JJ's Restaurant

The wine list at JJ's lands with the quiet confidence of a place that's been doing this seriously since long before it became fashionable. Four hundred to six hundred bottles deep, with California, Bordeaux, and Burgundy forming the spine — this is old-school steakhouse wine done with genuine conviction. You know within the first scroll that someone here actually cares.

The California Cab contingent is stacked — Caymus, Silver Oak, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and Opus One all present, which reads as crowd-pleasing until you notice the French side of the ledger pulling equal weight with Chateau Margaux, Chateau Lynch-Bages, and a solid Burgundy section anchored by Louis Jadot and Domaine Drouhin. Italy gets its due with Antinori Tignanello and Sassicaia, two bottles that signal the list isn't just playing to the KC crowd. There's even a Port section with Graham's Vintage to close the night properly, which is a detail most American steakhouses completely ignore. The gaps are minor — more Southern Rhône or Spanish depth would push this into truly all-world territory — but what's here is cohesive and well-chosen.

Twenty to thirty-five pours by the glass is a serious commitment, and for a classic steakhouse format, that's genuinely impressive range. We'd expect the usual suspects on the glass list, but the breadth of the bottle program suggests the pours are rotated with some intention. Veuve Clicquot Champagne by the glass is the kind of move that tells you staff isn't just phoning it in on the opening pour.