Cava Wine Bar

I stopped by Cava on the Upper West Side earlier this week. It’s located at 185 W 80^th St and it is a fantastic place! It’s pretty spacious for a wine bar and it has a great jazz café atmosphere.

There were lots of choices on their wine list and the majority of the wines were from France, Italy, Spain, or the US. Glasses of wine were between $10 and $15 and bottles weren’t too expensive with prices in the $34 to $180 range. Since it was a nice day out and I was sitting in one of the bay windows at the front of the bar, I decided to order a glass of white wine and chose the Albarino from Spain. I didn’t catch the year or producer (FAIL) because the menu was snatched away from me pretty quickly. However, I can’t think of an Albarino that I’ve had that wasn’t delicious. This grape is the predominant white wine grape in the Rias Baixas region of Spain and is known for being very lively and refreshing. This particular one had a very citrus-y aroma of grapefruit and lemon. It also had a zesty lemon flavor, a white pepper finish, and a great acidity that gave it that refreshing quality. The pour was very large and the glasses left plenty of room for swirling.

Latin music, R&B, and jazz were playing, giving the bar a soulful atmosphere. The walls were covered with wooden wine racks and bright oil paintings of people playing jazz instruments. The ceiling had some interest too…it was made of glossy black tiles framed by dark wood. I’ll post a picture of it, but it was a neat detail. I was seated at one of the bay windows, facing out to look at a quiet 80^th st. With a cool glass of wine in my hand and the soulful music playing, I was in my element. All that was missing was a good book! This is a great place to come and unwind. It would be perfect for a date too. You can tell that the seating makes a deliberate intimate setting because the large space was filled with only café tables for two. With this seating, the dim lighting, and the music it’s almost as if Cava is going *wink wink, nudge nudge*

I was surprised that Cava wasn’t busier than it was at the time. It’s just off of Amsterdam Ave, which is filled with restaurants and a wine bar like this would be a good place to have pre-dinner drinks. While I was there, it was just a couple groups of girlfriends, a couple, and myself. However, people that walked by Cava must have been drawn by the sweet sounds drifting out of the bar because they would stop to look at the menu outside, and walk in to get a table. So, it did start picking up around 7.

This place has a good staff on board; the waitress would stop by the tables often enough to make sure you were happy, but not too often to be annoying. Rumor has it that if you’re sitting at the bar and your glass happens to approach empty, the bartender will add a couple splashes to make sure you keep having a good time. I can’t vouch for this, but cross your fingers if you’re sitting at the bar when you’re at Cava!

I like Cava. It’s casual, it’s soulful, and they have a good wine list to boot. I think it’s a great wine bar, especially on the warmer days :) I give this place a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

The nearly empty interior of Cava

Looking out onto 80th St with my glass of Albarino

a soulful jazz cafe!