The Politico recently featured a story about two political wonks that got hitched, and then opened a restaurant – one that has become increasingly popular.

Khalid Pitts and Diane Gross are one-half politicos and one-half new restaurant owners. The newlyweds opened Cork, a wine bar on 14th Street, and they credit their background in politics for its early success. 

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Perhaps appropriately, the idea for Cork was born over a bottle of wine in Paris, where Gross and Pitts were vacationing after working for the unsuccessful campaign of 2004 presidential candidate Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.). 

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The plan was to open Cork before their wedding, but as with the best laid plans in politics and food (and weddings, for that matter), that didn’t pan out. In the midst of a year of wine tastings and location scouting for the restaurant, the couple was married at the Dumbarton House in Georgetown last May by close friend and Democratic consultant Celinda Lake. 

And while the reports on the new restaurant continue to trickle in, the Cork has already begun to draw quite a crowd. 

Since its Jan. 29 opening, Cork has drawn good crowds, thanks in part to the couple’s wide circle of Hill friends and some upbeat word-of-mouth reviews. It also doesn’t hurt to have a few Hill patrons drop by, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), along with SEIU President Andy Stern. 

“Politics is still in our blood,” said Pitts.

And so is the wine.