WINED & DINED » BYOs

Holiday BYO Guide

Andy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:39:29 +0000

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 drink. But that doesn’t mean you have to drink less…just smarter. Restaurants at all levels are continuing to relax their BYO policies through the Holiday season. Even at the high end, restaurants like Tabla (2 bottle max), Alto (after 9pm and 1 bottle max), The Little Owl (1 bottle max) and Dylan Prime (1 bottle per person b/t Dec 26-30) are allowing diners to bring in their own bottles of wine for no corkage fee. Instead of letting those bottles you receive as gifts pile up on the kitchen table and countertop, why not bring a couple along to one of the places in our updated BYO list below.

A Cafe & Wine Room (973 Columbus Avenue) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Afghan Kabob House (764 9th Avenue) – BYO w/ no corkage fee (BYO only)

Alto (11 E. 53rd) — BYO w/ no corkage fee for 9 PM or later reservations (maximum of one 750 ml bottle per table at no charge)…85 more BYO options follow….

Amber Gramercy (381 3rd Ave) — Sunday – Tuesday free corkage. Entrée per person required.

Angelica Kitchen (300 E. 12th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Apiary (60 3rd Ave) — No corkage fee on Monday nights

Aroma Espresso Bar (161 W. 72nd) — OK to BYO; bring own glasses & corkscrew

Baoguette / Baoguette Cafe (all locations) — BYO w/ no corkage fee; bring own glasses & corkscrew to St. Marks location

Bar Blanc Bistro (142 W. 10th) — No corkage fee on Sunday nights

Beacon (25 W. 56th) — No corkage fee on Sunday nights

Bistro Chat Noir (22 E. 66th) — Friday, Sunday, Monday free corkage.

Blockhead’s Burritos (2nd Ave @81st St location) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Braeburn (117 Perry St) — No corkage fee on Sundays and Mondays. Mention ‘Yelp”

Braii (329 W. 51st) — Free corkage Tuesdays

Brick Lane Too (235 E. 53rd St) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Broadway East (171 E. Broadway) — No corkage fee on Sunday and Monday nights

Cafe Himalaya (78 E. 1st) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Caffe Martier (2nd Ave b/t 53rd & 54th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee; bring own glasses & corkscrew

Capsouto Freres (451 Washington St) — Free corkage Tuesdays

Casa Adela (66 Ave C) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Cipolla Rossa (1762 1st Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Cube 63 (63 Clinton) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Curry in a Hurry (119 Lexington Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Dressler (149 Broadway; Brooklyn) — No corkage fee on Mondays and Tuesdays. Also offering a five course tasting menu for $50.

Dylan Prime (62 Laight St) — Offering a special penny corkage period from December 26 to December 30. Make reservations for this time and tell the reservationist you are taking advantage of the “penny corkage special”, and it’ll be only a penny per bottle. Limit of one bottle per person.

E.A.T. (1064 Madison Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

East Village Thai Restaurant (32 E. 7th St) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

El Papasito (346 W. 53rd) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

El Parador — No corkage fee on Monday nights and 20% off any bottle on the list

El Tequilazo (43 W. 46th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Fabio Piccolo Fiore (230 E. 44th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Fred’s (476 Amsterdam) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Gazala Place (709 9th Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Go!Go! Curry (273 W. 38th) – BYO w/ no corkage fee; 2-bottle limit

Golosi (125 Park Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee; bring own glasses & corkscrew

Gracie Mews (481 E. 80th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Grand Sichuan (Various Locations) $5 but only if they don’t have your bottle on their list

Grano Trattoria (21 Greenwich Ave) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Hing Won (48 W. 48th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Hop Won (139 E. 45) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Horus Cafe (293 E. 10th) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Houston’s — BYO w/ no corkage fee at both locations

Il Valentino (330 E. 56th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Ivo & Lulu (558 Broome St) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Joe’s Shanghai — BYO w/ no corkage fee at both locations

Kuma Inn (113 Ludlow; 2nd Fl) $5 corkage fee for wine; $1 for beer

La Barra (250 Broome St.) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

La Palapa West — BYO w/ $10 corkage fee

La Parisienne (910 7th Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

La Sirène Bistro (558 Broome St.) – BYO w/ no corkage fee (cash only)

Little Giant (85 Orchard St.) — BYO w/ $15 per bottle corkage fee

The Little Owl (90 Bedford St.) — No corkage fee (1 bottle max)

Little Thai Kitchen (231 E. 53rd) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Megu (both locations) – BYO w/ no corkage fee on Tuesday nights

Mint (150 E. 50th) — Free corkage on Sunday nights

The Modern Bar Room (MOMA) — No corkage fee on Sunday nights

Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse (9 Penn Plaza) — No corkage fee for the rest of 2009

No. 28 Carmine (28 Carmine) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Nook (746 9th Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

The Orchard – No corkage on Sunday nights

Ottomanelli’s (1626 York Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Palacio Azteca (1374 York Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant (93 1st Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Peking Duck House (both locations) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Philip Marie — BYO w/ $7 corkage fee

Pho Sure (120 Christopher St.) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Phoenix Garden (242 E. 40th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Piada (3 Clinton St.) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Pinche Taqueria (227 Mott) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Poke (343 E. 85th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee (cash only)

Polonia (110 1st Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Raj Mahal (322 E. 6th St) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Ravagh (1237 1st Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

S’mac (345 E. 12th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee; but must bring glasses & corkscrew; and bottle must be kept in bag

San Marzano Pizzeria — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Square Meal (30 E. 92nd) — BYO w/ $2 corkage fee

Sticky Rice (85 Orchard St) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Tabla — BYO w/ no corkage fee on first 2 bottles, $25 each additional bottle

Tadka (229 E. 53rd) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Tagine Dining Gallery/Lounge (537 9th Ave) — Free corkage on Mondays (one bottle per party); Tuesday until 730pm.

Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant (318 E. 6th St) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Tartine (253 W. 11th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

The Mermaid Inn Uptown (568 Amsterdam) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Tribeca Grill – No corkage fee on Sunday and Monday nights

212 Restaurant & Bar (133 E. 65th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Union Square Cafe — Reduced corkage fee from $25 to $10

Village Restaurant (35 1st Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Wo Hop (15 Mott St) — it’s BYO w/ no corkage at this Chinatown spot known for it’s late night/early morning dining

Wondee Siam (792 9th Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Zen Palate (663 9th Ave) — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Zerza (308 E. 6th) — BYO w/ no corkage fee on Mondays

Deals Extended at Irving Mill, Pera & Dylan Prime

Andy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:15:00 +0000

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 an international selection of 35; oh yeah, and there will be live jazz on Saturdays.

Even with no Ryan Skeen the Monday night Burger+Beer+Cocktail show goes on at Irving Mill – last month was “Tame that Tiger” now it’s “Cruzan for Sweet Action” Mondays all month long. $15 dollars includes Irving Mill’s Juicy Burger, a Pint of Sixpoint’s Sweet Action & Cruzan Single Barrel Rum served neat, on the rocks or as The Buck Island Cocktail.

BYO with no corkage fee extended through Labor Day at Dylan Prime. Now we just need to get Dylan Prime signed up with New York Vintners’ BYO Delivery Service so this bottle of Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon will be waiting for us and our filets.

New York Vintners BYO Delivery Service Launch Party Tomorrow Night @ Kuma Inn

Andy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:53:14 +0000

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 wine shop New York Vintners (21 Warren St; 212-812-3999) announced recently that it would be launching a BYO delivery service this month. Check this out — all you have to do is order your wine from them (phone or online) at least two hours before your reservation and they will deliver it to the restaurant for you. What’s even better is that New York Vintners includes recommended pairings for the dishes served at every BYO restaurant that they deliver to. Check out their suggested pairings for Kuma Inn here. So far, they only deliver to three BYO restaurants (Ivo & Lulu, Kuma Inn and La Sirene) but they’re looking to rapidly expand the list of participating restaurants. Tomorrow — Wednesday, June 3rd — New York Vintners and Kuma Inn are celebrating the launch of the BYO Service and Sake Week with a dinner event featuring four dishes paired with several sakes ($50 plus tax). Apparently all guests will also get a sneak-peak taste of one of Chef King Phojanakong, Jr.’s dishes for his soon-to-open Brooklyn branch of Kuma Inn, Umi Nom.

BYO’s Spreading Like the You-Know-What Virus

Andy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:05:43 +0000

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, Poke, Cube 63, Peking Duck House, Persimmon, etc.) but did you know, for example, that Houston’s is BYO with no corkage fee at both Manhattan locations or that The Little Owl is BYO with no corkage fee on your first bottle? In a recent WSJ piece, Danny Meyer explained why he’s been relaxing his restaurant’s BYO policies: “I would imagine that many wine lovers have more bottles in their cellar than they’re going to drink in a week, a month, a year, maybe even a lifetime and they’re waiting for a special occasion to open them. We wanted to encourage people to enjoy what they already own and at the end of a delicious meal, they can see that the check is smaller.” In fact, for the month of May, Danny Meyer’s Union Square Cafe is reducing its corkage fee from $25 to $10, which is “really gentle” according to Meyer. We agree. To find some other “really gentle” BYO policies, we’ve done a bit of groundwork on GoBYO.com and created a list of some of the best BYO spots around the city with corkage fees of $10 or less. But please always call first to verify. We’d hate for you to be left holding the bottle.

A Cafe & Wine Room – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Alto — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Apiary — No corkage fee on Monday nights

Baoguette / Baoguette Cafe — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Bar Blanc Bistro — No corkage fee on Sunday nights

Beacon — No corkage fee on Sunday nights

Broadway East — No corkage fee on Sunday and Monday nights.

Cafe Himalaya (aka, Himalayan Cafe) – BYO w/ no corkage fee

A Casa Fox – BYO w/ no corkage fee (the fireplace is a plus)

Cherin Sushi – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Chow Bar — BYO w/ $10 corkage fee

Cipolla Rossa — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Cipriani Downtown — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Dylan Prime — Corkage fee has been waived through Memorial Day Labor Day

El Parador — No corkage fee on Monday nights and 20% off any bottle on the list

Houston’s — BYO w/ no corkage fee at both locations

Island Burgers & Shakes — BYO w/ no corkage fee not BYO anymore

Joe’s Shanghai — BYO w/ no corkage fee at both locations

Keste Pizza & Vino — BYO w/ no corkage fee (N.B., still BYO as of 4/27/09)

La Palapa West — BYO w/ $10 corkage fee

La Sirène Bistro : BYO w/ no corkage fee (cash only)

Megu: BYO w/ no corkage fee on Tuesday nights

The Modern — No corkage fee on Sunday nights

The Orchard – No corkage on Sunday nights

Palacio Azteca — BYO w/ no corkage fee (thanks to our friend Andrea for telling us about this one on the UES)

Philip Marie — BYO w/ $7 corkage fee

San Marzano Pizzeria — BYO w/ no corkage fee

Square Meal — BYO w/ $2 corkage fee

Tabla — BYO w/ no corkage fee on first 2 bottles, $25 each additional bottle

Tadka – BYO w/ no corkage fee

Tribeca Grill – No corkage fee on Monday nights

Union Square Cafe — Reduced corkage fee from $25 to $10

Via dei Mille — BYO w/ $10 corkage fee

Wo Hop — it’s BYO w/ no corkage at this Chinatown spot know for it’s late night/early morning dining

Yama – BYO w/ $10 corkage fee

AND HERE ARE THE USUAL SUSPECTS ON THE BYO SCENE:

Panna II Indian Restaurant (East Village)

Cube 63 (Lower East Side)

Tartine (West Village)

Peking Duck House (Chinatown)

Poke (Upper East Side)

Ivo & Lulu (Soho)

Gazala Place (Midtown West)

Sticky Rice (Lower East Side)

Bellini (Upper West Side)

Persimmon Kimchi House (East Village)

Sigiri Sri Lanka Restaurant (East Village)

Nook (Hell’s Kitchen)

Di Fara Pizza (Brooklyn)

Kuma Inn (Lower East Side) $5 — Click here for our dinner at Kuma Inn

Grand Sichuan (Various Locations) $5 but only if they don’t have your bottle on their list

Zaytoons (Brooklyn)

Zagat Presents: BYO Night at Eleven Madison Park on April 10th

Andy — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:46:20 +0000

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 Humm’s approach to rustic, family-style cuisine. The chef will be cooking with the wines of Piedmont in mind, so bring your favorite bottles of Barolo and Barbaresco… and a big appetite!”

Event Details: Dinner starts at 7pm. $75 for dinner, no corkage fee; tax and tip not included.

To Reserve: Contact Dana Kane at 646-747-2583 or at dlongiaru@elevenmadisonpark.com and mention “Zagat Presents”.

BYO Goes High-End: Alto First to “Un-Wined” the Paradigm

Andy — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:07:37 +0000

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 wine lists do not normally encourage or allow customers to “bring their own.” To discourage this, most high-end restaurants charge an exhorbitant “corkage fee,” as high as $95 at some restaurants. Now that there are fewer and fewer customers, it appears the rules may be changing. We just read this story in the NY Post that Alto is waiving its $60 corkage fee on any bottle of wine between now and September (1 bottle per table). Why is it especially significant and why do we feel this move by Alto will shift the paradigm, you ask? Consider that Alto was just 1 of 3 recipients in 2008 of the highly coveted Wine Spectator Grand Award (click on the image). The Grand Award recognizes wine lists with upwards of 1,500 selections that exhibit vintage depth as well an excellent breadth of major wine growing regions. In fact, only 72 restaurants worldwide hold this distinction. So, if Alto with its WS Grand Award and a 3-star NY Times review is feeling the pain, we have no doubt that other high-end restaurants are feeling it, too. As an advocate of diner interests, Wined & Dined is going to begin reaching out to other NYC restaurants to see if they will follow suit and waive their BYO corkage fee for customers. We will begin with Drew Nieporent’s Myriad Restaurant Group (Corton, Tribeca Grill, Centrico, and Mai House). Why this restaurant group? Because Myriad is also the owner of one of our favorite wine shops in the city, Crush Wine & Spirits. I’m sure they can think of a creative way to drive traffic (and bottles of wine) from Crush to one of the Myriad restaurants around the city. We think it makes pretty good sense for Myriad to waive corkage fees on any bottles of wine purchased at its sister wine shop. We’ll let you know what they say. Apparently, Nieporent and other restaurateurs are no stranger to softening their BYO policy during hard economic times. We dug up this NY Times piece from 2003 when in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble, restaurants around the city switched gears and allowed customers to bring in their own wine without a fee. One of those restaurants was Montrachet, a former Myriad Group restaurant. According to the 2003 NY Times story, one restaurant that does not allow customers (other than Robert Parker, Jr.) to bring their own wine (even for a corkage fee) is Daniel and according to another NY Post BYO story from May 2008, neither do Del Posto, BLT Steak or Cru. We’ll also reach out to them and see if perhaps they will change their minds now. And for all the diners out there who are hesitant to bring their own wine for fear of backlash from the server, remember this: a tip on a smaller bill is better than no tip at all!

Alert: Kuma Inn is Still BYO…For Now

Andy — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:12:59 +0000

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 get the scoop on whether its BYO is now DOA. We received this email from Kuma Inn a little while ago:

From: Kuma Inn

Subject: Kuma Inn BYO

Thank you for your interest in Kuma Inn. Kuma Inn is currently still BYO. We are in the process of applying for a beer/wine restaurant license. Approval from the local community board is the first step in a long process.

**Kuma Inn has a $5 corkage fee and is cash only**

Updated BYO List for 2009

Andy — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:59:33 +0000

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.

La Sirène Bistro : No corkage – Broome b/t Varick and 6th Ave. — CASH ONLY

A Casa Fox (Latin): No corkage - Orchard b/t Stanton & Houston — the fireplace is a plus

BYO Madness!

Andy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:35:04 +0000

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 site creators designed an engine so that anyone can add a BYOB that others can then search for. It’s completely free, but how valuable it ultimately becomes depends on input from users and restaurant owners. BYOB owners can enter information about their BYOB and update it regularly. BYOB Locator will be adding more features soon such as ability for BYOB owners to add and update their menus. Right now there are no results when you type in NYC area zip codes. Let’s see if we can change that. In addition to these, I’m adding the following to BYOBLocator as we speak:

BYO is back at Persimmon Kimchi House (1st Ave. & 10th)

Sigiri Sri Lanka Restaurant (1st Ave b/t 5th & 6th)

Free corkage Monday nights at Tribeca Grill (Greenwich and Franklin)

BYOB Bliss: The Many Tastes of Kuma Inn

Jill — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:26:31 +0000

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 a heftier wine bill than food bill when we go out to eat. We heard great things about Kuma Inn and we were not disappointed.

Kuma Inn is located at 113 Ludlow between Delancey and Rivington on the Lower East Side. The first time we attempted to give it a try we could not even find it, because it is hidden up a narrow staircase on the second floor of the building. This time there was a blackboard on the sidewalk with an arrow, so we could not miss it. After having a couple of strong ales at Spitzer’s (only 1/2 a block away), one of our favorite beer bars, we were hungry for dinner. We headed up the stairs and were immediately faced with the small open kitchen and the cooler (keeping various bottles of sake, wine, and ingredients cold) in the tiny waiting area. We were seated right away and were ready to start our own tasting of Kuma Inn small plates. More on our Kuma Inn BYO extravaganza after the jump…

Kuma Inn descibes its food as “Southeast Asian-style tapas.” The chef, King Phojanakong, a “Thai-Filipino New Yorker” has cooked for Bouley and Boulud, but there is definitely no foie gras or truffles on this menu! The flavors of the small plates are certainly Asian but are vibrant and inventive. We brought four bottles of wine with us and went through them all (Note- $5 corkage fee per bottle) as we embarked on our tasting adventure ordering at least 3 separate rounds of dishes. We tried so much it is hard to describe each dish, but I’ve listed our favorites and the ones we wished we skipped below. We truly feasted at Kuma Inn and it was hard not to continue the ordering frenzy after tasting such wonderful dishes, but beware that Kuma Inn is cash only so you may want to stop by an ATM before devouring the scrumptious small plates like this is your last supper- they do add up in the end!

Our Favorites: (photos that follow were taken by a much more highly skilled food photog than us, Tina Wong, aka The Wandering Eater)

* Deep fried pork belly lechon kawali with atchara (pork belly + fried = mmmmm….)

* Yellowfin tuna tartare with a rice noodle crisp (Fresh yellowfin with nice citrus balance- another please)

* Sautéed chinese sausage with thai chili-lime sauce (Something a bit different for an Asian plate and the sauce was incredible)

* Shrimp Shumai (A special for the day- not like any other shrimp shumai I’ve ever tasted!)

* Pork Buns (Another special for the day- savory pulled pork and plump round buns)

* Asian Paella (You MUST try this)

* Steamed edamame with thai basil-lime oil (A staple snack with a different twist- loved the oil)

Ones we would Skip:

* Grilled baby octopus with pickled bamboo shoots (Needed some sauce for the grilled octopus)

* Grilled salmon, shitake mushrooms & baby bok choy (Good classic dish, but too much else to try!)

* Sautéed tofu, thai basil and wood ears in spicy soy mirin (Also tasty, but other veggie options were more spicy and flavorful)