Bathtubs of wine and inadvertent art at Casellula

Last Sunday, I met up with AS at Casellula for a drink, a bite, and a chat session. It was pouring sheets of humid, chilly rain, and Casellula was warm and dimly lit and inviting, so the scene was right.

As you may know, I'd been to Casellula before, so there weren't all that many surprises. But what did make an appearance were huge, bathtub-sized glasses of wine. Seriously-- props to Casellula for extremely generous pours; I'd estimate each glass of wine was really the size of two (or more) regular glasses. AS got the pinot noir, which she praised as interesting and a bit different from what she'd expected. I got a glass of the goldmuskateller, a wine I'd never had before. It turned out to be truly delicious-- ever so slightly sweet, alluringly fragrant, and all around addictive. If I ever see this intriguing variety on a restaurant wine list, I'd definitely order it again.

Unusual...

Goldmuskawhat?

To go with our wine, we ordered a dish of olives. This was the standard tasty marinated mix with a good variety of the glossy, salty orbs. At one point I managed to spill about half the cup when attempting to spear an olive with my fork; fortunately, in my infinite talents, my spill turned out to be extremely artful. Behold, a food installation:

So artistic!

AS also indulged in a beet and brussels sprout salad. While the salad was tasty, particularly with the flavorful pecorino cheese, it took a few bites to realize that the bed of shredded lettuce was actually the sprouts. Given that brussels sprouts can be so delicious when caramelized and roasted, raw, shredded sprouts seem a bit of a waste, no?

Looks like shredded lettuce

We had quite a good time sitting at the bar and watching the cook assemble the appealing dishes, from cheesy panini sandwiches to huge slices of kumquatsicle cake (yes, really), in the tiny "kitchen" workspace. And we had quite a good time drinking our wine and eating our food. What's not to like?

Casellula
401 W. 52nd Street at 9th Avenue
212-247-8137

Finally eating at Casellula (and Wine Century Club update)

A couple of weeks ago, JH and I met up at Casellula to try the edibles. I'd been there once or twice a while ago just for a glass of wine, but their food is supposed to be notable and I'd never tried it. This time, food was on the docket; did the reputation hold? Read on.

JH went for the Pig's Ass sandwich, which was stuffed with cheese and pickles and heartily pressed and toasted. There was a big dish of chipotle aioli for the slathering and/or dipping. Verdict? A mightily successful sandwich in both texture and flavor.

Mmm, butt.

In honor of summer, I went for the watermelon salad. Small dices of watermelon rested among arugula, slivered and toasted almonds, and bits of feta cheese. The stealth star of the show was actually the lemon confit, which provided a surprisingly tart and tangy taste as well as a curious, gelee-like texture. Overall, the mixture of sweet and salty, crunch and softness, was pretty darn addictive.

Pretty AND tasty!

On to dessert: JH went for the chocolate cake, a big hunk on a plate that's brought to the table along with a carafe of cream, which is poured over the cake tableside. It was good; by agreement not the best chocolate cake we'd ever had, but chocolatey and tasty. The poured-cream gimmick is interesting, but I think personally I'd still prefer either ice cream or whipped cream as an accompaniment.

Cake and pool of cream

My choice was the Berry "Crostini" (quotation marks theirs), which came with planks of rosewater meringue, miti crema ice cream, passion fruit curd, and stewed berries. I was skeptical of the rosewater meringue, because in my experience rosewater-flavored things taste like grandmothers' perfume. And this kind of did, honestly, although thankfully the perfume taste was very mild and pretty much disappeared after the first bite. The ice cream and berries were delicious, and the tiny bit of passion fruit curd lining the meringue under the ice cream provided a needed pop of flavor.

Sweet and summery

Oh, and given that Casellula is a wine and cheese cafe, I did have wine-- a glass of crisp, minerally Xarel-lo, an interesting white wine I'd never had before. Wondering where I am in my Wine Century Club quest? Good question! As of the writing of this post, I'm 22 varietals in. The list as of now is as follows:

Albarino
Baco Noir
Barbera
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
Catarratto
Chardonnay
Chenin Blanc
Garganega
Grechetto
Grenach
Merlot
Moschofilero
Muscat Blanc
Pedro Ximinez
Pinot Gris
Pinotage
Roussanne
Vermentino
Viognier
Xarel-lo
Zinfandel

So far, the most surprisingly good was the Albarino-- something (once this WCC quest is over) I'll definitely seek out again.

But back to Casellula; what was the overall verdict? The food was definitely good, and the wine is-- well, wine-- but a bit more creatively selected than you'd usually encounter. Prices are a touch high; everything is a dollar or two more than I'd like it to be. I'd certainly return for food or drinks, I wouldn't necessary brave Casellula's usual long lines to do so. I think that puts Casellula solidly in the three OS category.

Casellula
401 W. 52nd Street at 9th Avenue
212-247-8137

From Italy to New Orleans in one night: Gallo Nero and Bourbon St.

This weekend was a big one for food and drink, so the next few posts will cover the many eating and drinking establishments I patronized on Friday and Saturday. First up: Friday night.

My girlfriends from work and I had scheduled a good old-fashioned wine-and-bitch fest for after work on Friday night, so around 6 we left the office and headed out, looking for a wine bar. Although one of my friends wanted to try Casellula, a wine and cheese bar on 52nd street, I had been there before (it's awesome) and thus knew there was little chance we'd get a table for four in the postage-stamp-sized boite. I recommended we try Gallo Nero, a new wine bar on 44th and 9th, instead. I had been there once before just after it opened, and though it was still working out the kinks at that point, it was clearly a promising place. I figured at the very least we'd probably be able to get a table. Plus, it was en route to Casellula, so if we didn't have any luck at Gallo Nero at least it wouldn't be out of our way.

As expected, we arrived at the nearly empty wine bar and immediately got a table. Gallo Nero is a cute little place, with exposed-brick walls, romantic lighting and candles, and rustic furniture (read: wicker chairs that actually aren't all that comfortable).

Glasses and glasses and glasses...

I ordered a glass of white wine, while the three other ladies decided to share a bottle of red. I sheepishly admit that I don't remember what kind of wine either the glass or the bottle was... shameful, I know. But it's all Italian varietals that I don't really know much about. My glass was pretty average, nothing mind-blowing but a nice thing to sip at the end of the workweek. I tried a tiny taste of the red, and it was... well, red. I'm not a big fan of red wine.

Although I wasn't that hungry, our table did go through quite a bit of food over the course of our few hours there. We started with bread, one of the best parts of Gallo Nero.

Crusty, crunchy bread

The rolls are crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, with just a hint of delightful chewiness. And they come accompanied by a white bean dip, delicious on its own but even better slathered on the bread. The only thing that could enhance this bread experience would be some olive oil for the table... the little dish of bean spread is not nearly enough for four rolls (although they'll bring more dip and more bread if you ask).

White bean spread, next to the mood lighting

Once the bread had come and gone, one of my friends ordered the octopus. I can't comment on how it tasted, being a vegetarian and all, but it certainly looked quite octopus-y. I was told it was very well cooked, a bit briny but very flavorful. It was good enough that the girls ordered a second dish once the first was polished off.

Octopus in a dish.

Octopus in stomachs

The other offering our table tried was the Japanese eggplant alla parmigiana. That was a huge hit-- again, I wasn't hungry and had already inadvertently eaten an entire roll and several spoonfuls of dip so I didn't have any eggplant, but it went quickly and smelled delightful. Plus, you can't argue with documentary evidence of cheese stretch-age:

Cheese in action

With full bellies, we finished off the evening with Prosecco and eventually rolled out of there into the rainy night. Overall, I like Gallo Nero; it's a nice neighborhood-y place that feels comfortable. The bread is top-notch, something I really appreciate. And the food is very good and reasonably priced, although the portions are certainly small. The only fault I've found, something that's been consistent through my two visits, is the service is not that great. It's stand-offish and not really that knowledgeable, despite the fact that it's a wine bar specializing in Italian wines-- on my first visit, I ordered a glass of moscati d'asti (a sparkling wine) and was presented with a glass of dessert muscat. When I gently pointed out the error, they allowed me to keep the dessert wine gratis and brought me the sparkling wine as well, which was nice. But still-- if Gallo Nero is going to stick around and compete with the dozen other wine bars in the neighborhood, it has to step up its game just a teensy bit.

Bubbles bubbles bubbles

Once my girls and I had parted ways, I returned home to relax for a little bit. I was still looking to go out-- it was relatively early-- but it was so gross weather-wise, I didn't want to go very far. Thus, my brother and I ended up at the new Bourbon St. Bar & Grill, a new Restaurant Row tenant on 46th between 8th and 9th, for a nightcap.

I've watched Bourbon St. go up over the past several months. They've done a remarkable job with the building's facade, making it look very much like a New Orleans mansion. Whenever I see a restaurant being born, for some strange reason I always end up rooting for it-- that's what happened with Il Melograno, and the same thing is happening (perhaps to a lesser degree) with Bourbon St. They're like my babies, and I want them to succeed.

We arrived around Midnight on Friday night, and though it was far from crowded, it wasn't disconcertingly empty, either. We ordered some drinks and took in the atmosphere.

First floor and balcony

Though that's a pretty terrible picture, you can sort of make out the setup. There's a sizeable bar taking up most of the first floor, with a lot of tables (up against the wall in addition to communal tables in the middle of the floor) in the remaining area. There's a balcony/second floor overlooking the scene below. And in the back is a lounge-ish area with low tables, although my brother and I agreed that that space might be better used as a dance floor.

Overall, though the bar is certainly very large, it seemed that it could get a bit tight in there with a good crowd due to the oversaturation of tables and lack of empty space. But Bourbon St. certainly held promise: the drinks were good and not too expensive ($8 for a cocktail, $5.50 for a bottle of beer), the ambiance is delightfully New Orleansian, and the soundtrack was notably awesome. I'd certainly go back, and I hope it becomes a successful hot spot in the neighborhood.