Does it Merit that Wine, that Menu, that Price?

We are finally getting around to an entry that we started ages ago in an attempt to keep a promise to a talented chef we met recently in a restaurant in the South Street Seaport. However, before delving into that allow us, Dear Reader, to open, hopefully, a constructive discussion concerning a problem we have been experiencing with wine in New York City.

When we are invited to dinners in the houses of Intimes, we are pleased to drink the beverage they have chosen to serve with dinner, not because our Intimes are as snobby as we concerning wine, but because the host or hostess has given thought to the dinner, the diners and chosen his or her best idea to serve with the meal. Others at table may disagree with the choice, but we always respect the time, effort and money invested in creating the evening, including the liquid accompaniment.

Why are New York restaurateurs, seemingly often, incapable of making the same investment of time, effort and money when we dine at their tables? I am flabbergasted by the attitude toward wine and fine food in this town. Wine does not always need to be old, expensive or wildly popular. Instead it needs to be good, it needs to be fairly priced, and, most of all, it needs to work with the food. If a host or hostess can do the latter at home why can’t a professional.

That redirects us to our original idea, a South Street Seaport restaurant. Make an effort, Loyal Followers, to stay on point here and do not dwell on the whys of our being in the South Street Seaport, just know that it was worth the trip, no small part thanks to Eddy, the chef at Fish Market Restaurant, 111 South Street, http://www.fishmarketnyc.com/

Despite facing an elevated portion of the East Side Highway and the parking lot under that, there is a small view of the East River, but not enough to make the outside tables alluring. No matter, the inside of the restaurant was decently laid out with a long bar in front and a dining room in back. On the night we visited, it was rather unpopulated, especially compared to its neighbors around the corner which seem to be a magnet for young beer drinking professionals straight from work looking to score on a Friday evening, but crowded we imagine it could be noisy with its exposed brick walls and bare table tops.

The menu was sadly printed on disposable paper, legal size, folded in 3’s, but hidden here were small joys. Less joyful was the wine list, equally disposably printed and of little interest. In Fish Market’s defense, the restaurant has only been open 3 months but it has been cited in Andrea Strong’s http://www.thestrongbuzz.com/, and the chef has worked his way up through a variety of positions in excellent NYC restaurants.

We began with Calamari, fried, in a lemon emulsion with capers, olives, cilantro, and pepperacino, and a bottle of a South African Sauvignon Blanc. The Calamari was amazing – lightly battered and fried but not the least bit oily. The sauce was perfectly tart and the capers, olives (large green pitted ones sliced thinly), and cilantro brought a ‘green’ seasoning that balanced the slight burn from the pepperacinos.

Sadly the Sauvignon Blanc, although recommended by the waiter, not the least bit interesting, and for the price of $42 per bottle, it was disgraceful. Normally I would find Sauvignon Blanc to be very mineral with light tart fruit behind and little tannin. This one was overly sweet in the first taste and unpleasantly tartly tannic to the point of mouth-drying at the end. When we complained, one of the owners said that most people appreciated it but why not try something else. He spoke to the other owner, working the bar, who suggested a Spanish white, an Albarino, that it turned out was not on the menu. Nevertheless, they found it, opened it and I found it better than the first.

On the wine list were several decent wines including a Sancerre and a white Burgundy, but at $70 and $75 respectively, both were too expensive for the evening and their vintages. The restaurant bills its cuisine as Mediterranean seafood, but the wine list contained nothing that reflected that bent. Despite that problem and now happier with the white wine, the Supreme Travel Advisor raved to the waiter about the Calamari and demanded to meet the chef (that one is always husband-hunting!).

We are going to stop here because a point is made without our making it. We were there in the late summer and the restaurant is now closed. The food was exciting and challenging, and sadly for us Eddy-the-Chef is gone but then so is that despicable wine list. When will NYC restaurants learn that they cannot be the last to recognize that good wine goes with good food and boring Sauvignon Blanc does not merit $42 a bottle? In an age when the average consumer in a typical Manhattan restaurant easily knows as much or more than the server, it makes sense to price wine accordingly.

Expect more of these columns in the future! Until then eat, drink and write about it…