December is all about spending, eating and, of course, drinking. While you’re dropping loads of cash this month on gifts for friends, family, clients and bosses, the last thing you want to see are huge restaurant tabs. Alcohol is the typical culprit, accounting for half or more of the bill depending on how much you [...]

Here are some deals we’re happy to see extended: More Meze Madness at Pera through June 30th — pick any 3 meze from menu of 15 options for just $9; Mon-Fri from 3:30pm to close and Saturday from 5:30pm to close; until 7 pm, add $30 to the $9 madness for a bottle of wine from [...]

A wine shop offering a BYO delivery service may be the best idea I’ve heard so far in ’09. Not only is it a royal pain to schlep wine from your home in a cab to a restaurant, it’s also difficult to keep whites and sparkling wines cold, especially if you have any stops along the way. Tribeca [...]

While the SLA has been cracking down on restaurants with temporary BYO policies — those that allow BYO while they await their liquor license — several restaurants are following in the footsteps of Alto and either waiving or relaxing their BYO policies to attract customers. We all know the NYC BYO mainstays (think Tartine, Nook, [...]

From the Zagat website: “The team at Eleven Madison Park (11 Madison Ave. at 24th St.) invites Zagat readers and fellow wine lovers to pull a few gems from their personal cellars and join them for a casual evening of wining and dining. Gather round the table and enjoy a meal set to showcase Daniel [...]

First it was a slew of “Recession Specials“, then it was the migration from a “Restaurant Week” to a “Restaurant Year,” now it appears the latest move by high-end restaurants and restaurateurs to adapt to these ever-worsening economic conditions is to soften their BYO policy. It is certainly true that restaurants with expensive and extensive [...]

We got a bit nervous yesterday when we read on Grub Street that “Kuma Inn got a thumbs-up for a new license (good-bye, BYO!)”  and on Eater that Kuma Inn got approved “for a new license separate from the one they’ve apparently been sharing with a restaurant downstairs.” We reached out to Kuma Inn earlier today to [...]

We’re following this message board on Chowhound and will let you know what new BYO’s people post about. Here are a few that we weren’t aware of: Cafe Himalaya (aka, Himalayan Cafe): No corkage – 1st St b/t Avenue A & 1st Ave. A Cafe & Wine Room:  No corkage – Columbus @ 108th St. [...]

Thanks to a comment from byob lover to our Kuma Inn BYO review, we learned about BYOBLocator (http://www.byoblocator.com). This will be an amazing online resource for BYOB lovers everywhere when it takes off.  BYOBLocator is in its infancy and really needs people like us to log on and spread the word about BYOB spots in their locale. The [...]

Andy and I have been dying to try Kuma Inn for ages. After having to cancel a couple of reservations, we finally made it to Kuma Inn with Donna and Charles in from Atlanta and with our friend Gassan. In harsh economic times, BYOBs are a great choice for those of us who normally have [...]

BYO restaurants are the best way to dull the pain of the price of dining in NYC and represent some of the city’s hidden gems. The problem is not too many restaurants are willing to forgo an alcohol revenue stream with its huge mark-ups. One thing we’ve noticed is that restaurants will open before receiving their liquor license [...]