Tom Sietsema wrote about this restaurant for a December 2008 First Bite column.

Veronica Kunkel and Joy Reinhardt own two restaurants that sit about a 10-second sprint from each other in Arlington. Aren't the partners concerned about Restaurant Vero taking customers away from the younger Tap and Vine, or vice versa?

Not at all, says Reinhardt: "They're two different menus," and Vero is more of a "date-night restaurant," with cloths on its tables. Tap and Vine, on the other hand, is "targeted to the families of Arlington."

That focus is made clear on the tables, which are covered with butcher paper and set with crayons, and by a noise level that rivals that of city traffic (80 decibels) at prime time. On a recent weeknight at Tap and Vine, which opened in October, we count almost as many sippy cups as wineglasses in the simple beige dining room.

Creamy tomato soup with lightly toasted bread distracts us from the clamor. So do the fish tacos bolstered with a crisp slaw and zippy black beans. Apportioned as if for a ranch hand, pasta Bolognese is listed as a "staff favorite"; although the finely ground meat sauce needs salt, it proves sweet with minced carrots. Served in a pretty, square bowl, green chili pork stew reverberates with gentle heat.

For kids younger than 12, there's a Milk and Juice Drinker's Menu that includes chicken fingers, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and make-your-own macaroni and cheese (just add meat or vegetables).

In a previous incarnation, the space housed a Pizza Hut. "I tried to hide" the fact, says Reinhardt, who dressed Tap and Vine's windows with burlap curtains and its walls with the work of local artists. Half-walls help separate the 85 seats. A bar pours brews of distinction.

Reinhardt and Kunkel, who also run the Arlington Catering Co. out of Vero and own the neighboring Grape Juice Wine Shop, have an ally in their chef, who not only cooks for the catering division but oversees the food at both restaurants. As it turns out, Jay Reinhardt is Joy Reinhardt's twin.

A lot of work, Jay? "That's the way we were raised," says the son of a former private chef.

Entrees, $10-$13.

(Dec. 31, 2008)