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.
Even before we reached media mogul/baller status here at Immaculate Infatuation, Bar Stuzzichini has always welcomed us with VIP treatment. While we like to believe that this is a direct result of our indelible charm and a general awareness that we would soon be making it rain, we will concede that the place is usually half empty. That said, I personally have had experiences visiting a restaurant on a slow night and being treated like a Swine Flu patient (see Shang), and also to be fair, the dining room at Bar Stuzz is pretty large. What really makes Bar Stuzzichini a staple though are a few superstar dishes, a well priced wine list, and a varied menu that has both small plates and entree size portions with something for everyone at the table. Put it all together and you’ve got the perfect spot for a large group meal, or just to stop in and feel like you own the joint.
Midtown wine bars are pretty high up there on the list of places you won’t find us hanging out. Why? Well, first of all, the majority of them are slightly less exciting than having a glass or two inside your local Pottery Barn. Second, we’re not so down with the menus rife with shitty pizzas and cubed cheese served on cutting boards. Oh and that fig thrown in next to the pile of Wheat Thins? Yeah, that’s not fooling anybody.
On the surface, Bocca di Bacco doesn’t look much different than any of those places. What is interesting, though, is that the food is actually very good. On the menu is an extensive offering of Italian small plates, pastas, and tasty full sized entrees to accompany all the wines that pour from a giant wine keggerator behind the bar. The crowd is a nice mix of Hell’s Kitchen’s hottest residents and some downtowners that know where to get good eats when they’re in the area. We went in on a Twitter recommendation and have now had two solid meals at Bocca di Bacco, along with some nice wines by the glass that didn’t put too bad of a hurting on the wallet. I’m glad we gave it a chance. The ridiculous house music on the website almost doomed it from the start.
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.
