Podcast /Hillary Zio /EP 102
Episode 102 · Oct 31, 2026

Discover the Hidden Gems Coastal Wines with Hillary! Isola Wine & Tapas Pt. 4

HZ
Guest
Hillary Zio
Episode Summary
isolawinebar.com Hillary Zio, the owner of Isola Wine & Tapas. Hillary shares her journey in creating a unique dining experience that highlights wines from coastal regions and islands. She discusses the importance of local ingredients, emphasizing her commitment to sourcing from nearby farms, which enhances the freshness and quality of her menu. Hillary also dives into specific wines that surprise and delight her guests, such as Listán Negro from the Canary Islands and Morello Mascaré from Sicily. As she explains the thought process behind her Mediterranean-style tapas menu, listeners will gain insights into the world of wine pairings and the culinary delights that elevate the dining experience. Whether you're a wine enthusiast or a foodie, this episode is packed with valuable tips and inspiration for your next meal out.
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Transcript
00:00
Welcome to the best five
00:20
buildings, especially when
00:20
you're talking about. Building
00:24
built in 17 87. Whatever you
00:28
want to call it. It's been a
00:32
rough season and like a boat,
00:34
the thing that empties your
00:36
bank account won't be the thing
00:37
you were worried about. Have
00:39
you got examples of some
00:41
unexpected costs? I mean,
00:43
honestly, the hood. That's what
00:45
I was going to say. No, it was
00:47
like the worst part. I used
00:49
basically all of what I made
00:51
the year before you know to put
00:55
into that. So then there was a
00:57
lot of stuff that was like
00:59
broken and rotted because we
01:01
had so much rain. It was like
01:04
the rainiest spring and summer
01:06
ever. So I was like, Okay, well,
01:08
I have five tenants now, so I
01:10
need to actually fix this deck
01:12
like a day so that my people
01:14
can get into the door. You know
01:16
that they had to kind of do
01:18
that, like on an emergency
01:20
level, which was obviously
01:22
expensive. It's just like
01:23
maintaining a lot. I was very
01:26
fortunate that I had a
01:28
restaurant that was actually
01:30
in the business building
01:31
because it's on these, you
01:33
know, big heating oil tanks
01:35
that I didn't know about, and
01:37
no one would have shown me
01:38
because there wasn't a tenant
01:40
upstairs downstairs to the
01:41
side. I didn't know how much
01:43
it was going to be. And then
01:45
air conditioning this summer
01:47
was a shock for sure. So I was
01:49
very unfortunate that the
01:51
restaurant did start doing very
01:53
well. Well, then when you sit
01:54
down, you've got all these
01:55
different wines and tapas.
01:57
That's I s o l a wine and
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tapas. Okay, so you've got two
02:01
different kind of clashing
02:03
there. I solo means island,
02:05
right? Yeah. So I say he
02:07
solo. But when people say I
02:09
solo or like if we were
02:11
Italian, we'd probably say
02:12
East solo, you know, But yeah,
02:14
it just means island in
02:16
Italian because on my
02:18
travels, you know, doing all
02:20
this, these press trips, I was
02:23
really surprised how different
02:25
wines from coastal regions and
02:28
islands can be so like the
02:30
Canary Islands, you know,
02:31
tasting least on Negro for the
02:33
first time being so blown away
02:35
and especially how affordable
02:37
it is because nobody knows
02:38
about least on Negro. They're
02:39
not banging down the doors of
02:40
your wine shop, trying to get
02:43
Canary Island least on it. So
02:45
that and Morello Masca lazy
02:47
from Sicily and just a lot of
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really cool stuff from Corsica
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I don't think I've ever heard
02:54
of like an islands restaurant
02:56
and I wanted something
02:57
specific because the world of
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wine, obviously, you know, it's
03:00
huge will never be finished.
03:02
No learning about the world.
03:04
It's just crazy. And I did want
03:06
it to be, you know, just a
03:07
little bit more focused where I
03:09
can still do Languedoc, right?
03:11
Like South of France. I got a
03:12
Musca down there. That's the
03:13
coast. I have a ton. I just
03:15
got back from Galicia. So I
03:16
always have an Albariño on
03:18
there because so likable and
03:20
drinkable and starting to get
03:22
more popular to at least my
03:24
clientele up here. But yeah,
03:27
and then I just built the
03:28
tapas around that. So my
03:30
chef, she was at the CIA. She
03:33
was at Blue Hills Stone Barns.
03:36
Like just she's got the
03:37
craziest resume. She was in
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New York City, like the same
03:39
12 years that I was. I told her,
03:41
you know, the concept and she
03:43
was like, I can absolutely
03:44
build this, you know,
03:46
Mediterranean style tapas menu
03:49
where you have just like
03:51
Italian, a little bit of
03:52
French, a little Spanish. And
03:54
so we're building it around
03:56
what you would have in these
03:58
islands and coastal region.
03:59
You're not ordering from Cisco,
04:01
are you? No, no. Yeah. It's all
04:04
local. Yeah. We have like five
04:07
different farms. Actually last
04:09
night I had, cause I just got
04:11
back from Galicia. I had a
04:12
coast of Galicia dinner and
04:15
there was, it was sold out with
04:17
26 people. And at the end of
04:19
the night she looked at me and
04:20
she goes, wow, 99% of our
04:23
ingredients came from five miles
04:26
away. That's incredible. So I
04:28
was really happy. I mean, we
04:30
work with farms, all the meat
04:32
is local here and it's just
04:34
like so fantastic. She has
04:35
steak tartare on the menu,
04:37
chicken liver mousse. I would
04:38
say upscale casual, but there's
04:41
also it's adult only. So it's a
04:44
vibe. So I am kid free in the
04:47
main dining room. Somebody on
04:49
a date night, what are they
04:50
looking at for a typical meal
04:52
and a typical wine and the
04:54
price? So all of my wines, you
04:56
know, they're not, I'm not
04:58
carrying Burgundy here, Bordeaux
05:00
and they're looking at $60
05:02
bottles of wine and they'll
05:05
probably get three tapas per
05:06
person. That's $20 each. So
05:09
six, I mean, I would say
05:11
probably my average, the last
05:13
time I looked on my sales
05:15
average check was like 170
05:17
per table.
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