Cellar 58

Well, I was going to try to make this my last post of 2012, but alas, procrastination is making it my first of 2013. Happy New Year! Cheers to procrastinating less.

On Friday, I went to Cellar 58 at 58 2^nd Ave in the East Village. It was a frigid walk from the subway, but the bar was warm and inviting. After I was greeted and seated, the bartender even shouted a hello to me. Very friendly!

The name doesn’t suggest it, but Cellar 58 features Italian wines. The menu listed wines from Italy first, then offered a small selection of wines from around the world. There was no bottle list provided, so either you have to ask for it or bottles are not an option here. Glasses of wine were $9 to $15, with the majority being right around $11. Not bad. I ordered the 2010 Negroamaro from Puglia, Italy. I had never heard of this grape variety before, so I had to do a little research. It’s grown only in Southern Italy and is considered one of Puglia’s best red wines. It had a flash of bay leaf at first sip, but it developed into an earthy and herbal flavor with a bing cherry finish. It smelled peppery and a little bit sweet, almost like a teriyaki. It was pretty unique and delicious.

The atmosphere at Cellar 58 is hard to describe. It’s laid back, but still maintains an air of sophistication, probably because of the nude murals on one of the walls. The room in the back of the bar looked really cool. All four walls, floor to ceiling, were covered with fully stocked wine racks and there was a large table in the center of the room, meant for a private party. It would feel like you were dining and drinking in my future someone’s personal cellar. Aside from that, the rest of the bar almost felt a little bit midtown-y and out of place in the East Village. I was expecting something a little more edgy and unique in this area. It just felt like something was missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It doesn’t really seem like a destination, rather, it’s a place that you would probably wander by, look over the menu outside, then choose to go in. It seems a better fit for Hell's Kitchen than this neighborhood.

The service continued to be great – the waiter stopped by my table often, and when one of the other customers walked by my table nearly knocking over my glass of wine and successfully sending my napkin floating to the floor, another waiter quickly picked up the napkin and replaced it with a new one. They were on top of everything up until I finished my glass of wine. When I told them I was finished, it took a while for them to even consider asking me if I was ready for the check, so I sat there sipping on water for about 10 minutes. Perhaps the service comes to a screeching halt when they realize they won’t be getting a big tip from one glass of wine.

Cellar 58 has some good wines, but it still offered a pretty average wine bar experience. I give this place a rating of 3.4 out of 5 glasses.

Sorry, this was the best picture I could get of the cellar area in the back

If this doesn't shout "Italian wine bar", I don't know what does.

My glass of Negroamaro

Gallo Nero

On Wednesday night, I went to Gallo Nero which is located at 402 W 44^th St in Hell’s Kitchen. As I approached the wine bar, I was pleased when I saw a café chalkboard outside the door that said “Life is too short for bad wine” on one side. Since that is practically my mantra, I was looking forward to trying this place out. For a chuckle, take a look at the logo on their sign – the Italian translation of “gallo nero” is exactly what you think it is.

I walked in and wasn’t greeted right away, even though it wasn’t busy. There was a woman sitting at the bar who seemed like she worked there, but she only smiled at me and looked back up at the tv above the bar. Hmm…so maybe I’m supposed to seat myself. As I started for a tall, tiny table that looked like a log in the dim light of the bar, a man came up to me and showed me to the table of my choice. I awkwardly positioned myself around the log-table and was greeted with a slightly terrifying porcelain clown face on the wall across the table from me. I looked around and the whole bar seemed to have a circus theme to it. There were various strange masks on the walls, each one creepier than the last. Yet, it maintained a cozy Italian charm with much of the wall space being taken up by wooden shelves stocked with bottles of wine, and the dining area was tightly packed with small worn wooden tables and a couple large marble top tables. Although Gallo Nero is an Italian wine bar and is advertised as such, it feels very much like a restaurant. While I was there, most of the other customers were eating dinner, rather than enjoying a few glasses of wine as I would have expected. The whole place felt a little conflicted. As I mentioned, there was a tv above the bar, which is totally fine, but it was blaring an Italian film and most of the staff was standing around watching it, including the woman sitting at the bar, who was indeed a waitress. Perhaps it was meant for the whole bar to feel like you’re hanging out in a former circus performer’s someone’s home in Italy, but it was surprisingly unprofessional, especially for a place that has been open for less than a year.

I was hoping that the wine at least lived up to my expectations. All of the wines were Italian and there were plenty of selections to choose from. Glasses were priced between $10 and $19 and bottles were well priced at $35 to $69. I ordered a glass of the 2009 Organic Montefalco Rosso Di Filippo. It had a great aroma of herbs, leaves, and dried fruit and tasted like cherry with a slightly sour strawberry note to it. This was a lovely wine, had a zingy acidity, was well balanced, and was the best part of my experience at Gallo Nero.

The service was very friendly when they were interacting with the customers, including myself, but it seemed a rather lazy. To sum up Gallo Nero, it’s rustic, whimsical, and unprofessional with some very good Italian wines on the menu. It’s difficult for me to hate on a place that quotes Hemingway on a chalkboard, but when he said “Wine is the only civilized thing in the world”, Gallo Nero may have taken it too literally. I give it a rating of 3.2 out of 5 glasses.

Gallo Nero and their quotable cafe chalkboard

My tasty glass of Montefalco

The tv above the bar

My drinking buddy for the evening