How Restaurants Must Evolve for the Changing Wine Consumer

I had a great meal last night at Trestle on Tenth, a cozy Swiss restaurant around the corner from my apartment. I was with my immediate family plus my aunt, uncle, and cousin, who love collecting wine as well. Between my Dad and my Uncle, we brought seven bottles of wine to dinner. We started with a buttery Far Niente Chardonnay then had a complex White Chateauneuf-du-Pape. For reds we had a hardy Remirez de Ganuza 1994 Rioja, a South African Shiraz, and a Walla Walla Washington State Cabernet. The wines were as diverse as can be so not all of them pleased everybody. But it didn’t matter, there was little risk involved with the $20 corkage fee assigned to each bottle. We weren’t paying a 100% markup for each bottle like we normally would, had we ordered from the wine list.

The restaurant was near empty on a Sunday night at 7:30. Despite our rowdiness and our quirks, I think they were glad to have our business. Nobody questioned the fact that we brought our own wine. Truthfully, how could they? In today’s economy, avoiding a restaurant markup is an easy way to save money. A recent survey by the Wine Market Council showed the majority of participants were eating out less, with the most significant decline (39%) in fine dining.

Of course everybody needs a reprieve from the stress that all of this causes and people may still be gripping the bottle to calm their woes. But they aren’t buying $100 bottles, they’re looking for the sweet spot of great wines at affordable prices in the $15 range. I know this from experience, promoting wine every day on WineExpress.com, but it’s no secret. Knowing all this, fewer people will needlessly pay $45 in a restaurant for a wine that’s on sale for $15 at the wine shop around the corner. Restaurants will need to wise up to meet the changing consumer, or risk facing empty tables.

My predictions for what needs to happen:

• BYOB will become more of a standard habit, with nominal corkage fees
• If not, prices will have to come down. Consumers are smart and know what a wine should cost and what it costs on a menu. They simply won’t pay double.
• If not, menu prices will have to come down. I get that restaurants make most of their money on drinks. Maybe it’s unreasonable to expect prices to come down on wine, but people need some incentive to open their wallets. Maybe more prixe-fixe meals or weekly specials?

Something’s gotta give, or I’m afraid restaurants might have a painful year (or more?) ahead of them.

Le Marais

Le Marais is one of many great kosher restaurants in Manhattan that prove, you don’t have to serve dairy with meat to have a great meal. My second trip to Le Marais last week was better than the first as E and I sat at the bar, getting recommendations from the bartender on everything from his favorite beer, a double-fermented “Champagne” lager” to the perfect amount of tabasco to ask for in our beef tartare.

We’d heard that the beef tartare recipe was recently updated so I was intrigued to try it out. On our past visit it was overloaded with spicy Dijon mustard and though tasty, it was sloppy and cloaked the taste of the meat. Monday’s version was delicately seasoned and silky, with a hint of spice, served with a mountain of crispy frites and greens. We shared a risotto special to start, with salty leeks on top. The risotto did seem to be yearning for a hit of parmesan but the rice was creamy and rich without it.

The menu features many other traditional French bistro dishes like duck confit salad and steak au poivre as well as more exotic offerings like merguez sausage with cous cous. You’ll even find non-dairy creme brulee! Even a fromage-head like myself was pleased with the meal.

Le Marais: 150 W 46th Street
Cuisine: Steakhouse, Kosher
Average Entree Price: $25-$35
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Value: Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.

The Prime Grill (Kosher Steakhouse)

Arguably known as the best kosher restaurant in Manhattan, the kitchen at The Prime Grill fuses inventive flavors into hearty steaks, seafood, and sushi items with nary a dairy ingredient in sight. Menu offerings like tuna tartar with wonton chips and barbeque sauce, Chilean sea bass with pesto and wagyu angus ribs, make one forget that the kitchen is limited by the laws of kashrut.

The spacious, classic dining room was near full on a late Thursday evening but the service was courteous and friendly. We shared meaty, crisp but not greasy duck rolls, served with a barbeque sauce to start. I went for a sushi platter (the prime platter) which came with a generous assortment of nigiri and a spicy tuna roll. Not the best sushi I’ve ever had, but certainly good quality. E had a Prime Grill filet, served with a bearnaise and red wine shallot sauce with mashed potatoes on the side. They overcooked it a bit but the bite I had was still tender and flavorful. Despite the absence of any milk, the potatoes were quite creamy. I nearly wanted to poke my head in the kitchen and ask how they made it work. I ventured into a glass of kosher red wine (despite warnings to the contrary), a Pinot Noir from New Zealand, only to severely regret my decision. It was watery and punchy, lacking any depth of flavor or body. Oh well, the beers worked just fine.

With the wide variety of menu offerings I can certainly see myself returning to Prime Grill. I’d recommend it even for the non-tribe members out there ;)

Prime Grill: 60 East 49th Street (betw Madison and Park)
Cuisine: Steakhouse, Kosher
Average Entree Price: $40-$60
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Value: Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.

Steak Frites: Simply Delicious

I made a trip here last night with my best friend Julia to exchange holiday gifts and have our restaurant romp. This is a tradition we try to do monthly (though with our busy schedules it never works out that way) so we can make efforts to try interesting new places outside of our devoid-of-good-food Murray Hill neighborhood. Steak Frites is an upscale though not stuffy French brasserie in the union square area. The space is nice and open with Parisian sketches on the wall. The restaurant is adequately full for a Monday night at 7:30, creating a nicely boisterous atmosphere. Julia and I are seated at a part-banquette table and have the usual debate over who gets to sit at the booth (I win).

I guess this post will be relatively boring because I don’t have any complaints. The waitress was pleasant and knowledgeable and the food was perfect. I ordered a 2003 Alexander Valley Cabernet which I anticipated would go well with our pending steak orders. The menu has a varied selection of steak preparations including a NY strip, an entrecote with bearnaise sauce, and a filet mignon with Roquefort crust. There are also a few interesting looking lamb dishes such as a rack with gnocchi as well as fish like cod and grouper. At Steak-Frites however, you must order: 1. steak and 2. frites (fries for the non-Francophiles). There is also an eclectic variety of appetizers on the menu such as crab cakes, tuna tartare, and goat cheese, beet, and endive salad. As we read, the waitress brings us some sourdough French bread with sweet butter.

We place our order with the waitress: the tuna tartare followed by the entrecote for Julia and the goat cheese salad pour moi followed by the filet mignon with Roquefort (go big or go home). Our wine arrives. It’s good but not great. I don’t anticipate much with a $30 cabernet but we had to cut a corner somewhere! Our appetizers arrive before we even finish a piece of bread (maybe a bit too fast). Julia’s tuna tartare is delicious and plentiful for tartare, served in a traditional style in a bowl mold with potato chips for scooping. My goat cheese salad is nice though I always forget how bitter endive can be. It is balanced out well however by the sweetness of the beets and the savory goat cheese.

Our entrees were the stars of the show. The steaks arrive with heaping portions of French fries served in the traditional French cone. My filet is still mooing (a little under cooked) but delicious. The Roquefort crust is outstanding as I happen to be a cheese freak. Julia’s entrecote with bearnaise is delicious as well. The fries were perfectly thin, crispy, and salted nicely. It was all washed down with our cabernet.

Steak-Frites was a perfect idea for a warm, hearty and filling meal on a chilly Winter night. If you find yourself in Union Square, horrified by the Sushi Samba’s and Barca 18’s of the world, this is a welcome solution.

Steak Frites: 9 East 16^th Street (betw 5^th ave and Union Square)
Cuisine: French Brasserie/Steakhouse
Average App/Entree Price: $12/$24
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Value: Very Good
You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.