We have reviewed plenty of restaurants on the Lower East side for this site, but Bacaro is really low and really east – in a part of town that’s too dirty even for most of the cool kids (which means it’s cool). Though the food at Bacaro is pretty good, it’s the kind of place you come to for the atmosphere. There is a small upstairs bar with tables, but under no circumstances should you pass up an opportunity to eat in the downstairs basement, or what I like to call the “Dungeon of Romance”. Exposed brick, crystal chandeliers, one large white candle on each table … if you can actually manage to get a date to come to this part of Manhattan, at least know you’re probably going to close the deal. The menu is technically small plate Italian, but the plates aren’t really all that small. About four dishes for a table of two is a good approach. Anything with a vegetable is a solid choice, but the pastas are hit and miss. It’s also worth noting that Bacaro doesn’t take reservations, which can make it a risky destination for an early in the game date. If the wait is long, you can hang at the upstairs bar and have a drink, but it’s small. Then again, you can always go take a walk. Nothing says love like watching a guy in Chinatown skin a chicken.
A few things to note before we get into it. First, this is a review of the Boqueria on 19th St., not of the newer SoHo location, and not of both. Boqueria Soho has a different dynamic and clientele. Second, let us preface this by saying that we’ve been coming to Boqueria for a while now, and we generally enjoy the place. The only problem we have is that it’s slowly becoming to Spanish food what Sushi Samba is to Japanese. What does that mean exactly? It means that it’s on the short list of venues for Girls Night Out, and that the food is hit or miss. Don’t get us wrong, we’re absolutely fine with going to a restaurant loaded with girls, but consistency is what we crave and Boqueria seems to be all over the map these days. The best bets on the menu tend to be the more simple items like Brussels sprouts, pan con tomate, and anything with chorizo. The wine list is good and reasonably priced (plenty of bottles priced under forty dollars), and the churros are pretty excellent. Maybe even better than the ones that dude sells on the L train platform. At the end of the day, the good at Boqueria is definitely good, and if you stick to the right things, you’ll probably walk away happy. Then again, when we’re craving some Spanish food we’re probably headed to Bar Carerra, Mercat, or Casa Mono instead. For the purposes of this food rundown, we’re going to stick (mostly) to the stuff we liked.
At first, I didn’t know what to make of Ardesia. Situated at the bottom of a giant new West Side condo, this place looks like something a developer thought up so they could add “wine bar” to the list of building amenities, right next to “rooftop pool”, and “monthly singles mixers”. But after a few (five) glasses of wine, and some food, it became apparent that there is much more going on here.
Ardesia is first and foremost a wine bar, and a good one at that. The food is decent, but it’s secondary to what they do best, which is selecting excellent “mineral-driven” wines from all over the world. There are a ton of options to order by the glass, the prices are reasonable, and the service is super friendly. Go to drink, but when you inevitably need some food to soak up the wine, stick to a few simple things on the menu like the cod cakes and the pretzels. It’s a good hang for sure, and a perfect place to kick it with a friend or get to know someone. Better put that singles mixer on your calendar.
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.
Eh. This place is average at best. In a pinch, it can be useful for a group get together (6-8 people), but it’s overpriced, the food is mediocre, and the scene is not as cool as it once was. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a place I’ve frequented a bunch over the last 5 years, but I feel like it gets worse and worse each time and its time to jump ship. It’s an older, tightly wound crowd (hello suits and chicks wearing sweater vests over button downs?) The music is a bit too loud and their hip indie dance playlist of Hot Chip into Death From Above 1979 doesn’t necessarily fit their clientele, or at least it didn’t while I was there. It struck me as very odd. Yes, it’s a fun place with a good atmosphere. The layout is nice and they have some cool, comfy booths but my main issues are the price (it was over sixty dollars each per person, we didn’t even eat or drink that much) and most of the food we had just wasn’t amazing. And if we’re going to spend sixty bucks a head in NYC, we want amazing.
Feature: Infatuation TV: P.O.S.
