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!

Wine & Roses

I stopped in Wine & Roses last night after a long day to unwind with a glass of wine. The bar is located at 286 Columbus Ave, just off of 74^th St. The bar is aptly named, as there are roses in wine bottle vases on many of the tables and on the bar.

Wine & Roses is beautiful. It’s on the small side, but the space is well organized so you seem not to notice its size after a while. The tables and the bar have pretty marble tops and the base of the bar is tiled with a really cool backsplash of sorts. Squishy, comfortable leather benches provide seating for the tall tables and the bar is surrounded by oversized leather chairs and stools. The bar had a nice glow coming from the huge red lights hanging above the bar as well as from the little candles on each table. It has a very warm and romantic atmosphere and every detail is thought out, right down to the lacey curtains and the collage of mirrors on the wall. Like I said – it’s beautiful.

Their wine list is selected very well and from the looks of it they have some very delicious wines. However, they are expensive. Glasses are priced between $11 and $18, and from what I can tell, while you can get a great glass of wine I don’t think there are any surprise good value wines here. Bottles are $30 to $400 and the wines are from the major wine regions of Europe and the US. Wine & Roses also have flight options all of which are $21. It includes tasting sizes of four different wines and there are four flight options to choose from.

I ordered the 2007 Hugel Muscat from the Alsace region of France. It was medium bodied and tasted like grapefruit and a little bit of lychee, so it had a brief bitter flavor but it was smooth. The wine smelled very similar to its flavors with the bitterness coming through on the nose as well. It would be a good fall or winter wine, at least for me. I tend only to crave sweet white wines in the summer.

This bar is very wine focused, for obvious reasons. But unlike some wine bars, you can definitely tell that this is one as soon as you walk in. Their wine list is great, albeit expensive, but not overpriced for the quality of vino that you’re drinking. I even noticed that the bar’s sommelier teaches wine classes. I couldn’t see what day and time these classes were held, though. Eyesight fail. Also, I’m not sure if every wine bar has its own sommelier to select the wines for the menu or if this was the first bar that I’ve been to that does. Either way, I like the fact that they have one.

I actually felt a little underdressed while I was here because the waitresses were all in black dresses and the rest of the customers were casual, yet sharply dressed and many appeared to have come from work. Next time I’ll leave the leggings at home :)

Although Wine & Roses is a little pricey, they do have some really great wines available on their menu and the atmosphere is really posh and sexy. Is this my favorite wine bar in the city? Maybe not, but it is pretty awesome. I give this place a rating of 3.9 out of 5 glasses.

Wine & Roses

My glass of Muscat

The cool lights that give the bar a soft glow :)

I was trying to be as creative as I could with an iPhone camera