Pacific Rim Food Deserves a Bolder List
Downtown · Anchorage · Pacific Rim · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 17, 2026
Wingman Metrics
The room is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here — warm lighting, a buzzy bar, the kind of place that makes you want to order something interesting. Then the wine list arrives and reality sets in: about 50 labels, heavy on California and New Zealand, light on anything that might surprise you. For a kitchen sending out Wagyu Fried Rice and Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice, the list feels like it took a safer road than it needed to.
The list leans hard into crowd-pleasing California and New Zealand staples — La Crema Chardonnay, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, Meiomi Pinot Noir. These are fine wines. They're also the wines you see at every casual-upscale restaurant from Anchorage to Atlanta. There's no Riesling, no Grüner, no Albariño — nothing from the wine world that actually mirrors Pacific Rim food culture. The 50-label count sounds respectable until you realize the range is doing almost nothing with it.
Eight by-the-glass options at $10–$16 a pour isn't terrible for Anchorage, where wine logistics alone add cost. But the glass program mirrors the same safe bet philosophy as the bottle list — familiar names, no rotation energy, no seasonal moves. If you're here for wine discovery, you're going to have a quiet evening.
La Crema Chardonnay — $38
La Crema is a reliable, well-made Sonoma Coast Chardonnay that drinks above its retail price point. Of the options on this list, it's the one most likely to actually complement the food without fighting it.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc
Yes, it's everywhere. But paired with the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice, the bright citrus and cut acidity do real work. Don't sleep on it just because it's familiar — it's on the list for a reason, and at this price range it's the most food-friendly glass pour they offer.
Meiomi Pinot Noir
At $52 a bottle you're paying nearly 160% over retail for a lush, jammy, mass-produced coastal blend that retails for $20. Meiomi is fine wine for a Tuesday at home. It's not a $52 restaurant bottle, and it doesn't do anything interesting with the food here.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc + Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice
The herbal snap and grapefruit acidity in the Kim Crawford cuts right through the richness of the tuna and the heat of the spice. It's not a groundbreaking pairing, but it's a correct one — and on this list, correct counts for something.
✔️ The Bottom Line
Ginger is a genuinely good restaurant with a wine list that's content to coast. The food program is ambitious; the wine program is not. Come for the Pacific Rim cooking, order wine because you want something in the glass, and don't expect the list to keep pace with the kitchen.
Downtown · Anchorage · New American
The Marx Brothers Café is the kind of place that makes you reconsider your assumptions about where serious wine lives. In a historic Anchorage bungalow, they've built a list that would hold its own in San Francisco — and that earns every bit of the Wild Card badge.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown / G Street corridor · Anchorage · Wine Bar / Bistro
Crush earns its Wild Card badge not by being perfect, but by being genuinely surprising — a 600-bottle cellar and 40+ glass pours in Anchorage is an achievement worth acknowledging out loud. If you're passing through or living here, this is where you go when you actually care what's in your glass.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Girdwood · Anchorage · Winery Restaurant / Taproom
Bear Creek Winery Loft earns its Wild Card badge honestly — it's not trying to be a serious wine destination and doesn't need to be. If you're in Girdwood and you skip this in favor of a hotel bar pour, you've made a mistake you'll regret when you're back home explaining why you didn't try the rhubarb wine made in Alaska.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Anchorage · Modern Mexican / Latin Fusion
Tequila 61° is a genuinely fun downtown Anchorage spot — but the wine list is not the reason to come. Order the tequila, drink the margaritas, and if someone at the table insists on wine, steer them toward the Pinot Grigio and move on.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown · Anchorage · Brazilian Steakhouse (Churrascaria)
Texas de Brazil Anchorage is a reliable enough wine stop if you calibrate expectations to match the format — this is a chain steakhouse, not a wine destination, and the list behaves accordingly. Grab the Catena, eat a lot of picanha, and don't overthink it.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown / Spenard · Anchorage · Mexican / Pub / Pizza
Bear Tooth Grill is a legitimately great spot for beer, margaritas, pizza, and a movie — the wine list is just a formality. Order a craft beer, skip the wine entirely, and you'll have a fantastic time.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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