Balon

This week, I reviewed Balon which is located on the Upper East Side at 245 E 81^st St. The exterior has a new-looking, pretty, brick facade with a big entryway and some plants outside to liven up the street. The inside is just as lovely. The bar feels like a trendy, modern, European café. French music was playing the entire time I was there, the bar has all different types of leather and wicker seating, arched doorways, a painted ceiling, and there is a garden in the back. Even the view looking out onto the street is quaint. Everything about this place is luxe. It’s definitely not a casual place! I would have felt very odd had I been wearing jeans.

The wines are moderately expensive with glasses starting at $10 and up to $18 and bottles are $40 to $79. The average price of a glass was about $15, however. Many of the wines were from France, so I decided to order a 2009 Florian Mollet Pouilly Fume because it’s my favorite French wine to say. It’s pronounced “Poo ee foo may”. Fun, right? Pouilly Fume is a dry white wine from the Loire Valley of France and it's made with the Sauvignon Blanc grape. It generally has a smoky or mineral-like quality to it, although I didn’t taste or smell either of these in this particular wine. It was yummy, though. It smelled like lemon and perhaps a little bit of mineral? It was difficult to pick up on if it was there. It tasted like grapefruit and honeysuckle and it had a tart finish with a solid acidity that left my tongue feeling a little tingly. The wine was served in delicate stemware, but the pour was on the small side considering how expensive it was.

While the space is gorgeous, the atmosphere is kind of cold and uptight. Customers, myself included, that were there just for drinks were refused seats at the empty tables in the back of the bar. Instead, we could sit at the bar or at one of the café tables in front. It seemed a little uptight to me. The staff was nice and although they were chatting with another one of the customers seated at the bar for a bit, they weren’t very attentive. I was completely ignored between being served the wine and finishing it. The bartender was actually openly reading her Kindle and was probably in the middle of 50 Shades of Grey a chapter when I finished my wine because it took her a while to notice that I was either ready for another glass or the check. Good thing I wasn’t in a hurry. I finally got the check and….there was a $30 minimum for credit cards. I didn’t notice this useful piece of information anywhere on the menu, so this was a surprise. Businesses get charged a certain percentage for charging credit cards, I get it. But do you have to inconvenience your customers because of this? Who carries that much cash around these days? That was the nail in the coffin. Sorry, Balon. I also think you owe me the $3 fee for the ATM that I had to walk two blocks for.

This wine bar is really nice, but I wasn’t particularly blown away by anything aside from the fantastic space. Props to whoever designed the interior here! The wine I had was very good, but I don’t think I enjoyed it enough to order another $15 glass of it. Relax the atmosphere a bit, throw out this ridiculous credit card minimum, and this place would be cool. For now, I give Balon a rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

The cool exterior of Balon

My glass of Pouilly Fume

The beautiful interior of Balon

The quaint view of 81st St from inside the bar

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 :)