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.
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
BoozyNYC has not gone into rehab, in spite of scurrilous Internet reports. Instead, we went on a well-deserved boozy vacation and are back.
We're big fans of Zipcar, the original by-the-hour car rental outfit, and now they're doing their members a solid by doling out a free first drink to anyone who shows up at Stitch (247 W. 37th Street) Thursday from 5:30 to 8pm and flashes a Zipcard. If you're not a member yet, find someone who is and head down.
That didn't take too long - new restaurant Nios, which replaced District at the Muse Hotel, has started a happy hour. Domestic beer is $3, while $5 gets you a specialty cocktail, well drink or a glass of wine. Best thing about it is you can pop in after the theater for a late night drink.
Nios
130 W. 46th Street
Happy Hour: Daily 4pm - 6pm, 9pm - 11pm
We're not restaurant reviewers per se but we can't let things go unnoticed when we pop into places for drinks and a few bites. Case in point - Bar Artisanal, where we were subjected to amateurish service and underwhelming food.
After being seated, we waited ten minutes for some attention from the staff. Then a particularly zealous manager appeared - and gave us the "evening's menus" and a brief overview of how they are designed. Huh? This is a casual place? Then he circled the table, calling everyone sir and answering every request with "my pleasure." By the end of the circle, he had dispensed so much pleasure that we thought we'd need to book a room in the hotel upstairs.
Next up, some crimes against wine.
Yesterday, City Winery hosted a blow-out of Argentinean wines and its first grape crush. We made our way through the crowds and tasted a bunch of wines, some great, some not so good. A lot of the wines are inexpensive and can be found here - Acker Merrral & Condit was the retailer of choice.
The main grapes being tasted included whites Torrontes and Chardonnay and reds Malbec, Cab Sauvignon and Merlot. So what did we like? Click through to see our list of favorites.
Another Cinco de Mayo option is Greenhouse (150 Varick Street). They'll have free cocktails courtesy of Jose Cuervo from 10pm on.
Three places sure to be hopping tomorrow for Cinco de Mayo - the celebration of the Mexican army's victory over France at the Battle of Puebla - are the Mercaditos. Mercadito (the original at 179 Ave B) will have a 4 course menu for $30 and live music. Mercadito Grove (100 Seventh Ave South) has $6 Herradura shots and Mercadito Cantina (172 Avenue B) will have shots of Tric-quila, their ingenious sake based tequila style concoction, for $5.
We're not sure why America celebrates this particular Mexican victory but we'll take any opportunity we can get to booze up!
