New Meaning for Hollywood, Vine

The newly opened Victor’s, 1917 Bronson Ave., Hollywood, (213) 464-0275, appears at first to be a perfectly ordinary deli/coffee shop sort of place: respectable burgers, sandwiches, patty melts, roast chicken, pancakes. The decor is slightly upscale--gray industrial carpet, pink-shirted waiters--but only when you order a glass of wine does Victor’s reveal itself.

Ask for a white and the waiter rattles off a list of 10 big-deal Chardonnays--Cakebread, Grgich Hills, the wines vary from day to day. If you prefer red, the name-dropping might include Optima, Jordan or B.V.

This is the wine you drink in a restaurant run by wine-shop people--Victor’s wine shop is right next door. Their wines have appeared in all the best homes in the Hollywood Hills. And their takeout--marinated artichokes, sandwiches and desserts--has been served at studio bashes and Hollywood Bowl parties for years.

But now that the restaurant is open, it’s possible to sit in a booth and come to the stunning realization that a $6 glass of Stag’s Leap Chardonnay is just the thing for a 5-inch tall club sandwich.