find something that captures what a business is all about. How did you choose Poco?

Bart: We wanted something easy to spell and pronounce.
Peter: Something to bounce off the tongue when you say “Meet me at Poco.”
Bart: Not “Meet me at Poco’s.”
Peter: [Laughs] Definitely. It’s simply Poco.
Bart: Simple, small, warm and friendly. We think the name pretty much captured that.

WINO: There is definitely a certain vibe about Poco. How would you describe the personality of Poco, and how did you make that happen?

Peter: We chose Capitol Hill for Poco because we love the people here and we live here ourselves. We wanted Poco to be true to that neighborhood feeling.
Bart: We wanted Poco to be sophisticated but warm and low key. We’re really happy how gorgeous the interior turned out to be, without being pretentious or self-important. We try hard not to cater to people with attitude, mostly because they’re no fun!
Peter: We rely on our staff to keep that vibe going every night. Our staff is fun, easy to like, and they love the Poco vibe as much as we do.

WINO: Your wine list rotates like a carousel. How do you choose your wines? How do the wines fit the personality of Poco?

Peter: [Laughs] I love the word carousel because I feel like I’m spinning around all the time! The wine list, from the beginning, I wanted it to be eclectic. I wanted it to be simple, and full of great wines at affordable prices. Wines that people would want to introduce to their own friends. I have great respect for my wine distributors and work with them closely. Our emphasis is on enjoyment, more than appreciation. You don’t have to be a wine geek to love our wines. If a wine is yummy, it’s a Poco wine!
Bart: [Pause] Peter’s got a great talent for picking wines. I’ve got a great talent for drinking them.
Peter: [Laughs] Bart’s my best critic when tasting new wines I’ve picked.

WINO: What are some of the things you’re most proud of since you opened up shop?

Bart: First off, we’re proud of the people who come to Poco. We tried really hard to avoid that glitzy downtown lounge feel, full of people who drive expensive cars and look down their noses. When we first imagined Poco, we had a clear idea of the kind of people we wanted there, and that’s really happened.
Peter: That’s true. We really like our patrons. Some of them have become good friends. I’m most proud of people who have come to Poco and found love for each other. We’ve had two engagements, one wedding, and countless first dates at Poco.
Bart: I’m also proud of the love people have for the place itself. We love Poco, but we built it. To have other people love it as much as we do is really wonderful.

WINO: You mentioned your involvement with the GSBA. How has this helped Poco grow?

Peter: Wow, where do we start? The GSBA was our first lifeline in helping us get involved with the community.
Bart: As new business owners we didn’t have a clue what we were doing.
Peter: [Laughs] True, true! There’s nothing like learning on the job.
Bart: We’ve gotten a lot of great advice from them, as well as moral support. They want us to succeed!
Peter: In all seriousness, my fondness for the GSBA and the people who work there is very heartfelt. They’ve taught us many ways as business owners how we can give back to the community in little but important ways. The GSBA folks are really good at giving, and I locked onto that immediately because I wanted to find my own little niche of giving.

WINO: How is Poco part of the community?

Bart: Community involvement is huge for us. It’s the real reason we started Poco—to give a great wine bar to the neighborhood and the city.
Peter: And we’ve done some sponsorships that I’m really proud of, like the Gay Softball World Series last Summer in Seattle. And the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. We also did fundraisers for the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Stonewall Soccer for their trip to Copenhagen this summer.
Bart: I think we both wish Poco was able to make even more of a contribution.
Peter: The neighborhood and the community have embraced us for who we are. We’re very thankful for that. That’s really what it’s about.

WINO: So, what lies ahead in 2009?

Peter: Great question! I say that because Bart and I always dream of growth. But, growth for Poco is not like other businesses that think of growth as expanding. I want to keep Poco right where it is. It’s a place I feel won’t move; it would lose it’s character and charm.
Bart: But it can grow in other ways.
Peter: Right. 2009 brings a few changes that we are working on currently. We hope to have a full liquor license, which we applied for last December. It will just enhance what we already do with our wine. We want to keep it simple, keep it fun, keep it cozy. No plans for the next martini bar. You won’t find that. What you will fiind is some fun ways we are playing with wine cocktails. We’ll share with patrons and see what kind of a review we get from them.
Bart: We’ll keep the focus on wine and on people having a good time, but mixing up the drink selection a little bit.
Peter: People will find subtle changes in the interior, too. Just a small facelift to add a bit more seating on those nights when folks are standing. Menu changes will begin in February with a switch to more sharing plates. Poco is for people-interaction, and we want that to come across in our food. Other ideas for growing Poco are always on our minds. That’s the great fun! People are always asking, “What’s next?” and you like to keep them wondering…[Laughs]