Bin 71

I sipped at Bin 71 tonight, which is on the Upper West Side at 237 Columbus Ave. The bar is very tiny and it was packed, even at pre-6pm. Yes! I wouldn’t be the weirdo that walks in first! Several people were also by themselves and looked like they came straight from work.

There were a few tables in their outdoor café area in front of the bar and upon entering the bar, I was surprised to find that it’s much smaller than I was expecting. The décor makes up for the size though! There is a beautiful marble-top bar in the center with cool hanging lamps above it, a tall wooden table with stools, and small wooden counters lining the wall that serve as tables. Extra bonus: they used unscented candles for table decoration! Thanks, Bin 71 :)

The décor brought the outdoors in; there were large vases of flowers on the tables and bar and little potted plants on the windowsills. It was a very open concept space, which makes it a good place for a glass of wine or a light meal in the summer.

The staff was pleasant and friendly and I was called “love” a few times (cute!). Not only were they very sweet, but they also knew when not to approach my table, as I was reading for a bit after I finished taking my notes for the review and probably looked like I didn’t want to be disturbed. Once I put away my book however, they quickly approached to see if I wanted anything else.

The wine list had a good selection of wines by the glass. They weren’t too expensive at $9 to $14 and bottles of these same wines were $30 to $60 with just a handful over $100. The bottle list offered many bottles under $50 and all were from Europe or the US. I did notice a typo on the bottle menu though. The menu lists the red wines, but the title for the white wine section is missing, so it fails to designate which ones are white. Whoops!

I ordered the 2009 L. Miguel Nordic Sud Viognier from Languedoc, France. I think I found one of my new favorite white wines! This was delicious. I couldn’t quite nail the aroma of the wine, but it smelled very sweet, almost like berries. It was very crisp and tasted lightly of dried apricot and had a nice, mild acidity.

My wine became a casualty of outdoor seating when a fly careened into it. This can’t be avoided in the summer though. Even in my apartment I find fruit flies floating in my glass with no idea where they came from! I guess not even bugs can resist the allure of a tasty vino.

Bin 71 was a very cool place. It has a busy city-like atmosphere and it’s a very true New York café-style bar. It was casual enough to feel like I could chill there with a couple glasses of wine for hours. I rate this place 4 out of 5 glasses.

Bin 71's outdoor seating area

Ahh, Viognier!



The Immigrant

I visited The Immigrant today at 341 E 9^th St in the East Village. The bar is in a tiny, narrow space, which makes it very quaint. I believe the space used to be a tenement building, which explains the small stature of the bar. It’s old, it’s clean, and it’s cozy.

The bartender, who also appeared to be the owner, was super nice and wanted me to hang out at the bar when he found out I did not have another guest joining me. He had already been deep in conversation with another customer at the bar, so it looks like a very friendly joint. If I wasn’t trying to take notes the entire time, I might have taken him up on the offer.

The music playing was indie rock and reminded me of Urban Outfitters and seemed a little out of place for a wine bar. However, this was the East Village, so perhaps it was fitting for their usual crowd. A pretty varied group of people were at The Immigrant. At first I thought it was mostly going to be the usual 20s age group, but a party of middle aged women stopped by as well.

The wine menu was as tiny as the bar itself. Only 16 bottles of wine were offered, including the 13 that were able to be ordered by the glass as well. Glasses were between $11 and $14 and bottles were rather inexpensive, with the highest being priced at just over $50. I ordered the Tempranillo as the rest of the reds looked a little dull. There were two Pinot Noirs, but neither was from California and instead both were from France. I prefer my Pinot Noir to be more on the ripe side, which the sun in California creates (the extra sunlight produces higher levels of sugar). So instead of a Pinot Noir, I opted for something that I knew was from its best region. This Tempranillo was from the Rioja region of Spain. It was very full bodied with a rich blackberry finish and I would have liked it with a tasty sheepsmilk cheese, such as a Manchego. It was a tad too heavy to drink by itself though, at least in the summer.

Aahh, again there were scented candles on the tables! This is a big wine bar pet peeve of mine. I can't stress this enough, but scented candles interfere with being able to smell the wine's aroma, which is a huge part of enjoying a wine. Non scented or fake candles please. Fellow winos everywhere thank you :) Update: after reading my review, the owner informed me that the candles are unscented and what I was smelling were cleaning products as he had just cleaned the bar.

“Meh” is the overall feeling I have of The Immigrant. There wasn't anything outstanding about this place. It seems like a nice neighborhood spot, but I wouldn’t venture to the East Village just to go here. If you live nearby, stop in. But if you don’t, you can certainly find something more spectacular (hopefully with a little help from my blog). I give The Immigrant a rating of 3.2 out of 5 glasses.

Tiny wine list

My glass of Tempranillo alongside the dreadful scented unscented candle ;)