Wine at The Brooklyn Fare - any suggestions?

[mondaybox]

I'm going at the end of the month with a friend, and am wondering how the wine thing works. I know it is BYO. Do they give you just one piece of stemware to work with? To be "safe", I'm planning on probably bringing a bottle or half bottle of Champagne, a bottle of a versatile light-to-medium red (cab franc from the Loire valley most likely, or maybe a Rioja reserva), and a Tokaji or a Sauternes, or perhaps a light Malaga wine, for dessert. Can I feasibly have two or more wines on the go so I can easily switch between them during the small plate part of the program? Thanks!

Edited October 12, 2010 by mondaybox (log)

[LPShanet]

I'm going at the end of the month with a friend, and am wondering how the wine thing works. I know it is BYO. Do they give you just one piece of stemware to work with? To be "safe", I'm planning on probably bringing a bottle or half bottle of Champagne, a bottle of a versatile light-to-medium red (cab franc from the Loire valley most likely, or maybe a Rioja reserva), and a Tokaji or a Sauternes, or perhaps a light Malaga wine, for dessert. Can I feasibly have two or more wines on the go so I can easily switch between them during the small plate part of the program? Thanks!

First off, you're going to want to stay in touch with them leading up to your reservation, as they've been pursuing a liquor license, and it's possible that it won't be BYOB by the time you go. Now on the the specifics of how it works currently. They have plenty of stemware of various sizes and configurations. Small white wine stems, large bordeaux style stems, balloon/pinot/burgundy glasses, champagne flutes and even dessert wine/cordial glasses. They even have a few decanters for you to use. So you should be fine with multiple wines. In fact, we went through about 8 different bottles ranging from bubbly to dessert when we went last week. One suggestion, though. Depending on the size of your group, I'd suggest that you may be a little light on white. There is quite a lot of seafood in the meal, and usually only one round or so of meat, so I think you'll want to lean towards things with highish acidity. Champagne will go great with a lot of the menu, and you may want to drink it with much of the menu or bring a versatile white as well, before moving on to the medium red, which may only match only two or three of the many items served. But in the end, the answer is yes, they have enough stemware to definitely handle doing multiple wines with your dinner. Enjoy!

[mondaybox]

thanks! well, i'll certainly select a white wine to bring along, based on your suggestions. probably go on the full-bodied end of the spectrum, one with good acidity, and let the champagne take care of the light-to-medium situations. sadly there's only two of us in our party which limits the range of wines we can take. though i suppose the beauty of BYO is i can always pack up anything we don't get through, if we only drink, say, a glass of red each. thanks for the info on the stemware, which i now assume we can have lined up in front of us, as needed, until we're done with out meal ...

[LPShanet]

thanks! well, i'll certainly select a white wine to bring along, based on your suggestions. probably go on the full-bodied end of the spectrum, one with good acidity, and let the champagne take care of the light-to-medium situations. sadly there's only two of us in our party which limits the range of wines we can take. though i suppose the beauty of BYO is i can always pack up anything we don't get through, if we only drink, say, a glass of red each. thanks for the info on the stemware, which i now assume we can have lined up in front of us, as needed, until we're done with out meal ...

That would definitely work. Another great way to go is to bring a decent Txacoli (Ametzoi, Txomin or the like), as his cuisine definitely has Spanish influences, and Txacoli goes with almost everything. It also depends on how drunk you want to get... As you noted, you can always take home what you don't finish (or don't even start). And yes, you should be able to have it lined up in front of you, as long as they don't run out of anything in particular. Not sure they have enough for everyone in the place to have a lineup, but we certainly did when I went last week. You'll have a great time.

[oakapple]

What does it take to get a reservation there these days? Is it one of those places where you have to call at 10:00 for 30 days in advance, and by 10:01 they're gone?

[The Food Doc]

The situation at the Brooklyn Fare is similar to that of Momofuku Ko without the online reservation madness: with 18 seats to fill for five days a week, available resys are limited to start with. Also, the available resys for a given month are not released until six to eight weeks before the start of the said month: I called the day after Michelin list was announced, and they are booked solid through November (I'm on the waiting list for December). If you want to be put on the waiting list for December, you can call (718) 243-0050. Good luck!

As to mondaybox's query: Mr. Ramirez usually starts the meal with 5-10 appetizers, mostly seafood based. I agree with LPShanet that champagne or a light white may be the way to go for the amuses, then a more full-bodied white for the actual dinner courses and a medium bodied red for the meat courses (he seems to have a preference for veal). The first time I went there, I asked the woman taking reservations if she could give me an idea as to what proteins Mr. Ramirez would be using for that evening; she was kind enough to provide me with a current menu, which helped me immensely with my wine choices. The kitchen also provides corkscrews to open your wine.

[LPShanet]

What does it take to get a reservation there these days? Is it one of those places where you have to call at 10:00 for 30 days in advance, and by 10:01 they're gone?

Technically, you can do it by phone or email. From their site: To reserve seats please contact Heidi at 718-243-0050 or email kitchen@brooklynfare.com. She'll then notify you when the next available reservations will go up for grabs. I'm sure it's going to be much tougher to get in going forward.

[mondaybox]

fyi, i emailed initially, then called, that's how i got the reservation.

i've decided to take a blended NV champagne. specifically, charles heidseick brut reserve, which i really like. nice autumnal notes. also a half bottle of a vosne-romanee (nicolas potel 2007), and a very nice reisling auslese (dönnhoff schlossböckelheimer kupfergrube 2006), half bottle, for a possible dessert pairing, and earlier if there's any fois gras. i may tuck a half bottle of a white burgundy in my bag too, just in case; i am still looking around ...