Dr Vino's wine blog

Luxuries such as caviar, foie gras, lobster and Kobe beef have earned Thomas Keller & Co. three Michelin stars and four stars from the New York Times for Per Se. Despite costing $250 per person (tip included), Per Se remains one of the most difficult tables to get in the New York restaurant scene. That’s probably because there are only 16 of them. Here are some tips to improve your chances of actually getting one.

Common sense:

• Reservations open 60 days in advance. Mark your calendar. Call. And call again. This is what speakerphone and redial are all about, people! 212.823.9335 or opentable.com
• Long shot: try calling within 48 hours in case of cancellations.
• The controversial service primtimetables might come through for you

Inside tips:

• Try lunch, especially a late lunch. Fri – Sun only.
• Bigger really is better: our tipster says that parties of four have double the chance of a party of two
• Get a room: specifically, the private dining room East for 8 – 10 people. It can be booked a year in advance.
• Roll the dice: show up at 9:30 especially Monday – Wednesday. Do NOT ask the hostess for a table. Go directly to the bar and order a cocktail each. After an appropriate moment, ask for the maitre d’. Say that you realize it is a long shot but you are really enjoying the atmosphere and have read so much about the restaurant and would love to try it. It may work. If not, you had a great cocktail before your falafel dinner from a street vendor.

Per Se web site

tags: food and drink | dining NYC | per se

The fact that the enomatic, a $10,000 machine that spits out wine pours, has landed in New York is not news (unlike in Fairfax, VA): Union Square Wines installed six of the machines when they moved to their new location (map it) last summer. What’s news is that it is the only store in New York to do so. Why?

You can largely thank New York’s confusing laws on wine retailing, which prevent charging for wine samples among other things. In states with more permissive laws on tasting, enomatic machines can be spotted in wine shops that charge for samples. But in New York, charging anything for drinking on premises requires a different license. Thus it’s hard to make for a retailer to make economically viable the expensive piece of burnished stainless steel that is the enomatic. (But it does mean a lot of free wine for consumers around town.)

But Union Square Wines took the plunge and I decided to put them to the test. I strode in last weekend and asked for a card. Not so easy, it turns out. You have to be an existing customer–it’s structured as a “reward” system. Well, I’ve bought wine at the store before, I replied. “But do you have the card?” Ah, no. A purchase is required and each dollar spent accumulates 5 points, which can be deducted from the card at the enomatics.

So seeing that 40 points could get me a couple of tastes, I splurged on an $8 wine. Then I had to take my receipt to another desk across the store (no plans for streamlining this at one register) where a staffer mercifully took pity on me and gave me 200 points instead of the 40 I was due.

Then I hit the machines. The pours were SMALL. But they were FRESH. It only took me a shot of riesling, gewurztraminer, some rustic French red, and a bonarda from Argentina to realize that the number of points deducted was the equivalent to the price in dollars of the whole bottle. Too bad I didn’t have enough for the 225 point Barolo in the front room. Net-net the enomatic is a way to get fresh, free wine served on demand. Just, for the sake of the NY regulators, don’t think of it as a bar!

* * *
On a related note, the WSJ had a story yesterday about the potential demise of the bar car on Metro-North trains. Installing enomatics on the trains could be an excellent use of the machine that substitutes capital for labor.

tags: wine | free wine | nyc

Another couple of dozen of us met up at Wined Up early Friday evening. It was great to see many new people at the meetup including one site reader from Colorado. He was in town for work and decided to stop for a flight of wine before his flight from Laguardia (wise man).

Everyone agreed that Wined Up has a great aesthetic. The one long wall with backlit bottles is a great look. Another wall has some gnarly grape vine cuttings running up it.

And it was good for us that the venue remains somewhat “undiscovered” since we were able not only to hear each other but also to grab some seats at the bar. Many wine bars in NYC are often too cramped or too full so talking and sipping with ease should not go unrecognized.

The wine list has a couple of pages of red, white and bubbly by the glass. The selections are solid (if somewhat ho-hum for die-hard wine geeks) and affordable since the glasses run from $6-$12. Interestingly, there are no flights on the list but if you want one they will make one for you. One among us told the bar tender that he wanted a flight of “big reds.” The friendly bartender asked him how many to which he replied four. And voila four reds were poured into Riedel O glasses and the bottles lined up behind them. Nice display.

Another in our party wanted to pick out her own wines so she selected a flight of five whites. Presto, five whites in the “O” glasses with the bottles behind them. I tried a glass of white, the Don David Torrontes from Argentina (find it), to go with a small cheese platter (they have Jasper Hill “constant bliss”–a must try!) but found it to be too cold especially given the wintry weather. But in the glorified tumbler that is the “O” glass, I was able to warm it up quickly in my hand. Other cured meats, cheeses, and small bites are available.

Here’s how to find Wined Up:
913 Broadway, nr. 20th St. Map it
Second floor above the restaurant Punch (signage is not great but it’s upstairs)
Flatiron District. Tel: 212-673-6333

And stay tuned for our next stop on the NYC wine bar crawl, probably next month. I’ll post the details here with hopefully enough notice so that you can join us if you haven’t already…

tags: wine | NYC | wine bars

It’s official! Back by popular demand, we are having the next offline meet-up on February 9 at Wined Up! Our slow-motion, NYC pub wine bar crawl makes a second stop this year after starting at Varietal last month.

The meet-up is simply a chance to meet in the real world, off the internet, with wine enthusiasts, in particular, readers of this site and people who’ve taken my wine classes at NYU. There’s no charge other than what you order at the bar. Consider it a happy hour. Or two.

Wined Up opened in November above Punch in the Flatiron District. We will put their 30 wines by the glass to the test. Ditto for the cured meats and cheeses (I’ll leave it to you if you want to try the pumpkin hush puppies). And perhaps even pull a bottle off their 100′ backlit display wall. Come one, come all and kick off your weekend between 6 and 8ish on Friday, Feb 9.

When: starting 6PM, Friday, February 9
Where: Wined Up
Second floor above the restaurant Punch (repeat: it’s upstairs)
913 Broadway, nr. 20th St. Map it
Flatiron District
Who: you! And bring a friend if you like

tags: wine | nyc

Check out my next wine class at NYU starting Feb 1.

But also check out this NYT story from a couple of weeks ago. It turns out researchers think education–yes, education!–is phenomenally important in having a long life. Roll the tape:

The one social factor that researchers agree is consistently linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education. It is more important than race; it obliterates any effects of income.

Year after year, in study after study, says Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, education “keeps coming up.”

And, health economists say, those factors that are popularly believed to be crucial — money and health insurance, for example, pale in comparison.

Now couple that with the recent studies on resveratrol and the class may just be the fountain of youth! Ponce de Leon, come hither and enroll!

We will be talking about and tasting cool things like what the heck is going on in these posts.

* Results may vary. Not guaranteed.

tags: wine | wine classes | nyc

A couple of dozen of us had a great meet-up at Varietal last night! About 25 people attended during our two very happy hours, including fellow NYC wine bloggers Terry from Mondosapore and Keith, the East Village Wine Geek.

Varietal is a wine restaurant AND and excellent, bona fide wine bar. I’m upgrading it to “a favorite” on my NYC wine bar map. Here’s why:

• 75 wines by the glass. These aren’t any wines, mind you. They are really cool stuff. I’d be willing to taste them all–in fact I have enjoyed many of them already.
• Great flights, seven flights in all, including even a Greek flight! All the glasses in the flight come with handy printed tags–excellent for keeping things straight.
• The “master of wine” flight: three wines poured blind, guess the grape varieties and the flight is on the house. After being open for five weeks now, nobody has guessed them correctly (including yours truly). I have two words for you: garnacha tintorera!!!! oy.
• An emphasis on freshness. Despite having so many wines available by the glass, the wines are well preserved. I had a glass of Nicolas Joly Clos Sacres and it was the last pour from a bottle opened a previous day. It was still very fresh.
• Very cool bar. The countertop is a durable white surface–all the better for eyeballing your wine.
• Knowledgeable staff! You would not know that it only opened about a month ago.
• Spacious and comfortable bar area as well as a spacious seating area with Jetson-like chairs.
• 200 wines on the wine list for the restaurant, including some bottles starting in the high $20s…I didn’t have the chance to dine there. Pending reviews from the Times and NY mag, check out Augie’s review who gave it 832 bazillion stars.

In all the meet-up was as fun as the place. I really liked meeting those of you who made it and look forward to the next time. Stay tuned for details. Maybe we can turn this into a slow pub crawl of NYC wine bars!

Varietal [map it]
138 W. 25th St., New York, NY 10001
between Sixth and Seventh Ave.
212-633-1800

tags: wine | wine bars | nyc

Join the couple of dozen fellow vino-philes who have already replied they will be there! Drop by Varietal between 6 and 8ish on Thursday evening to have a happy hour or two. See you there! More details here.

138 W. 25th St., New York, NY 10001
nr. Seventh Ave.
212-633-1800

tags: wine | offline

It’s officially winter (although not a flake has fallen). There’s no better way to ward off midwinter blues than socializing. So open your calendars–we’re having an offline! January 11, starting at 6 PM.

We will go and check out Varietal, possibly NYC’s hottest new wine destination. With over 75 wines by the glass, there will be plenty to choose from.

One highlight is the “master sommelier” flight of tasting sized pours. This trio of wines is served blind–you correctly guess what the wines are and the flight is on the house! I’m up for the challenge, though fear it will turn into a round of “stump the chump.”

Greggory Hockenberry, friend of the blog who took one of my NYU wine classes last fall, is the owner of Varietal. Blog readers and everyone who has taken a class with me is welcome to attend–we can toast Greggory’s success and mingle with fellow vinomaniacs! If I haven’t met in person you before, I hope you can make it!

Drop me a line if you think you’ll be able to stop by for a glass or a flight. Hope to see you there! Thursday January 11, starting at 6 PM.

Review: Varietal [NY Mag]
138 W. 25th St., New York, NY 10001
nr. Seventh Ave.
212-633-1800

tags: wine | NYC