Barstool: Silo Bistro & Bar

by Eric Ginsburg

It’s about time somebody named a drink after Chris Paul. Actually there’s one here for Maya Angelou, too.

Right after the more generic sounding “very berry mojito,” “sunrise lemonade” and the slightly more creative “partly cloudy with a chance of rum” is a drink that some people would confuse with a Star Wars reference.

It’s hard to say if the CP3 contains any ingredients that its namesake — former Wake Forest University basketball standout and now LA Clippers star Chris Paul — would like: Absolut Mandarin, Malibu Red, pineapple juice and grenadine with a golden sugar-rimmed glass. But hey, at least it has red to represent the Clippers primary color and gold for the Demon Deacons.

If anywhere is going to pay homage to Wake Forest’s big names, it makes sense that it would be a venue in Reynolda Village, the posh shopping center next to campus owned by the college. There’s a nod to another Wake-turned-pro celebrity too — the Duncan Delight martini. The mental image of the giant Tim Duncan carefully sipping a blueberry vodka, vanilla vodka and limoncello frosty martini is mildly amusing, to say the least.

Will Kingery, the owner of King’s Crab Shack and Willow’s Bistro, gave Silo Bistro & Bar a makeover when he took over recently, but there was already a lot to work with. Manicured flowerbeds lead up a path to outdoor seating in front of the restaurant, where incoming first-year students and their families could be found eating lunch last week. With intriguing vegetarian options like the brie, sliced green apple and fig chutney sandwich, an assortment of seafood choices like an Old Bay shrimp roll and classic Southern ingredients like pulled pork and pimiento cheese, who could blame them?

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And how about the prosciutto-wrapped figs with gorgonzola cheese small plate, or the s’mores dessert with melted, hot chocolate under marshmallows with dipping graham crackers for dessert?

Silo is the site of the worst first-date I’ve ever suffered through, but that’s a whole ’nother story. The important thing to know is that all blame rests with the other party, and not the venue itself.

In fact the assortment of food and drinks available — albeit reduced now that Crown & Cork bar next door, which had been owned by the same people, is now closed — and the ambiance are more than enough to qualify it as a pretty ideal date location. A variety of drink options, small plates, vegetarian cuisine, outdoor or indoor dining, quiet surroundings not far from Reynolda’s gardens and the lack of a wait all contribute to the appeal.

But regardless of who comes along, one of the best motives for showing up at Silo Bistro & Bar for drinks is the specials list. Among the more common half-off wine bottles or $3 beer promos are two mimosa days priced so cheaply it looks like a typo: $2 on Sundays, and just a dollar all day every Monday.

Starting off the week never sounded so good.

Visit Silo Bistro & Bar at 114 Reynolda Village (W-S) or on Facebook.