Tucked between Dog Beach and Jimmy Buffett’s former Key West home — back when he was a mere wandering minstrel — is Louie’s Backyard, long a favorite restaurant of tourists and locals alike. The food is good, but it’s the view and the ambience that steal the show here. The “backyard” is actually a multi-tier deck, the lower portion built right out over the water, providing a spectacular panorama of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s where you will find the bar – known as the Afterdeck — and there isn’t a more relaxing place to be at the end of the day. There is something magical about salt-scented breezes, the gentle music of waves lapping at the shoreline, and silhouetted sailboats on the horizon, out for their own sunset celebration.

Recently, Louie’s added a tapas, wine, and martini bar on the second floor, called “Upstairs at Louie’s”. That’s where we met friends a couple of weekends ago, to sample the menu, share some good times, and generally check things out. Featuring that drop-dead gorgeous view, the atmosphere is welcoming and relaxing, the small-plate menu imaginative, and the prices much more recession-friendly than the more formal restaurant downstairs.

And what a nice surprise to find that local wine connoisseur, Nicole Garcia, was our server … no, make that hostess. Her attentive demeanor, expert recommendations, and genuine concern for our having a good time made the evening one of the most enjoyable in recent memory.

If you aren’t sure what you want, she will let you sample wines until you find the perfect one – not in a random way, but listening closely to your feedback. Uncanny how she does that, each offering improving on the last. Like fine-tuning. And that is exactly the process by which she introduced me to possibly the best medium-priced red wine I have ever had. At $9 a glass ($36 a bottle), I felt it was an excellent value … restaurant prices considered, of course.

Now, I’m no wine snob. I’ve even been known to consume my share of those that don’t come in bottles (my wine-drinking sisters and I call it Box-O-Wine). But I’ve always been a particular fan of the good Italian reds. Following her lead, I discovered Briccotondo Barbera, from the Piedmont region.  Nicole described it as a light-bodied wine similar to pinot noir.  It was, indeed, lighter than the sangiovese-based Tuscans that so often come to mind when thinking “Italian red wine”, but I found it to be a bit more full-bodied than a pinot noir … in my estimation, a delightful bridge of the two … and a perfect match for my palate that evening. Gorgeous ruby-red in the glass, and so mellow that I drank way more than I should have.

Nicole came to Key West in 2000 and worked for Louie’s for almost two years. After a short stint in Spain, she returned to Key West and managed the White Tarpon, a package store and wine bar over at the Historic Seaport (we locals call it “the bight”), where she became interested in wine. Through self-study and courses, she has become quite knowledgeable, though she will tell you, in her modest, self-effacing way, that she is still learning every day.

She earned her Culinary Arts degree from Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, a certificate from the Mastery of Wines from Florida International University, and has completed the introductory course from the Court of Master Sommeliers. She has even produced her own series of wine-tastings at various venues about town, here in Key West.

Last summer, Louie’s lured her back, to open Upstairs at Louie’s.  Here she has found that she can marry her experience and knowledge of food and wine, while meeting people who share her passion, and – in her own words — the view isn’t bad either.

When you get a chance, go see her. Foot of Vernon Street, at Dog Beach. Upstairs. And try the Briccotondo Barbera.