Thursday, November 19, 2009

Single Ma Wants Me to Write About Booze.

It's actually not a bad topic for a post this week...

The other night, I went to see a play at St Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn (The New Electric Ballroom, well worth seeing. You can get discounted tickets using a code from Broadway Box). Before the show, we went to the nearby Water Street Restaurant. It's a convenient place for a pre-show meal, and they have really good burgers, but we were incredibly disgruntled by the wine!

First of all, the wine list is very limited, especially if you just want a glass-- they have a much better selection of beers. But I knew if I drank beer, I'd be wanting to go to the bathroom during the no-intermission play! So I had one glass of wine-- $8 for a fairly mediocre glass of Argentine Chardonnay. There was no Pinot Grigio or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc by the glass, which would have been safer. And the $8 Coppola Chardonnay was terrible, and the $7 American Sauvignon Blanc was almost undrinkable.

Even worse, these glasses of wine were small! Some restaurants at least give you a generous glass of perhaps 8 or 10 ounces, but these were probably 6 ounce glasses, and not especially full.
We got into a discussion of what the going rate is for glasses of wine-- $6 is probably a standard amount in New York, for something cheap but acceptable. Sometimes you'll see a $5 house wine, maybe even $4, but it's usually pretty bad. And of course if you go to a place that fancies itself more of a wine bar, you can often choose from a selection of glasses from $7 -10, and even higher. This may seem pricey, but sometimes I think it's nice to be able to sample interesting wines-- I'd rather pay a little more occasionally just to taste something a little unusual.

In many cases, it's better just to opt for a bottle of wine. The price of a bottle will tend to be about four times the price of a glass, though the volume of wine is usually closer to 5 glasses, unless you're in one of these places that pours very big glasses. If you don't want to consume an entire bottle, don't forget that at least in some states, most restaurants are now happy to let you take a partial bottle home with you-- they are required to re-cork it and seal it in a plastic bag along with the receipt, usually-- I think the law varies by state. But boy, were we glad we hadn't bought a whole bottle the other night! (For what it's worth, the Water Street waitress told us they just hired a new manager who was planning to vastly improve their wine list in the near future.)

And if you do happen to go to St. Ann's Warehouse, don't feel you have to get all your drinking done in the nearby restaurants-- they actually have quite a nice little bar area right in the lobby by the box office. And we were quite chagrined to see that they serve Root 1 wine there, which happens to be one of our favorites. And they only charge $6 a glass.

Now Single Ma, you just let me know if you have any other requests! xoxo

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you mean chagrined: a feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or humiliation?

Sounds like you were happy about it?

Madame X said...

No, I do mean I felt vexed, because I would not have paid $8 for crappy wine in the restaurant if I'd realized I could have had good wine for $6 at the theater!

Anonymous said...

A-ha! Thanks, I mis-read then.

I enjoy your blog, thanks!

Single Ma said...

Wow, I am honored! I love to hear about your booze spending. LOL

Being a novice wine drinker (I've recently graduated from sweet wines LOL), I also found this post really helpful. About a year ago, I received a little wine book as a gift and it teaches me the history of each grape, region, etc. I also take notes in it when I visit vineyards or try a new wine somewhere. Now I will be cautious if I'm ever given Argentine Chardonnay, Coppola Chardonnay, or American Sauvignon Blanc. Thanks!

Doug said...

I've heard about returning bottles of wine that one finds unacceptable...
I wonder if you can do this for glasses?
I've never tried that one before.

When my wife and I go out, we usually get a bottle because the cost of just a glass is so high. But then again, we also tend to only get what we know we like. I would never get a bottle of wine that I had never tried before.

Gord said...

I'm so glad I don't drink!

Sharjeel said...

wow! quite an experience you have there with all the wines and the restaurants.

Anonymous said...

Single Ma, please don't write off all American Sauv. Blancs just yet! There are some good ones out here in California -- Quivira Sauv. Blanc (Sonoma Valley) is one of my favorites. They use only biodynamic farming methods for the grapes.

More generally, I've never tried to send a glass of wine back, but I've certainly asked for a taste of something I'd never heard of before ordering a whole glass of it (esp. at $10-12/glass, which is what seems to be the new going rate out here in Cali). Never been refused a taste yet -- and that one sip is enough to know whether I want more of it, or need to find a different idea. :)

Madame X said...

Yes, we really should have asked to taste the wines before ordering a glass-- I've sometimes done that and often, if you ask the server a question about a wine, or even a beer on tap, they'll offer you a taste without even being asked.

Frumpulent Grumpton said...

Insightful comment, Gord!