Sometimes you come across something so inexplicable, you just have to go with the flow. After undertaking a Bastille Day-inspired booze crawl, we wound up in the West Village for one last drink... or so we thought. We had heard that Kurt Gutenbrunner had finally opened his wine bar, The Upholstery Store, a few doors down from Wallse - something we first caught wind of 4 or 5 years ago - and decided it would be our nightcap spot. Sure, it was in Daily Candy but we figured it would be manageable. As you can see from the photo above, however, manageable was not the first word that came to our minds as we turned the corner onto Washington Street and saw a horde of people on the sidewalk.
We had a decision to make - soldier on or head home. As we were already fueled by booze, we made our way into the crowd...
It seemed most people were standing outside and they had a small grill going with various items on it. We ignored that for a moment to make our way to the bar, where we quickly realized they were actually giving away booze - literally pouring it as fast as they could.Checking Daily Candy on our phone, we confirmed the place was supposed to be open. But it seems we had stumbled onto a soft-opening/friends & family/neighborhood thing. They ony had 1 red, 1 white, sparkling and Konig beer but who were we to complain? When someone hands you free booze, you take it.
The space itself is cozy but hardly reminiscent of the previous occupant - said upholstery store - and the photos of waves on the wall seemed out of place. We'd have liked to see what the menu and winelist would look like - apparently it's not Austrian but international in scope - but that will wait until next time. In the meantime, we were happy for the freebies and generosity of the owner and staff.
The Upholstery Store
713 Washington Street
Leave a comment