So new the paint is barely dry, I went to the new eastside bar The Victory last night (on the corner of 37th and Division, right across from the E Room). Opened by some of the hotties you’ll recognize from the Aalto, it’s a decent sized space with a good wine selection and a menu of small but scrummy plates of food. We tried the champagne anchovy salad with fennel, olives, arugula, and satsumas (I don’t know what satsumas is, but whatever it was is good), mussels steamed with gruner veltliner and meyer lemons, and a pork belly dish that apparently was a special because now that I look at the menu it’s not there—but it was delicious. Other things that were sorely tempting: The daily pate (I believe it was chicken), baked spaetzle, gruyere cheese, crispy shallots (AKA fancy mac and cheese, always a good idea), ricotta and chanterelle raviolis with quince and sage brown butter, braised short rib, cranberries, and a parsnip cake. I don’t do dessert, but if you swing that way, these sound interesting: bourbon and mint pot de creme and semolina pine-nut torte. They also have of-the-moment cheese and charcuterie plates, soup, etc. Recommended!
Oh wait, apparently these are satsumas:

Japanese oranges. Thanks, google image, for our word of the day.