Dog vs. Bird -- Max Toth; a reproduction is on the ceiling in 116 Crown's "tea room"
Last Saturday brought the soft-opening of 116 Crown, the brainchild of John and Danielle Giannetti -- formerly of BAR (254 Crown St.). Never ones to be on time, the ecWino crew headed down there Friday night to check out the scene. We took with us 2 friends, one wine novice and one wine newbie, to get an overall picture of the place.
As you enter, you are immediately taken aback by how beautiful the place is. Contrasting textures and bold effects dominate the design, and every 20 feet you enter a different theme. You are greeted at the door by well dressed, dare I say, hipsters, who offer you a tour of the entire establishment. There are various little areas -- the "pods", the "eye", and the "tea room" that need to be seen to be fully understood. A DJ plays music that falls somewhere between dance and lounge, adding to the vibe that this is not just a pretty restaurant.
We chose the "tea room", and enclosed space with block-style couch seating and small tea tables. The room is equipped with its own iPod docking station, so be sure to bring your own tunes. The ceiling is an amazing painting by Max Toth, who we were joined by later in the evening. There are two sets of tables in the tea room which allows your party to be joined by strangers, making for a fun, communal evening.
The wine list is, in my opinion, the best in the state. The designer of the list is Eoin Connors, a contestant in the 2002 Young Sommeliers Competition, and one of the brightest young wine minds in the Northeast. The wines run the gamut of grape varieties and appellations, and John has dedicated himself to keeping everything affordable. One of our selections, Tannat Amat, ran us $40, which is only slightly higher than retail.
We started with Clos de Roillette 2004 ($$), a stately Fleurie that is one of the BEST Beaujolais wines available at this price point. This is widely considered the better of top-growths in the region, it featured dried chrery and raspberry flavors. It's a bit drier than most Beaujolais, so it should appease most wine drinkers. It ran us around $30, again only slightly higher than retail. John said his intent was to charge, "by the ounce", an appropriate price for what you drink. There is no, "this looks like it should be X dollars" style mark-up -- what you pay for is what you get.
Expect to pay around $8-10 for wines by-the-glass. Even the b-t-g selection is wonderful, with one of the ecWino guests ordering a German Pinot Noir (yes, German) and contrary to Robert Parker's beliefs, it was quite tasty. There isn't a wine on their list that I wouldn't recommend.
116 Crown will be known more for their mixed drinks, however, with John and Danielle inventing new drinks or re-inventing old ones. Mo had a grapefruit and basil mojito that she just couldn't rave about enough.
This Tuesday marks their "grand opening" so be sure and get down there soon, before the boozerati crowd takes over.
3 comments:
Some friends and I are going tonight. I am pretty jazzed. After looking at their wine list online, I would not call it "the best in the state". Check out my blog when you get a chance: http://365wines.blogspot.com/.
I review wines for my restaurant, BONDA, in Westport and just for the fun of it - as all wine tasting should be. We have wine dinners every few weeks if you want to check it out, let me know: bondarestaurant@hotmail.com.
Cheers! I will review my experience at 116 Crown and hopefully it is as good as yours!
Hope you have a great time! When I refer to their list as "the best in the state", I am recognizing the quality over quantity represented in their list. Many of their wines are fairly hard to find, and almost are are affordable. I'll definitely check out BONDA soon, as I work in the lower ffd county area often.
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