City Winery
155 Varick St., Tribeca, NY
Educating people about City Winery seems to have taken a little longer than expected. The fact that the majority of people I come in contact with are still unaware of City Winery’s existence is concerning. People are missing out on a truly unique addition to downtown Manhattan. City Winery is a sprawling adult playpen boasting a full bar, restaurant, music venue, and yes, winery. This place is HUGE. What Brooklyn Bowl brings to the table for drunken hipsters, City Winery doubles down on for their more sophisticated peers. City Winery offers all sorts of wine events, classes, and pairings. Plus, people have the ability to create their own wine in house, complete with their own barrel and custom label.
The acoustics in the room are off the chain, and create one of the better sounding venues I’ve ever been to. Hopefully, sooner than later, City Winery will start diversifying their bookings a bit. Not that I have anything against Jill Sobule, Joseph Arthur, or Rachel Yamagata (they match up well with a glass of Cabernet), it’s just that it would be cool to see them book some hip indie rock you’d normally see at Bowery Ballroom or Webster Hall to mix things up a bit and bring in a different crowd.
City Winery offers over 500 wines, and they’ve created a selection of ideal accompaniments designed to bring out the best of each. The menu is a complicated animal with arrows pointing in every direction in order to help you pair wine with food. In theory, it’s a great idea, but in reality, it doesn’t translate well and is difficult to grasp. In any case, City Winery is careful to make sure the wine remains the focal point of the experience, but since our focus is on food, let’s talk about what we ate, not what we drank.
Food Rundown
Selection of Murray’s Cheese
You can’t go wrong with Murray’s being the cheese option. Everyone in NYC loves Murray’s and at three for $15, the price is right. A couple of our favorites include Brunet (goat milk from Piemonte, Italy ) and La Tur (goat, sheep, and cow milk from Piemonte, Italy).
Selection of Murray’s Real Salami
Again, it’s another nice move on City Winery’s part to serve Murray’s. Our favorites from the meat department include the prosciutto and the rich, creamy pepperoni.
Flatbread Pizza
Don’t get overly excited. This isn’t Keste, but these puffy crusted pizzas are a fine snack to chew on while downing multiple bottles of vino. The wild mushroom with goat cheese and sage is pretty damn good and both the prosciutto and fresh mozzarella get the job done as well.
Lamb Chops
We order this every time we come, and it’s easily our favorite menu item. These chops pair well with an earthy red wine and the full order is a nice amount of food. Well seasoned and nicely cooked, these chops are a nice surprise.
Sliced NY Strip Steak
Good enough to get by, but not good enough to order again. You order it, you eat it, you’re fine with it, and then you forget it. The next morning you’ll be too focused on getting rid of your wine induced headache to even remember whether this was good or not.
