Boozy NYC

We just took a peek at Eleven Madison Park's (11 Madison Avenue) summer drinks list and it's definitely whet our palate. A few of the more intriguing sounding offerings after the jump:

A while back we hit the Portuguese wine tasting at City Winery and came away impressed with the wines on offer. For this week's "Astor Tuesdays," Astor Wines & Spirits (399 Lafayette Street) is featuring the wines of Portugal for 15% off. Check out the list, which is chockfull of wines under $20, here. There's no real overlap with what was poured at the tasting - many of the wineries had no US distribution - so let the good folks at Astor direct you.

Everyone in this town seems to have a shtick and Ward III, a new Tribeca cocktail bar (111 Reade Street), has one - "bespoke cocktails" - that was intriguing enough to warrant a visit the other night.

As we struggled to the bar, making our way past a parade of office workers celebrating their hard won freedom from drone-life, we were surprised at the size of the space and its generic look. While our fellow patrons busied themselves ordering rum & cokes and $7 Coronas - how sad is that with all the polished but ignored spirits bottles looking on from the shelves - we tried our hand with the bartender. There was no list at all and the bartender made a point of asking the non-beer, non-Ketel-on-the-rocks drinkers what "base" they wanted. We asked for something in the brown liquor family. The resulting drink, bourbon with fresh raspberries was okay but fairly indistinct. Much better was a gin and basil concoction. A rye drink, was also pretty good. (Cocktails $12 and up, depending on ingredients).

Unfortunately, thanks to the concept, we can't order these drinks again since they don't have names and aren't on a list that we know of. Also, the crowd was of the "who cares it's the weekend variety," and they could care less about fancy cocktails. Together with the high ceilings, bare walls and loud music, the atmosphere wasn't what you'd call serious cocktail drinking friendly. A guest who asked for "something raspberry" was was met with a borderline sneer and an impatient "request" that she pick a liquor base first. Really? Customers at a newly opened place are supposed to be familiar with the peculiarities of ordering? And as serious about the cocktails as the bartenders?  We think they might have to reconsider who the customer is likely to be and encourage those who are at least showing interest rather than sneer at them.

The website promises "New York City's Finest Eats," which is either tongue-in-cheek or a pretty outlandish thing to say since they are serving bar food a block from Bouley. The sliders were fine, but nothing to write home about. Other food options right now include a mac & cheese and a sizeable quesadilla.

We understand it's a hook but "bespoke cocktails" is not even something so original - we often tell a bartender what we're in the mood for and a good one can come up with something. Our bet is the bespoke cocktail angle will get downplayed real soon. The real question is whether this place will attract the NYC cocktail crowd, no sure bet given the location and a generic, somewhat impersonal interior that flies in the face of the speakeasy trend.

While we profess to be stuck in the 80s, the folks at Kingswood have time warped back to the 70s for their new lounge Baddies, now open in the former private event space beneath the restaurant.

The space is black and red, decked out with black ostrich leather sofas and white cowhide chairs. The cocktail list is a throwback as well - think White Chocolate Russian, Tequila Sunrise and a Strawberry Daiquiri. And they've thrown in a Manhattan - made with Bulleit Bourbon and Dubonnet - to lure the likes of us into the basement. Just might work.

Baddies NYC
20 Greenwich Avenue
Cocktails  $12 - $13

Moore Brothers (33 E. 20th Street) is celebrating their anniversary with 10% off everything in the store, from today until July 3rd.

Roman import Sora Lella (300 Spring Street) has started doing L'ora dell'Aperitivo, a Milan-style happy hour with complimentary snacks at the bar. Not coincidentally, the bartender Tommaso hails from Italy's most fashionable city and crafts some tasty classic and modern cocktails.

During their happy hour - every day from 5pm - 7:30pm - they'll serve items from the new bar menu for free. We're not talking nuts and popcorn either but real food - meatballs, bruschetta, zucchini fries, potato croquettes and more. Plus drink specials including $10 cocktails (regularly $13 - $14), $8 glasses of wine and $5 Peronis. The food pairs real well with the cocktails as you can see below...

          

 

Sora Lella
300 Spring Street, 212-366-4749
Happy Hour: Daily 5pm - 7:30pm
Complimentary food and drink specials

The Cub Room has been repossessed as of this week.

We sometimes wondered what the thought was behind the cafe/lounge/restaurant inhabiting that cavernous space on the corner of Sullivan and Prince, but never bothered to check it out. Guess we weren't alone on that front.

Regardless, the last two reviews on Yelp suggest Eater missed out on a serious shitshow candidate.

Barrow Street Ale House (15 Barrow Street, website) is your pretty standard issue bar, but it does have a great happy hour with $3 drafts from 11am to 7pm (Mon - Fri). In addition, from 7pm on there are different drink specials depending on the night. Monday is $3 Sam Adams and 40 cent wings. But Tuesday night is our favorite special - all drafts remain $3 all night long. Sort of  makes up for the bouncer (!) carding people at the door and the slightly creepy downstairs men's room.

One of our favorite wine regions is the subject of today's "Astor Tuesdays" sale. Get 15% off all wines from Alsace. There may only be 14 wines on the list but the region's whites - Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris - are perfect for summer.

Astor Wines & Spirits 399 Lafayette Street

We were in the East Village, post dinner, and wondered if we could get into Mayahuel. After all, the place was written up the wazoo and seemed to have a good rep. It was late and the weekend but we gave it a shot.

Turns out it wasn't all that busy, with a healthy turnover both at the bar and the tables. We waited about 30 seconds outside and then got a few seats downstairs - with a warning that they still don't take credit cards. Guess that explains the turnover since how many people carry the cash to cover multiple rounds of $13 cocktails?

Our drinks were good but the flavors seemed a bit muted as opposed to our first visit - we had loved the Smoked Palomino, a sherry and mezcal cocktail, but this time the smokiness was MIA and the drink was fine, but nothing special. We also tried La Vida Rosa, strawberry infused blanco tequila rose wine and elderflower, which was a refreshing summer drink but decidedly lighweight. Better, if not exactly unique, was the Italian Inquisition, basically yet another riff on the Manhattan, with reposado tequila, punt e mes, averna and solerno, xocolati mole bitters. Rich and dark as night, it was a good way to finish off the evening.

Time will tell if Mayahuel becomes a New York classic a la Death & Co. But for now, it would be helpful to get a friggin' credit card system in.

Mayahuel remains at 304 East 6th Street.

Famous Wines (40 Exchange Place), a fixture of FiDi since before it got that fancy acronym, has apparently become the latest victim of the economy. The grates are down and inside the place is cleaned out. The telling signs - the phone is disconnected with no further information and the website is down. Chalk this up as another victim of the banking crisis.

Eater today brings news of Happy Hour at Joe Doe - half price drinks, food for $5 or food + a drink for $8.

Joe Doe
45 East 1st Street
Happy Hour - Monday to Friday 5pm - 7pm

Stepping into Locanda Verde (377 Greenwich Street), which replaced the short-lived Ago in Robert DeNiro's Tribeca hotel, we suddenly wondered what city we were in. The restaurant's design struck us as so generic and non descript we could have been in Boston, Chicago or Toronto for all we knew. Ken Friedman had a hand in this? Aside from some old cookbooks on the shelves, you could have fooled us.

Andrew Carmellini, ex-A Voce, is now in charge of the kitchen and it was evident from the familiar feeling, meat-centric menu. We've been let down in the past by Carmellini - A Voce was hardly a 3 star restaurant in our book - but we figured we'd see what he's up to. Apparently, like the restaurant itself, nothing original.

But first, the booze. Right off the bat, we need to give special kudos to Locanda Verde for an actual beer deal. They serve Moretti on draft for $5. (Artisanal American beers are the standard $7 rip-off.) The cocktail list wasn't particularly original but the Benevento (Rittenhouse rye, strega and bitters, $12) was good - borderline sweet but just short of too sweet - but decidedly small. The winelist has a good variety of choices by the glass for $9 - $12 and if you want a different sort of white wine, try the delicious Vespaiolo.

Food-wise, we found the menu skewed to dishes that are too heavy and out of touch with the season. The Meatball Sliders were pretty good as was the Testa, aka head cheese. The Garlic Chicken for two has gotten a fair amount of buzz and it was fine, but frankly we expected the flavors to penetrate the skin a bit more. Robiola Ravioli, unfortunately, were a bg letdown, at least partially because the accompanying mushrooms had not flavor.

We wouldn't put Locanda Verde on our list of places to rush back to, but no doubt the buzz will continue and Carmellini's reputation will translate into NY Times stars. But when people are paying $75 a head, a bit more creativity would do the dining public some good.

It's not a trend until the New York Times kills it and today is no different - William "Biff" Grimes reports that there are speakeasies breaking out all across this country. Dag nab it, places without signs serving booze. Wow! Don't tell the authorities or they will shut them down.

If you're dumb as dirt or two years behind the times, this article will catch you up. Otherwise, it's just another example of how pointless the Times has become.

Our friends at Metromix are inviting you to an open bar at Hudson Terrace every Thursday this month. Reply to metromix@hudsonterracenyc.com and get free Buds, Bud Lights and well drinks from 5pm - 6pm on June 4, 11, 18 and 25. Rsvp by 3pm day of the event.

Hudson Terrace
621 West 46th Street

If you are a fan of single malt Scotch, we have a great deal for you. Our go-to Scotch, Lagavulin 16, has been reduced at Warehouse Wines & Spirits.Believe it or not, this terrific Scotch is only $49.95 right now. That's less than a lot of inferior Scotches they sell and may be the cheapest price you'll find on Lagavulin anywhere in the U.S.

Warehouse (735 Broadway at Astor Place) may not be pretty but it is definitely home to some of the best liquor prices in New York. If you haven't been yet, we highly recommend it. Their wine selection is pedestrian but for spirits, deals abound. We have no idea if their stuff falls off a truck but with prices like theirs, we're not about to ask!

Sometimes the food blogosphere goes crazy for something we just scratch our heads over. This week we had the curious case of OYO (as Urban Daddy puts it) - New York Vintners, a wine store on Warrren Street that no one had ever heard of suddenly getting covered all over the place. Why? Because they launched a program where customers can order wine and get it delivered to restaurants. Pieces quickly ensued on Grub Street, Serious Eats, Eater and the aforementioned UD.

Of course, five seconds of digging reveals a few problems with this scenario, something that should have led to more skepticism on the part of bloggers. For starters, it's only available at one restaurant right now - Kuma Inn. The fact that a New York Vintners partner is an investor in Kuma Inn Brooklyn is also worth mentioning - kudos for Grub Street for picking that up. After all, until they get another couple of restaurants onboard, this is merely an extended form of nepotism and hardly some breakthrough public service worthy of press coverage.

Of course, this may turn out to be a cool idea - though don't doubt the party pooper service known as the SLA getting involved with places trying to offer BYOB while skirting the law (you can only be BYO if you have a liquor license). But New York Vintners do send us an email when you have a good number of restaurants in the program. In the meantime, we'll file this under "non-story" and hope our blogging friends are a little more suspect of these types of "services" in the future.

Some weekend tastings for you:

• Chambers' Street Wines (148 Chambers Street) Natural & Organic tasting - Saturday May 30th, 4pm - 7pm:
  Try a selection of natural, organic and biodynamic wines imported exclusively for Chambers Street, including red and white burgundies from Gilles Lafouge and Domaiane Madelin-Petit, the unique Gaillacs of Chateau Mayragues, Regnié from Christian Ducroux and more.
  
  
• Astor Wines (399 Lafayette Street) has a Friday night tasting two-fer:
  Try two Spanish wines - a white from Basque country and a red from Rioja plus 3 sakes, including two from Wakatake.
  
  
• LeDu's Wines (600 Washington Street) will showcase wines from the Iberian peninsula - three from Spain and one from Portugal - this Saturday from 3pm to 6pm
  

Aldea is a proper grownup restaurant and likely on track to be a good one - well-designed space, a thoughtful menu by talented George Mendes, attentive service - but how does the bar side hold up?

We tried three cocktails and a very good cava from Mont Marcal ($11), something inexplicably difficult to find in this town. Drink-wise, the Shiprock, a mix of Plymouth gin, ginger syrup, orange blossom water and lemon, was pretty good and we could see it being popular with the ladies. The Inscription (Beefeater 24, St. Germain and Pernod Absinthe) was our first encounter with the new green tea infused Beefeater and wasn't entirely successful. We'd bet it would work better with a less off-the-wall gin. The Whimsy was a tasty mix of Bulleit Bourbon, agave, lemon and Fernet Branca. Cocktails are $12. The winelist is concise with well priced choices by the glass (generally $10 - $11) though constructed in our least favorite way, with wines by the glass listed in the main winelist amongst all the choices. Pull them out and put them on top folks...

These are the early days so the food experience was predictably a bit mixed - a terrific Arroz de Pato with duck confit, chorizo, olive and duck cracklings but underwhelming razor clams; great crisped pig's ears and ramps but the egg with bacalao didn't work as well. However, we look forward to going back once they settle a bit. And for that duck rice.

Aldea
31 West 17th Street, 212-675-7223