Ardesia

I had the pleasure of going to Ardesia last night at 510 W 52^nd St. It’s a little out of the way between 10^th and 11^th Ave, but it is certainly worth the trip.

The first thing you notice about the bar is not only the relaxed outdoor seating area, but it’s very spacious. The ceilings are really high and the wall of wine above the bar really showcases the vastness of the space. There is also a cool seating area off to the side of the bar with low profile plush velvet couches. It looks cozy and definitely a great place to reserve for a party.

There are over 30 glasses of wine on the menu and happy hour specials are $2 off any glass of wine. I love this because it doesn’t limit you to a specific list of happy hour wines. It’s always a little sad when I see a wine that I really want and realize that I can’t get a discount on it. Yes, the thrifty side of me does emerge from time to time. Glasses are priced between $9 and $15 and bottles are mostly in the $40 to $60 range and up to $180. There are lots of great selections from all over Europe and the US.

I had trouble deciding which wine I wanted because there were so many that I wanted to try. The waiter asked if he could make any recommendations, so I asked him what his favorite wine at the bar was. He told me that he really liked the 2008 Cellars Can Blau Montsant from Spain, so I decided to give it a try. It was quite lovely. It smelled like cassis and chocolate and tasted like blackberry. It had smooth, round tannins and was very easy to drink.

The staff was incredibly friendly. The waiter would stop by my table a lot and would make some casual conversation. It’s the perfect nice and fun environment for enjoying a glass of wine and some tapas.

I decided to stick around for a while, since I was enjoying the atmosphere of Ardesia so much. For my second glass I ordered a 2009 Sierras de Malaga Moscatel Seco, which was also from Spain. It smelled so good! It was very aromatic and smelled like peach. It tasted like passion fruit and finished quite dry, which I wasn’t expecting. A pleasant surprise.

I started to get hungry, so I ordered the quail egg toast. It was magnificent and I want to eat it every day for breakfast. If you come here, order this and pair it with the Moscatel. It’s to die for!

The place started to get busy around 6:30 with many different groups of people. Some looked like they had come from work while others were dressed much more casually and seemed to have been hanging around there for a while. It’s a very lively place and I think its location helps to keep it from getting standy.

Ardesia is a very clean lined and modern bar. It’s casual, yet refined and kind of sexy. Not to mention they have a delicious selection of wines. Come here during the week before 7 so that you can take advantage of the special prices! I give Ardesia a rating of 4.5 out of 5 glasses.

The exterior of Ardesia

My glass of Montsant

Moscatel!



Sweet Grapes Wine Bar

I went to Sweet Grapes Wine Bar tonight at 39 Essex St. It’s in a bit of an unusual area; it’s right on the border of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Not usually where I would expect a wine bar to be located.

It is super, super tiny. There is enough seating for maybe 10 people, but it is very unassuming and quaint. It’s as cute as its name. The place is decorated like an English garden with vines all over the walls as well as bunches of fake grapes. There are some hanging lights and cool lanterns on the wall. The ceilings are made of old, pretty tin, which I think is a nice way to maintain the charm of an old building.

Their wine menu is on a chalkboard on the wall behind the bar, so I didn’t quite catch where all of the wines were from, but from what I do remember seeing, many of the wines were from Europe and California. Sweet Grapes has happy hour specials on some of their wines, but despite that I went with a full priced glass (which was only $8) of Gruner from Austria, since I have been wanting to try it for a while now. This was actually one of the most expensive wines on the list. Glasses were priced between $6 and $9! Incredible.

All I have to say is that if you do stop by Sweet Grapes, do yourself a favor and order this wine. It smelled like crisp green apples and tasted like white peach. It was a little grassy as well with a touch of sweetness. However, the glasses are a little on the small side. So much so that I automatically went to give my glass a good swirl and apparently it was too vigorous for the glass’s stature because some of the wine sloshed over the side. Whoops!

The bartender began to make some microwave popcorn, which smelled awesome. Too bad it wasn’t on the menu because not having a microwave myself, I almost consider it a delicacy and would have dived right in. Just as I was trying to remember what microwave popcorn tasted like, the bartender brought me a bowl! Eeee! I was probably entirely too excited than I should have been. After devouring every little morsel of popcorn, I looked up and found that there were little bowls of popcorn lined up on the bar. It’s the bar snack! A much better alternative than peanuts, if I do say so myself. My glass of Gruner tasted quite good with it. Does anyone have any other great suggestions for what pairs well with popcorn?

Sweet Grapes was a tucked away, neighborly bar, but it felt a little bit like a typical bar rather than a wine bar. Although as you can clearly tell, the popcorn was a huge plus. It is cute though! I give Sweet Grapes a rating of 3.4 out of 5 glasses.

I've emailed Squarespace about this inability to rotate pictures in a post. I'll have this right side up soon enough!

Note the spill from my vigorous swirl

I devoured half the bowl of popcorn before I realized I should take a picture