Which sounds just a little bit shady, except when the conspirators share the benefits, and the benefits involve red, white, and sparkling.
It's The Blue Room and central bottle who are in cahoots these days. One's the award-winning Mediterranean-influenced restaurant in Kendall Square, the other's the recently-opened, small-producer-focused wine shop near Central Square.
The benefit of their being in cahoots?
Increased buying power.
How they're passing that benefit along to you?
Starting this weekend they're instituting Retail Sundays.
That means that, when you're having dinner at The Blue Room and you order a bottle of wine, you'll pay the price you'd pay as if you bought it at central bottle.
That means no exponential mark-up.
That means no corkage fee.
That means one price, whether it's at the restaurant or the shop.
That means -- and this is the best part -- that you're in cahoots too.
WHAT: Retail Sundays, starting February 28
WHERE: The Blue Room, One Kendall Square, Cambridge
WHEN: Starting Sunday, February 28 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
RSVP: Call 617.494.9034
DAILY TIDBIT:
Generally, retail is 1.5 times higher than wholesale. That means a $10 bottle of wine would sell for $15 in a store. However, this is the "suggested retail" and many retailers mark it up less. In a restaurant, a markup on that $10 bottle of wholesale wine would be $25 for 2.5 times, or $30 for 3 times. (Source: Restaurant reviewer Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle in an article published January 8, 2010)
