A Rioja Experience for Every Budget

Rioja shaped my wine palate. As a 20 year old living in Madrid, wines from La Rioja — the country’s Napa — and their smooth and drinkable bottles were readily and cheaply available. So, when a friend guided me to New York’s Rioja Restaurant Week from April 26-May 2, I got all geeky-excited about it. Yes, it might be a thinly — disguised marketing campaign, but it is still a great deal to be had. Participating restaurants (Tailor, Cru and more) are offering $25 or $50 pre-fixe meals paired with wines from the Rioja region or discounts on bottle of Dionysus’ nectar. Continue reading A Rioja Experience for Every Budget

A Graceful and Budget-Friendly Douro

Portuguese wines are starting to become rather popular in the US. Nonetheless, there still remain lots of great Portuguese wines that don’t make it to the other side of the Atlantic. If there is one region that most non-wine aficionados have ever heard of, it is undoubtedly Douro — the northern Portuguese region that is home to Portugal’s most famous wine, Port wine. Though Douro is primarily associated with the production of Port wine, the region produces just as much non-fortified wine. Continue reading A Graceful and Budget-Friendly Douro

Happy Hour at Tacos Nuevo Mexico

A good friend of mine recently introduced me to what has become our new favorite ritual — happy hour margaritas and tacos.  Finding a decent margarita isn’t too hard, but a place that serves two-for-one margaritas everyday from 3 until 6 p.m. can’t be found everywhere.  Add the amazing tacos from Tacos Nuevo Mexico in Park Slope, and you have one of the best, and cheapest happy hours around. Continue reading Happy Hour at Tacos Nuevo Mexico

Wine: Pay Less, Drink Better

Wine covers every shade from everyday quaffer through to decadent luxury, but during these dark days most of us are leaning towards the former category. But there’s no need to compromise on quality and drink wines that are more vinegar than Vouvray – if you want to make a deal then liquor stores will be all ears…

The broad rule is: never be afraid to negotiate discount when buying by the case. Cash flow is king in the wine trade. For wine-drinkers many liquor stores have an ageless visual appeal: scuffed timber floors, mosaics of colored labels, rows of dusty Port bottles and stacks of wooden claret crates. But the store owner just sees piles of money sitting on the shelves, money that needs to be freed up to pay bills and to buy more wine. And this need to generate cash means that your local wine merchant may be more open to negotiating prices than you think.

Street-smart wine drinkers look for bin-ends – the last few bottles or cases of certain wines or vintages – to pick up bargains. These wines may once have been wildly popular, but whatever’s left is taking up valuable space that could be used for “The Next Big Thing In Wine” to freshen the store and tempt customers. Bin-end wines usually have good markdowns, but there are three categories where there is extra room for negotiation.

Firstly, wines inappropriate for a coming season. No store wants to be sitting on a pile of heavily tannic red wines when 80 degree weather is just around the corner, and likewise light, crisp whites aren’t too soothing on numbingly cold winter nights; you can bet there’ll be one or two big overstocks at the start of each season. You’ll have to store the wine until the right weather arrives, but there’s a lot of money to be saved.

Secondly, wines that need to be drunk young; whites such as Pinot Grigio and a few reds (for example, some Beaujolais) need to be drunk within two years of bottling otherwise the quality can swiftly decline, or ‘fall off a cliff’ in wine-speak.

Lastly, great wines that are just hard to sell. These will usually be from an obscure producer or made of bizarre grape varieties and haven’t had a rave review from Robert Parker to kickstart sales. Wine merchants are as prone to impulse-buying as the rest of us: a $25 Mourvedre-Carignan blend created on a remote French hill by a mute albino hermit has an evocative story and was sublime at the trade tasting, but it’s hellishly difficult to sell. All liquor stores owners have products that they bought on a whim, slowly regretted and are desperate to sell; there are deep discounts available on these wines.

The key to identifying the wines in each of these categories is simply to ask questions. If there’s a bottle of an unusual wine open for customer tasting and you like it, ask how it’s selling and how many bottles are available – you’ll quickly know how tricky it is to sell, and whether you can make an offer. Similarly, if summer’s heating up, ask which rich, heavy reds are in stock in large quantities for immediate purchase.

Talk to your wine merchant whenever you go in the store. They’re often smart, engaging people, and they have a stack of funny stories – after all, they spend most of their lives surrounded by bottles of wine, and good times usually follow the popping of a cork. The better you know them, the more you’ll get the first chance to buy decent bin-ends, and the more they’ll be amenable to a deal.

Coffee And A Play: Everyman Espresso

When it comes to making stellar coffee, Everyman Espresso has the technique mastered. And by coffee, I don’t mean the brown caffeinated water you get at Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. I mean the real stuff that brings back memories of that vacation in Tuscany where you and Massimo took a Vespa ride through sunflower fields. Oh wait! That was me. Anyway…

You don’t go to Everyman looking for a coffee lounge with plush sofas. You go there to enjoy amazing espresso-based drinks that can make Massimo scream “Mamma Mia!” and cancel his return trip to Florence. You also go there to watch a play. A play? Yes. Everyman is located within the lobby of the Classic Stage Company, an off-Broadway theater which recently presented Uncle Vanya, a play starring Denis O’Hare, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.

Though Everyman is not heavy on baked goods, there are a few yummy items to snack on. A crowd’s favorite is the Financier, a bite size almond cake provided by Tisserie – dense and decadently delicious. While you’re there, say hi to two of my favorite baristas Sam and Bryce. Sam placed 3rd in northeastern regional barista competition.

Viva Caffe!!

Everyman Espresso
136 East 13th Street
(Between 3rd and 4th Ave)
New York, NY 10003
212-533-0524
Open everyday from 8am-8pm
Coffee used: Counter Culture

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