I love sangria as it is (my favorite is at Tapeo 29!), and I don’t particularly think it needs a makeover. But it’s interesting to see a bunch of NYC drink-spots putting a spin on the classic drink. From the dry-sherry sangria at Suba to the deep-red-beet version at Tailor to the green mango and apricot at Rayuela, mixologists (did I really just use that word?) all over town are going sangria-wild.
Check out the entire, BEAUTIFUL slideshow here.
I got my stimulus rebate on Friday - direct deposit to my account. And it took all of my willpower to move it immediately into my savings account. But NY Mag did a cute article on 18 Ways to Blow Your Tax Rebate, and they included a section on food. Their short term investment: buying 6 $100 orders of eels at Le Berardin this week for you and 5 friends. Medium term: Buy a one-year membership to the wine auction house Acker, Merrall & Condit’s Platinum Wine Club. And long term: get a 90-minute group lesson (for 12 people) from the experts at Murray’s Cheese. And here’s my own, personal suggestion: book the 9-course tasting menu at Per Se for two and then cringe when you have to leave your leftover $100 for a 20% tip.
Photo via.
I clipped this post from Dr. Vino’s blog the other day sort of as a mental note to myself, but thought y’all might like to see it too. It’s a list of the wines that were unanimously enjoyed by the classmates of his NYU course on wine tasting. I figure if it’s good enough for an NYU-kid, it’s good enough for me.
* Luneau-Papin, Clos des Allees, Muscadet 2005 $12 (find this wine)
* Godeval Godello 2006 $16 (find this wine)
* Lenz Estate Merlot, North Fork Long Island, 2001 $21 (find this wine)
* Patricia Greene, “Whistling Ridge” Pinot noir, 2006. $35 (find this wine)
* Catena Malbec 2005 $16 (find this wine)
* Yves Cuilleron, “vin de pays des Collines Rhodaniennes,” Syrah 2006 $18 (find this wine)
The first two are whites, and the rest are reds. Enjoy.
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There’s a brand new organic wine bar that opened on Broome St. near Orchard last week called Ten Bells—a nautical term which also happens to be the name of the pub in London where Jack the Ripper met his victims. Yikes! But the space doesn’t look scary, and in fact looks rather cozy. Wine bars are my favorite, so I’ll be checking this one out soon. It’s owned by the same people who run Les Enfants Terrible, a restaurant I keep hearing great things about and still haven’t been to. My restaurant list is just too long!
Photo by Melissa Hom.
Yesterday was beautiful here in NYC—hit the 70s for the first time in forever. Thus, I got spring fever and consumed approximately a million calories to celebrate the warm weather. There goes the diet! But I came across two really cute picnic sets that got me extra excited for future picnic-ing this spring and summer. The Eco Picnic set (via Dose of Design) is all fully biodegradable/compostable, and the Steady Stick Table and Wine holders (via SwissMiss) are less eco-friendly, but more likely to keep your food and drink away from the ants. I can’t wait to picnic!
A friend and co-worker turned me on to her latest weight-loss obsession, Daily Plate. It’s a site where you can input all the food you eat each day and your exercise, and it’ll tell you exactly how many calories you can have to lose weight. I’m not really, exactly trying to lose weight. OK… maybe like a pound or two. But I’ve never been much of a dieter and I have no idea how to count calories. Yet I find it oddly satisfying to put in my Reese’s Mini Peanutbutter Cup, and see that it’s only 42 calories. Nice. And mostly, I just want to know that I’m not eating disgusting amounts of calories. I think this obsession’s life-line is a week at most, but, for now, I’m totally into it and I’m gonna try to shed some poundage for the summer.
Photo via.
Very beautiful new wine decanters from Riedel—the collection, including the Swan, Paloma, and Flamingo, are all inspired from the shape and form of birds (link via Cool Hunting). Each decanter (somewhat magically) holds one bottle of wine.
This charcoal slate cheese board (via The Kitchn) is genius - no more poking at different cheeses and looking quizzically at your host… “Is this camembert?” I love it. It also remind me that I walked past one of my favorite LES tapas bars, Tapeo 29, and saw a sign that on Tuesdays you can taste a few different wines and try some Spanish cheeses… no idea if this is free, but they didn’t include a price on the sign. Must put on the Things-to-Do list.
Last night J and I went for a celebration dinner to Craft—I had oysters and duck, perhaps my two favorite things in the world. And J ordered a glass of wine that he liked so much that he wrote it down. The wine was $18 a glass—so we thought, maybe we could afford a bottle of the wine (or even a case) when we feel like splurging. And we’re dying to find one wine that we both like enough to buy a case. The wine is: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Pierre Usseglio, a blend of Grenache and Syrah from the Rhone Valley. So, $18 a glass. Guess how much a bottle is. Go ahead… Guess. It’s $170!!! This makes me feel 2 different things. 1. Yikes! So, I guess we won’t be buying this bottle of wine. And 2. Wow! What a great deal we got at Craft for only $18 a glass (never thought I’d be impressed by how cheap an $18 glass of wine is).
Photo via.
So, along with Mendoza being at the foothills of the Andes (and a phenomenal place for horseback riding), it’s also one of the best places in Argentina to go wine tasting—and try the native Malbec (see photo above). There are tons of vineyards and wineries outside the city. Kate and I decided to rent bikes for the day and ride from winery to winery. Sounded good in theory, and it was very beautiful. But we later realized that biking over 12 miles while tasting numerous glasses of red wine might get a little bit tricky. Alas, we prevailed!
My favorite glass of wine was the Pleno from the Tempus Alba vineyard—one of the more modern wineries in the area. It is 60% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Merlot. It was deep and full with lots of wood flavors, and it was utterly delicious to drink on the patio overlooking their vast vineyard. I’m very bummed because it doesn’t seem like they sell to any NYC wine stores.
We also hopped on the wine tour at the very old and very famous Museo del Vino (in Spanish… which was interesting for me). They had barrels to store wine that were about a bajillion years old, and it was so great to get up-close and personal with (and smell!) all these classic Argentine wines. I bought 2 bottles of the Trumpeter while I was there. I bet you can buy this in NYC, but I haven’t checked yet. I still have 1 bottle to drink first!
I have a thing for Spanish wine—that’s probably because it’s the only wine that I really know anything about. After traveling there a few times, I know what I like. But when it comes to Italian or French wines, I swear it’s another language. So I’m really happy to read in the NY Times that there’s a new Spanish wine bar in the E. Village.
PATA NEGRA Rafael Mateo has carved out a niche of Spain with his East Village wine bar, which opens on Friday: 345 East 12th Street, (212) 228-1696.
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V-day in NYC is rough—you need to call weeks ahead to make reservations anywhere good, and most places have a prix-fix that is too pricey for my budget. So this year J and I decided that we’re going to cook at home and splurge on special ingredients—probably 2 lobsters (if we can scrounge up one of those giant pots to boil in), maybe some oysters, and the bottle of wine that I brought home from one of my favorite wineries that I visited in Mendoza, Argentina.
So, what are your romantic plans? If you haven’t scheduled anything yet, check out Grub Street’s Guide to Valentines Day—they’ve got a rundown of restaurants owned by couples, with recipes for their romantic dishes; picks for the best chocolatiers, wine stores, and dessert spots; and even a few things not directly related to food.
Photo via.
How funny is this? Some genius took the concept of a CamelBak (the contraption that you fill with water and strap to your backpack when you go hiking) and transformed it into a hysterical way to sneak alcohol into venues. This could be very useful in NYC in the summer when everything fun is outdoors, yet you can’t drink anywhere. For men, there’s The Beer Belly, and even funnier, for women, is the WineRack. I don’t think I’d have the guts to strap a canister of wine to my chest, but I still think it’s amazingly funny. What do you think?
Love this! Only a theory as of now, but someone make this happen ASAP! Sangria would taste so delicious.
In the city, BYOB restaurants are a girls’ best friend. Screw diamonds, give me a cheap bottle of wine, a cheap restaurant tab, and a table full of friends. Cheesy, I know. But true. When J and I ate a huge, yummy dinner at Georgia’s Eastside BBQ (with a full doggy bag to take home), we spent a grand total of $30 including tip. And we did the same thing Friday night when we hit up Bodeguita Cubana. We splurged on our bottle of wine ($20), and then spent $30 for dinner. And it was delicious. J got a braised beef dish with rice and beans… I stupidly got the pollo. I’m not usually so boring, but it was good as far as chicken goes. It’s a teeny tiny little place—probably seats about 15 to 20 people really squished. But that’s the charm. And you can’t beat dinner for that price… with a good buzz from splitting a bottle of wine included. We got a cocktail at this really annoyingly pretentious bar afterwards called SB3 (which some googing showed me stands for Sexy B@*tch 3… why? i don’t know), and we spent the same amount that we did on dinner. I know, not our smartest move. Won’t do it again. It just wasn’t our kind of place—I’m sure great cocktails, but a little too shi-shi. But Bodeguita Cubana is down-home delicious and you should check it out. And while I’m sharing the secrets, check out this entire BYOB list from NY Mag.
UPDATE: Apparently Bodeguita Cubana couldn’t make it and is closing.
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