December 2009 Archives

End of year time means we're reflecting on the best and worst of 2009...

Best reason to go to a non-descript part of Manhattan - Raines Law Room, clearly the best new bar of the year. Runner-up for non-descript visits is Dutch Kills, literally in the middle of nowhere.

Worst bar of the year - Ella. This bordello-like bar turns out some of the worst cocktails in town. Add in the faux-brothel decor, loud DJs and a doorman on Avenue A and you have a must-avoid joint.

Best reason to avoid the hype - the Tom & Jerry at Bar Henry. We like Bar Henry a lot for its great wine program and tasty dishes, but the Tom & Jerry is an unctuous boozy snot-like mess that booze writers should really not be promoting to the general public.

Worst trend - while food and beverage deals abounded in recession plagued 2009, beer prices skyrocketed. A week didn't go by without a new restaurant trotting out a beer list full of craft brews at $7 or $8 per. Memo to restaurateurs - stop milking beer drinkers.

Best reason to overthrow the government - the State legislature never even voted on the option of selling wine in supermarkets, ensuring your crappy corner liquor store will live on in perpetuity.

Best reason to overthrow the government #2 - the inept State Liquor Authority also turned out to be corrupt. Big surprise there.

Biggest disappointment - Flatiron Lounge, for uninspired, barely drinkable summer drinks

Most obvious "I told you so" - Ward III, a loud, skimpily decorated bar with a non-workable concept ("pick your liquor and I'll make you a drink but you won't know what it is and how to order it again") for the neighborhood. Just because you heard of the cocktail craze does not mean you should partake.

Best chance to taste expensive wines usually only available by the bottle - a tie between enomatic-crazy SD26 and Vintry Wine & Whiskey. There is a certain lack of soulfulness in getting wine from a machine, but the preservation technology means you can try old or less common vintages in small tastes. Runner-up - Bar Henry with its extensive list of wines available by the half-bottle pour.

Best cocktails - in no particular order: the Murray Sour from Minetta Tavern, Creole Daquiri from Rye House, L'Heure Verte #2 from Allen & Delancey, Belhaven Cocktail at the Vanderbilt, NCL from Ssam Bar, 1868 Manhattan at Dutch Kills, Oaxaca 747 at Eleven Madison and the perfectly made Gold Rush and Negroni, both from Raines Law Room.

And lastly, the worst things even booze can't improve - the godawful triumvirate of Dinner with the Band, The Wanda Sykes Show and the truly horrific On the Rocks, which inexplicably ran after SNL for a few weeks this fall. Each show features drinking in some form and each proved to be terrible in spite of the booze consumed while watching it. Way to bring down an entire industry folks.

See you in 2010!

Grungy Nolita speakeasy The Randolph (349 Broome Street) had somehow evaded our booze-dar the past few years it has been open so we were happily surprised to learn that it has one of the better happy hours in town - half price on everything until 9pm. While we weren't blown away by the cocktails - shockingly $14 per, a $1 more than Death & Co. - they were quite serviceable at happy hour prices. It's not a go to spot the way Death & Co is, but if you need an early watering hole, you can do worse.

Wine bars continue to pop up around town - with even more coming down the pike in 2010 - and we're fans of the trend. But recent visits to Ardesia, a new addition to the scene, and the year old Ten Bells illustrate that for a seemingly simple concept, it's not always easy to pull off.

Ten Bells (247 Broome Street) has a lot going for it - the winelist is full of interesting options, if you are a vin naturel fan, and by the glass prices are very reasonable, mostly $8 - 10. The wrap-around bar is nice, but for the best attention sit on the side that does not have the "kitchen" area. Get there early or you'll find that side populated by friends of the bartenders, industry insiders and regulars. Like the wines, the place is quirky and full of character, which we like, except when the quirkiness is highly impractical such as the puzzling refusal to print a winelist. It's on the website so why not print it on paper? Customers are forced to read the entire list written in chalk on boards lining the walls, which is not only not very consumer friendly but also hard in the dim light. Also, be warned - no credit cards are taken at all. In this day and age, that's an odd choice but it's their right. Just don't expect us to carry around a couple of hundred bucks in cash to drop on a bottle or magnum - and the list of magnums is indeed worth exploring. And no, we're not using that sketchy ATM across the street. Ten Bells is worth a visit, not least of all for its interesting wines at great prices - just bring a pocketful of cash. (And maybe a flashlight.)

Ardesia (510 W. 52nd Street) is pretty much the opposite of Ten Bells. The room, in a brand new residential building closer to New Jersey than Times Square, lacks the intimacy of downtown spots or the nearby Casellula. The design is reminiscent of Le Bernardin (an owner works at the Ripert 4-starrer) in that it skews corporate nice-but-cold, polished but lacking personality - not the type of place we'd want to hang out in. To our taste, it's a bit style-over-substance, focused on pricey wines - a glass of good Rioja will run you $18 - in pretty glassware that are not always ready to drink (we tasted a bunch). A more interesting - and affordable - choice was Muskateller ($11) but there should have been more options like this. In a wine bar, we look for interesting wines at affordable prices and these prices are decidedly restaurant-level. Maybe that's why so many people were drinking beer.

FiDi has long been the domain of one family of restaurateurs - the Poulakakos family. While not the biggest name on the NYC dining circuit, the proprietors behind Bayard's, Harry's, Adrienne's Pizza Bar, Ulysses and Financier are a force to be reckoned with. And now, without any advance notice, they have landed a game changer - Vintry Wine & Whiskey (57 Stone Street) - a wine bar and cocktail lounge that is a welcome addition to the Lower Manhattan wasteland of Irish pubs and sports bars.

Thanks to one of those fancy machines that dispense (and preserve) wine - and Harry Poulakakos'  wine cellar - Vintry can offer wines you rarely see poured by the glass. Here, you can try them by 2oz or 5oz pours (or go for a full bottle), sampling vintages going as far back as 1979 at fraction of the price (e.g. $165 bottle vs. $14.50 for two ounces), should you feel adventurous. We tried a number of wines from the dispenser and truth be told we were not exactly bowled over (some of them seemed to be fading and many are not prized vintages), but there were some highlights such as the deliciously earthy 1998 Dujac Morey St Denis ($11 for 2 oz, $25 for 5oz, $125 bottle). Otherwise, you can skip the older vintages and instead have a lot of fun with great values and very good wines. The selection is deep and quite interesting, and there are plenty of wines to try at $3.50 - $5 per two-ounce pour. This is a place to explore wine at any price point.

Prefer something stronger to wine? Or looking for well-made cocktails? Vintry has you covered too, with an exhaustive selection of single malts and bourbons, as well as whiskey based cocktails (sorry, no cosmos here. it is 2009, after all). The Jerry Thomas (Basil Hayden bourbon, dubonnet rouge, grand marnier, peychaud's bitter and benedictine) was an excellent starter as was the Angel's Share (Woodford reserve bourbon, agave nectar, fernet branca, lemon and Hawaiian sea salt), which could easily lose the fancy salt rim. While we enjoyed Harry's Whiskey Sour, made the classic way, it was the ridiculously named Flaming Bubinga (Higland Park 12 year old scotch, blume marillen apricot eau de vie, lemon, fresh blood orange) that was the overall favorite - perhaps the best scotch-based drink we've ever had. Cocktails are $10 - $14.

Small plates of terrific veal meatballs, gnocchi with lamb ragout, cheeses and well-sourced charcuterie (from pheasant pate to jamon iberico) will keep you fortified as you explore the many wines and whiskeys on offer.

FiDi has finally gotten a proper cocktail and wine bar. It's about time.

Vintry Wine & Whiskey
57 Stone Street, website

Recently opened Bar Henry (90 West Houston Street) is getting a good buzz going, not least of all for its cocktails. The standout so far has been The Tiger Tail, a drink that was invented in the late 1920s under a different name. Bar Henry owner Winston Kulok renamed the drink after his alma mater Princeton's athletic team the Tigers.

Here's the recipe - we know what we'll be making tonight

Ingredients:

2oz Maker's Mark Bourbon
3/4oz Benedictine
freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lime
freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon

Method:

Build over ice. Box (that is, lightly mix between a pint glass and stainless steel shaker) and pour together with the ice into a collins glass. Fill with ginger ale and garnish with a slice of orange.

One of the highlights of this past Saturday's mega tasting at Union Square Wines was the excellent Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch. This lesser known scotch hails from the town of Wick, the northernmost distillery in Scotland. The area is rugged and surrounded by sea, lending a maritime air to their strong collection of single malts. Three scotches were available for tasting, with the well made 12 year old ($40) offering a fine introduction to the brand and representing a solid everyday drinking scotch.

The 17 year old ($90) was terrific - a little sweet with notes of caramel. The 17 year old and up scotches are aged in both bourbon barrels and Spanish sherry barrels, which impart a bit of sweetness. The 21 year old ($120) was very good as well, this one aged in American fine oak as well as the sherry barrels. It had a leathery quality and was less sweet and somewhat astringent. For both of these, a bit of water or an ice cube would help open them up.

Tasting Table today reports that Brooklyn beer emporium Bierkraft (191 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn) has received a liquor license and now serves beer in store - try one of 13 draft beers, pick up a growler or just pop open one of those 1,000 bottles of beer with impunity, SLA be damned.

We never understood the silly wall that exists between retail and drinking establishments, but are certainly pleased to see it breached.

Some intriguing tastings for the weekend:

Astor Wines & Spirits (399 Lafayette Street) has a number of tastings every weekend but the best one this week will be the Laphroaig scotch tasting. Several single malts will be tasted including 18 & 25 year old Laphroaigs and an Ardmore. Friday 5pm - 8pm

East Village sake store, Sakaya (324 E. 9th Street) is celebrating its 2nd anniversary with two days of sake tastings -

Friday, December 4 from 6 - 8pm

Masuizumi Junmai Daiginjo (Toyama)

Ninkiichi Daiginjo (Fukushima)

Chokaisan Junmai Daiginjo (Akita)

Daishichi Kimoto Umeshu (Fukushima)

 

Saturday, December 5 from 4 - 7pm

Masumi Yumedono Daiginjo (Nagano)

Okunomatsu "Formula Nippon" Sparkling Daiginjo (Fukushima)

Tsuki no Katsura "Heiyan Kyo" Junmai Daiginjo (Kyoto)

Daishichi Kimoto Umeshu (Fukushima)

Union Square Wines (140 4th Avenue) is celebrating the anniversary of the end of Prohibition on Saturday December 5 from 2pm to 5pm with its "Stay Wet Mega Tasting." Taste dozens of wines, scotch, vodka and cognac and sample nibbles from Di Paolo. For more info, click here.

Much has been written about the resurrection of faded NYC institution Minetta Tavern (109 MacDougal Street), from puff pieces about the genius of Keith McNally to the accolades of various critics. But our question as we sat at the packed bar and watched the dining room fill at the ungodly hour of 5:30pm was, is it any good?

We'll reserve judgment on the menu since we just tried a few dishes - notably the excellent Berkshire pig trotter. The subject here is booze and in this area the results were mixed.

The hands down favorite was the Murray Sour, a delicious mix of Yamazaki 12 year whiskey, cardamomm-infused agave nectar, lemon & orange. A bit less successful was the oddly named Dodd Cocktail, Basil Hayden bourbon, La Fee Absinthe, peach bitters, lemon and egg white. It was good but one dimensional. Unfortunately, Ginger in the Rye, Michters rye, angostura bitters, La Fee absinthe, ginger beer and pressed limes, was merely a dark 'n' stormy knock-off overwhelmed by absinthe. Cocktails were a hefty $14.

Time to support your local winemakers - New York state wines are on sale today at Astor Wines & Spirits (399 Lafayette Street). Wines from the North Fork, Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes are all 15% off. Some favorites - Shaw Riesling, Paumanok Chenin Blanc, whites from Wiemer and Dr. Frank and Schneider Cabernet Franc.

For the complete list of 34 wines, click here.