Would You Like Us To Open that for You?

Some restaurants allow guests to bring in outside bottles of wine to have with dinner. There will usually be a corkage fee in place for those that decide to do so and the fee varies from place to place. In cases where the restaurant doesn't have a license to sell booze, the fee is minimal. Reason being, considering there is no wine to be sold, you're not not spending money by bringing in your own bottle. In restaurants with well curated lists, where wine is plentiful, you'll find fees upwards of $85, as Bernie Sun, Beverage Director at Jean Georges, mentions in a recent article Eator's Wine Editor Talia Baiocchi wrote exploring what she calls "corkage culture." Sun explains, "Some people feel like it's their right to come to a restaurant and only pay for food, but it's important to understand that it's a business."

Bringing wine to dinner is a step away from bringing your own food. Restaurants are structured around providing guests a unique experience. Whether or not you buy a bottle of wine, the wine list is still a significant part of a that experience. If a wine list offers a selection of 15 or 1,015 bottles, chances are a lot of thought went into curating the list. Applebee's excluded. Walking into a restaurant with the drink half of your meal in your hand, the staff automatically thinks, "There goes half the check." Corkage fees are in place to ensure the outcome of this circumstance benefits all parties involved.

If you disagree with a restaurant's exhorbitant corkage fee, don't bring your own wine. Go to dinner for the sake of having dinner, skip wine that night and avoid the fee altogether. Leave preconceived notions and expectations with whoever is taking names at the front door. If you commit to going out to eat, commit to going out to eat. Restaurant's are not open to host fussy diets, make salads with the dressing on the side, or act as community centers where outside food and drink is welcome.  Afterall, you don't bring your own lemur with you when you go to the zoo.

Porsena Extra Bar Opens Today in the East Village

potato, celery, tuna, capers at extra barIn 2008, Sara Jenkins and her business partner/cousin Matt Lindemulder opened Porchetta in the East Village.  The success of Porchetta lead to the opening of Porsena down the street two years later in December 2010.  Porsena draws on the same Italian influence as Porchetta with a focus on pasta.  According to Porsena's website, the restaurant "is just the kind of colorful neighborhood restaurant you might be thrilled to find in the narrow back streets of Rome or Florence."

Today, Jenkins gets her third establishment with the opening of Porsena Extra Bar nextdoor to Porsena.  The two restos share the same 21 East 7th Street address.  Unlike Porsena, which is only open for dinner, Extra Bar will be open for lunch and dinner with a different menu for each occassion. 

Jenkins in taking a Lebanese lean at Extra Bar.  There are wines from Lebanon on the list and, for lunch, eggplant puree, labne, and zataar.  Two spaghettini pastas showcase Jenkins' relationship with Italian food, while cantaloupe melon butter and grilled "kimcheese" show her creative side.  The dinner/"evening" menu features lamb tartare, oysters, and pinzimonion, the Italian version of crudite.  No website yet, but there's a tumblr page dedicated to the new digs.

Fifteen Years Later, Nougatine Gets Its Due

Angel Franco for the TimesPete Wells' review of Nougatine this week is the restaurant's first Times review in its 15-year run.  "It has never been reviewed before in The New York Times, and it rarely comes up in conversations about favorite Vongerichten restaurants, although it is one of the most dependable." 

Wells has a few theories as to why Nougatine never got reviewed, "There’s that slightly embarrassing name, which suggests a shop that sells chocolates or lingerie or maybe both."  "The biggest reason Nougatine never quite emerged from the long shadow of its sister may have been its design, meant originally as a hotel lounge."

In April of this year, the restaurant got a makeover from architect Thomas Juul-Hansen.  The result?  "Nougatine feels like a destination."  Wells is grateful for the adjustment and finds a new window into the kitchen provides a glimpse of the cooks, "and often Mr. Vongerichten."  New tables, chairs, and mirrors make Nougatine a "livelier, more kinetic space" than its sister restaurant next door; Jean Georges.

Like the former dining room, some of the dishes on the menu could use a makeover, like the Cantonese-style lobster dish, where Wells found the warm slaw that comes with it better than "the chewy lobster meat itself."  There is something called a "lobster burger" that is "interred, bizarrely, under green chile mayonnaise and a blanket of melted Gruyère."  And, "If a French-born chef serves fries, you expect more than the pale and not terribly crunchy ones at Nougatine." 

Wells harped on a handful of dishes that strike out at Nougatine, but the lively new room, Jean Georges Vongerichten's New York legacy, and all the dishes he does well on the menu at Nougatine earn the restaurant two stars.

All Good Things Must Come to... TriBeCa

Drew Nieporent opened Montrachet in TriBeCa in 1985.  His vision, along with David Bouley's menu, put the triangle below Canal on the culinary map.  The restaurant closed in 2006, but Nieporent opened Corton in its place and Paul Liebrandt's food there follows the nouvelle path Nieporent paved downtown.  To this day, the neighborhood is home to some of the finest food the city has to offer.  Restaurants like Locanda Verde, Atera, Bouley, Jungsik, and Kutsher's are making waves in TriBeCa that hungry New Yorkers continue to surf.  The same commitment to quality ingredients can now be found at 102 Franklin Ave, where Kyle Wittels opened a gourmet food court over the weekend.

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Donde Dinner? 264 Bleecker Street

Donde Dinner? wants to make your next dining experience an adventure.  So, we'll pick a restaurant and post its address for you every Friday.  The catch is, that's all the information you get.  No name, no type of cuisine, and no Googling!  Before we get to this week's DD, let us reveal last week's restaurant.

Last week's address:

101 Saint Marks Place (btwn 1st and A) = Cafe Mogador

This weeks spot follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion.  Price, quality, and accessibility have all been taken into account.  You won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails, and you don't have to worry about a dress code.  Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:

264 Bleecker Street (btwn Cornelia and Morton)

Buon Compleanno Eataly!

Eataly opened two years ago today.  The Flatiron location of the Italian mega store is the first in the states, though plans are quickly developing for Chicago and Los Angeles locations.  Dan Amatuzzi is the Wine Director at Eataly.  He oversees the wine program at each of Eataly's six restaurants and he works closely with Eataly's wine store.  Prior to Eataly, Dan was the Wine Director at Otto from May 2008 to July 2010.  I worked with Dan during these two great years and learned more about Italian wine than I ever imagined possible.  His passion, knowledge, and approach to wine lit a fire in me that continues to burn.  When Dan left to open Eataly, he offered me a job in the wine store.  I took it.  Always a fellow of few words, Dans advice was to show up on August 24th, a week before Eataly opened, and "Just ask for Niccolo."

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Terroir Park Slope Coming Soon, Very Soon

Marco Canora's veal meatballs and Paul Grieco's rieslings will be in Brooklyn soon.  Terroir Park Slope is "Opening soon...like really soon!"  The grey plywood that was covering the facade has been taken down and reveals a couple of sleek glass windows and a big glass door.

Signs on the windows pay homage to Great Lakes, the former dive bar at 284 5th Ave that had "super cheap beers" and "super smel of stale cigarettes."

Here's a sneak at the progress being made inside the place.  Exposed brick and rafters that made Great Lakes so cozy have been cleaned up a bit and will give Terroir Park Slope that classy, rustic vibe-a-rino.  This is going to be a great place to go for a glass of blaufrankisch in the middle of winter.

Now Boarding: 21st Century Limited

From 1902 to 1967, New Yorkers and Chicagoans could swap places aboard the express passenger train known as the 20th Century Limited.  Now, chefs Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and chef Grant Achatz of Alinea are giving you the opportunity to hop a $495 ride on what they're calling the 21st Century Limited.

The Times confirmed reports of the switch-a-roo taking place between Eleven Madison Park and Alinea in September and October.  For five days in September, the 26th through the 30th, Achatz and his Alinea staff will be cooking and serving inside the walls of Eleven Madison Park.  The following month, October 10th through the 14th, Daniel Humm and EMP's staff will be at Alinea.

Tickets will go on sale in the coming weeks via the 21st Century Limited's facebook page.  The price includes wine pairings, but not tax and gratuity.  Of the project's ambition, Humm says, "It's a crazy idea, but that's what's cool."  As for Achatz's approach, "When we bring Alinea to New York, we’re looking at it as a Michelin three-star restaurant that’s popping up in New York,” he said. “I mean, we’re not taking it lightly.”