Ribelle

After a lengthy stint at Oleana, Ribelle’s wine director and general manager, Theresa Paopao, left Boston for New York to take over the wine programs of the Momofuku Empire. After a few years at the helm she and Ribelle’s chef, Tim Maslow—the former chef de cuisine at Momofuku Ssäm Bar—left New York for Boston. In the summer of 2013, the two opened Ribelle (Italian for “rebel”) to almost overnight success. On the wine front, Paopao has carried over the quirk she honed down south. The slightly controversial by-the-glass list doesn’t list vintages or even producer names, but lists wines as “white #1” or “red #2” with a brief descriptor of the style in an effort to make the glass pours more approachable. The bottle list is focused primarily on France and Italy with a smattering of New World wines. And almost all of the wines fall under the $100 mark with a few exceptions, most of them lurking on the reserve list.