Edie & the Wolf

Last week, Caitlin, Ellen and I met at Edie & the Wolf, an Austrian restaurant/wine bar, on Avenue C, near 7th Street.  With an entrance that’s rustic and livened with green herbs, flowers, and grass, the gates of spring were sprung open, revealing the dark wooded interior to Loisaida. Arriving at around seven, to a handful of diners; by eight, there wasn’t a free seat in the house.  There’s a menu of shared plates and small plates, and entries, cheese, and dessert, so perhaps it’s more of a restaurant, but there is a bar and a counter with space for a glass or four of Gemischter Satz.

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Goat Town

Tucked between Sophie’s and Ace Bar on East 5th Street is Goat Town, an American Bistro with arched tin ceilings.  Opposite the red banquet and subway tiled booths sits a bar with maybe twelve seats.  Finishing a 3:00 class at Jivamukti, Caitlin and I met Adam and Ken for the freelancer’s happy hour–perfectly timed to avoid the afterwork crush, and early enough to get home after a bit of wine for some work.

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Grape & Grain

Following a blissful class with Eddie at Jivamukti, Caitlin and I walked and talked east to 6th Street, between B and C.  Grape & Grain.  Open for five years, with four next door at Against the Grain, where craft beers are served, Grape & Grain was new to us both and we were utterly delighted.  The wine list not long, but engaging.  The bartender, our gracious host, offered tastes before he poured, and within a few hours, at 8 or 9 or 10, he was one-manning a room near-full of guests, whose voices were muted by the silver-tin ceilings and red brick walls.

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El Quinto Pino

After visiting the opening of “Do Not Abandon Me,” the Louise Bourgeois/Tracey Emin exhibit at the Carolina Nitsch Project Room, I was in the mood to celebrate liberty, color, and change, and so Caitlin and I headed northeast to El Quinto Pino on West 24th Street.  And while I regret not arriving hungry–the tapas menu is enticing and apparently the sea urchin panini is divine–I was delighted to find that their list of six wines was enough to pleasure our thirst.

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Aria Wine Bar

Negroni, Dark & Stormy, Mint Julip, Salty Dog, Pimms Cup, Blood & Sand, and Sazerac.  The cocktail list at Aria Wine Bar outshines the list of wines; and a sweep of the eye around the room confirms it—Sarah, Caitlin, and I seemed to be the only one’s drinking wine.  A wine bar that specializes in organic and biodynamic wines or a bar that emphasizes the women behind the vine?  It’s hard to tell.  The space is charming, but there’s no way of knowing the intent behind Aria.

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The Counting Room

Turn left on N. 11th to Berry.  Be careful how you enter.  The door is up the ramp and on 11th.  Not around the corner.  Large glass panes, enclosing Mason Jar illuminations, brick, long glossy wood tables, and wine.  Downstairs–the cocktail room.  Dark.  A mixologist dreaming of shaking and stirring.  Soon a DJ, maybe eventually, a band.  The Counting Room in Williamsburg.  Open just a couple of months, and bustling on a Tuesday night.

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Xicala Wine Bar

Last week, Caitlin and I met at her favorite wine bar–Xicala…

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Bin 71

Squat and squeezed on Columbus between 70th and 71st Streets, Bin 71 gets cozy at night, in a subway-rush-hour kind of way.  It’s dark with a marble top 12-seat bar, and a flat screen TV that glares like a mother’s raised brow from the corner.   Television aside  and there’s a fine 100 bottle selection, though the list of reds emphasizes size, as in these are BIG wines…the whites leave you (or rather, me) with a little more room to breathe.

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Ten Bells

Perhaps I’m the last New York wine lover to write about Ten Bells on Broome Street, but I might be the first who didn’t leave the bar pledging my virginity to it’s greatness; and I certainly wasn’t compelled to leave an offering of my first born.  In fact, though the space is lovely, romantic, and rustic in a tenement kind of way, Caitlin and I both left not as converts…but rather a little disgruntled and questioning the hype.

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Wine in NYC–Where to Take Your Guests

We’ve all been hit with the dilemma of where to bring out-of-town guests.  Your favorite spot if often the obvious choice, but there are occasions when the coolest joint isn’t the right fit.  Perhaps you’re with folks who aren’t into wine–who might better appreciate a certain atmosphere or “gimmick”.  Or maybe you want to impart a message, one that suggests to your guests your relationship with New York.   Considering a few possible traits, occasions, or types, I’ve compiled here a list of ten wine bars in the city–some of which have been reviewed on Imbibe New York, others which have not.

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