Charro del Rey

The wine list at Charro del Rey reads like a greatest hits album you've heard too many times — Meiomi, Kendall-Jackson, Decoy. It's safe, recognizable, and asks you to pay well above retail for the privilege of seeing names you already know from the grocery store shelf.

Twenty to thirty bottles, all domestic, almost entirely California with a lone New Mexico sparkling wine as the only real curveball. There's no Old World presence, no coastal whites from Spain or Italy that would feel right at home next to a tower of oysters, and no real attempt to push beyond the big-brand comfort zone. The list does what it needs to do to keep the table busy, but it's clearly not where this restaurant puts its creative energy — that belongs to the tequila program. If you're hoping for a Chablis or Albariño to cut through fresh ceviche, you'll be disappointed.

Eight options by the glass cover the basics — sparkling, white, red — with prices running $10 to $16. The spread is inoffensive but entirely predictable, and there's no indication that the selection rotates with any intention or seasonality. What you see is what you get, probably for a long time.