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Terroir


Nathan

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stopped in last night around 7:45 (I think it opened on Wednesday). very packed -- it's very small...smaller than Bar Jamon even. managed to score a lone seat at the bar. Canora and Grieco were in the house. customers were mostly not EV....seemed to be a lot of Hearth and Insieme regulars.

the wine list is small but interesting. poured both by the glass and the taste. they have "happy hour" wines for $5 a glass...not that I could ever make happy hour. nothing really funky (despite Grieco's reputation)....no flights of Slovenian reds, no 100% savagnin; but interesting wines nonetheless.

the menu is cheap, very cheap. selection of carne for $4 each (including a variety of wild boar items which Canora just brought back from Lombardy so when they're gone they're gone (or so he was explaining to the ladies on my left)). contorini are similar. a variety of bruschetta around $7 each. other plates are around $10 and "large plates" are $15. I was on my way to Ssam Bar and PDT so I just snacked on some simple cremini and the excellent fried sage wrapped around lamb sausage (that actually tasted of lamb).

Edited by Nathan (log)
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In the early days, a lot of the patronage is driven by the owners' reputations: old friends stopping by to say hello, or people like me dropping in out of curiosity.

The extremely gentle price point suggests that they expect their long-term survival depends on it being an East Village neighborhood wine bar. If it were a destination place (or if it becomes one), the prices could be a lot higher. This is, after all, the kind of food Canora served at craftbar, and Grieco's wine choices are always first-rate. I suspect he'll roll out the funkier stuff later on.

If this place were in my neighborhood, or on my way home, I'd be in all the time.

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Where exactly is this place? Does it have a website?

It has a website, http://www.wineisterroir.com/, but it's nothing but a doormat right now.

Terroir is at 413 E. 12th Street east of First Avenue, just down the street from Hearth. In fact, the Hearth kitchen supplies some of Terroir's food.

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It has a website, http://www.wineisterroir.com/, but it's nothing but a doormat right now.

Terroir is at 413 E. 12th Street east of First Avenue, just down the street from Hearth. In fact, the Hearth kitchen supplies some of Terroir's food.

For $4 apiece for tapas-sized portions? That's fucking amazing! I have to go there soon with a friend.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stopped by last night, really loved the place. It was packed at 7, but we snagged the last 2 seats at the bar. Enjoyed the wine, but the food was what really made me happy - many old Craftbar favorites are back (veal & ricotta meatballs, duck ham/hen of the woods/taleggio panini). Canora was behind the bar, taking orders, clearing plates, talking to customers. The rest of the staff was great - well versed and friendly.

The only thing I didn't love was the poor ventilation. My coat smells like kitchen. Not in a good way.

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I went last week and sat at the end of the bar beside the open door which I didn't mind and completely understood considering the ventilation. The best dish I tried that night was the weighty black cabbage and pork sausage bruschetta; although, the best part may have been it not appearing on my check. I'm not the biggest oenophile by any means and I really appreciated Paul's approachability, enthusiasm and explanation of the list and concept.

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  • 1 month later...

I should note that if one actually peruses the bottle list...you'll find that there are about 20 dessert wines, ports and sherries available by the taste/glass in addition to the standard taste/glass selections. the list of Rieslings by the bottle is exceptional.

one of my favorite things about the place is that they price all the tastes as simply half the glass price plus 25 cents. there is simply no reason to ever order by the glass here.

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Just to make the argument for the glasses: if you really like wine, you may well feel that a taste isn't enough for the wine to fully reveal itself. You might also feel that, if you like the wine, you're not going to want to wait to get the second half of your glass (as you must in a place as crowded as Terroir).

I mean, would you regularly order half-servings of cocktails, if that option were presented?

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Just to make the argument for the glasses:  if you really like wine, you may well feel that a taste isn't enough for the wine to fully reveal itself.  You might also feel that, if you like the wine, you're not going to want to wait to get the second half of your glass (as you must in a place as crowded as Terroir).

I mean, would you regularly order half-servings of cocktails, if that option were presented?

well, if you really like the wine...you could just get another taste...your total markup would be 50 cents.

and Terroir doesn't seem to be that crowded anymore. the DailyCandy crowd is somewhere else...

(I really need to start reading it to figure out where all the nubile young things are eating and drinking each week)

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ah...I was in on Friday night and there were a couple empty seats the entire time.

as for the half-servings of cocktails...certainly...I'd try more things. I make drinks at home that way sometimes...(though it's considerably more work for the bartender).

you'll note that serious cocktail bars do serve significantly smaller drinks than standard bars.

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I mean, would you regularly order half-servings of cocktails, if that option were presented?

I absolutely would. I can really only safely have 2-3 cocktails on a school night, but almost always want to try taste more than that. A smaller cocktail would be perfect for me. (I'm sure that my bartenders would disagree on the perfection of the situation - that's a lot of work.)

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I mean, would you regularly order half-servings of cocktails, if that option were presented?

I absolutely would. I can really only safely have 2-3 cocktails on a school night, but almost always want to try taste more than that. A smaller cocktail would be perfect for me. (I'm sure that my bartenders would disagree on the perfection of the situation - that's a lot of work.)

Given the labor intensiveness of most cocktails, it's not practical to offer half-cocktails at anything approaching half the price.
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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Stopped here with a friend for a couple half-glasses and some snacks. First time, and although I've been kicking myself nearly every week since the place opened for not going, I'm even more angry now that I haven't been frequenting this wine bar more often. I think the whole Viva-La-Wine-Revolucion-vibe-thing is a bit over the top, but I like how the place is serious without being at all pretentious. It takes some balls for a wine bar to offer nothing but reislings as their white, by-the-glass offerings. As Nathan wrote they do show a good and interesting range, but all the ones I tasted maintain the soul of the grape.

Also had the duck confit salad and the meatballs. Never had the latter at Craftbar, so I feel that I'm a bit late to the party in singing their praises. Very light yeah rich and mouth-filling at the same time. The duck confit salad is anything but. Think chopped duck confit with a duck fat dressing, garnished with frisee. The duckiness permeates the whole thing. A bit too rich? Perhaps, but certainly delicious and great with the minerality and acidity of the wine.

My only minor quibble is that the place is good enough that you'll want to drink and eat a lot of different things. Just a couple half-glasses and sharing those two plates with another person ended up at nearly $40 per person. It's a great experience, just not quite as cheap as I would like. This is not a wine bar that you go to get buzzed, at least not on the cheap.

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