Epistrophy Cafe

On Friday I went to Epistrophy Café, located in Nolita at 200 Mott St. The bar looks hip, as it should considering its location. It was a really nice day when I visited, so the windows in the front of the bar were all open and there were some little café tables outside.

It was already bustling inside the bar when I arrived and I was greeted shortly after entering. I was asked if I preferred a table or a seat at the bar. I requested a table and as I was following the hostess, one of the waiters said to me “You can have the table as long as you don’t stay here all night long because we have people with reservations later.” How welcoming!

Once I was settled at my very temporary table, I began to review the menu. Most of the wines were Italian, with a few here and there from France, Germany, and the US. While the menu does provide a brief description of each wine, it fails to list the vintages for their white wines. Glasses are between $6.50 for the house wine and up to $12 for the more expensive dessert wines. The average price of a glass is around $8 or $9, which is very affordable for this city! Bottles were between $30 and $54 and they also offer a carafe size for select wines. I should note that the bar is cash only, so do come prepared for that.

The setting of Epistrophy Café kind of makes it feel like you’re in someone’s huge cozy apartment. There is an open kitchen in the middle of the bar, a large bookcase along one of the original brick walls, a couple of lazily spinning fans on the ceiling, and there is a little corner in the back of the bar with cutesy décor – floral wallpaper, an antique cabinet, and some artwork.

Given the warm weather, I decided to order my first Riesling of the year and chose a glass of Noble House Riesling, vintage unknown. It smelled a bit like hay, actually. Unless the scent was mingled with that of the fresh bread being baked in the kitchen, which was beside my table. The wine had a light, tangy sweetness, almost like honey and lemon. It had a good acidity and was easy to drink, as is most Riesling. I actually drank it so quickly that the hubby still had half of his drink left, so I decided to order another glass. Know what I don’t get to try very often at a wine bar? A house wine. It’s not usually offered at wine bars, at least from what I've seen. I ordered the house white wine and it wasn’t bad, especially for $6.50. It was hard to get a read on the aroma again because of the tasty bread, but it did have a very vegetal flavor with a peppery finish and a high acidity. It was pretty unique.

By 6:45, the place was loud, packed, and there was even a line of people outside waiting for a table. The bar attracted all different types of people; there were a lot of hipsters, but I did notice some families with young children here too.

The interesting/awkward/rude encounter I had when I first arrived left a bad taste in my mouth and made it feel like they were just trying to quickly turn tables over instead of providing a pleasant experience for their customers. Even when a wine bar is busy, this should still be their priority. So, this place gets a downgrade for that. I’d like to see what Epistrophy is like when it’s not so hectic. It would be a great spot to hang out in the afternoon, actually. Based on the wines I had, I would say that the value is good - your cash goes pretty far here. I give Epistrophy Café a rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

The exterior of Epistrophy Cafe

Getting busy...

The bookcase...and look! Part of my hubby

  The cutesy little corner in the back

My glass of Riesling

The check comes to your table as a teeny scroll! How cute :)

Pil Pil

I went to Pil Pil on Friday, which is located at 265 E 78^th St. I’ve walked by it several times and it always looked like it had a fun interior. Plus, the name is kind of cute. While writing this, I googled what “pil pil” means and it actually has nothing to do with wine or even tapas. It’s a type of spicy fish sauce…definitely random.

Anyway, the interior is indeed fun and visually interesting. Vines are entwined in the ceiling, which appears to be made to look like a pergola. The brick walls have little alcoves cut into them that have seen many, many candles melt within them. It creates a cool, almost gothic effect. The stand out part of the décor, however, is an array of bottles with brightly colored lights behind them that serves as the backdrop to the beautiful marble top bar.

Pil Pil is a Spanish wine bar, which I was pleased to see when I arrived because I adore wines from this country. There is a good selection of both red and white wines and the menu shows the grape variety for each wine, as most Spanish wines are named after the region and can be a little confusing. Glasses of wine are actually sold as a “mini carafe” which is 8 oz of wine. The average pour for a glass is around 6 oz, so this is a good value as it wasn’t priced any higher than most wine bars that I’ve been to. The mini carafes started at $11 and were priced up to $17 and bottles were $38 to $69. They also have some happy hour specials on beer and sangria. However, on Sundays and Mondays, all bottles of wine are half off! Since their bottles aren’t overpriced, this is a great deal.

I selected a mid-range priced wine and ordered the 2007 Valserrano Crianza Rioja. I may have mentioned this in previous reviews involving Spanish wine, but it’s worth repeating: Spain has labeling requirements in regards to how long a wine must be aged before release. Crianza is the term used for the minimum time: 2 years of ageing with at least 6 months spent in oak barrels; Reserva is aged for 3 years with 1 year in oak; Gran Reserva is aged 5 years with at least 18 months spent in oak.

This Rioja smelled of sweet dried strawberries and was very aromatic. It tasted very similar on the palate, plus a little hint of plum. The tannins were a little harsh, but it was enjoyable. It would have been really, really good with the lamb sliders they serve here, which are topped with Manchego cheese….yum. It seriously took every effort to save my appetite for dinner and not order them.

Pil Pil has a really nice, pleasant atmosphere. The service was quick and polite and the place was busy, but just enough to create a background buzz of conversation. It was filled with groups of girlfriends catching up, as well as a couple of dates. It started to get busier after 7, so get here a little early to grab a table if you plan on hanging out for a while.

It took me a while to see this, but I eventually noticed that there’s a super creepy skeleton hanging from the wall, shrouded in some brown cloth. Forgotten Halloween decoration? The bar’s founder? The world may never know. It’s also clutching a champagne glass in one of its boney hands. In the timeless words of Sawyer from Lost, “Cheers, Skeletor!”

Pil Pil is a trendy, yet casual place and boasts a very cool setting. I really don’t have anything negative to say about this bar. It’s one of the better Spanish wine bars I’ve been to, if not the best so far. Stop by to have a glass and discover why I love Spanish wine so much :) And please, order those lamb sliders for me! I give Pil Pil a rating of 4.2 out of 5 glasses.

The vines that cover the ceiling of the bar

My mini carafe of Rioja

The cool bottle display behind the bar

There was a rack of wine bottles at the end of each row of tables

look closely...it's Skeletor!