Like a man, the way to my heart is through my stomach, but I’m all woman when it comes to wine.
Hubby knows this well so when his little sister asked what to get me for Christmas, he knew exactly what to say. Luckily for me he did because she bought me a voucher for a wine class at New York Vintners (thanks Rae).
New York Vintners is a cute little wine shop located in Tribeca. It offers food and wine tastings on each floor of the shop including in the cellar. The classes “educates the palate” on a range of wines from European countries. There’s also a class featuring wines made in America.
The best part about it is that the food selection is as diverse as the wine offered at the classes. The new menu includes pizza, tacos, New Orleans Creole dishes and Korean BBQ.
I chose the “West Indian Food and Wine” class because I wanted to know which wines pair best with West Indian food. It feels like nobody talks about that. Or is it me?
Inside the wine shop, I side-stepped past the color-coordinated bottles. The sommelier immediately handed me a flute of Cava sparkling wine. Apparently, it’s a natural palate cleanser that helps with digestion. He said all dinner parties should start with a glass.
The wine glasses showed an ombré effect ranging in color, regions, and vintages on the tables. My favorite was an Orison Rosé produced in Portugal in 2015. I loved the subtle notes of strawberries that came through when I swirled and smelled my glass. It was also sweetened exactly how I like my wine.
The menu featured traditional Guyanese dishes. Chef Narisa, who is from the small South American country, prepared the meal. I was so excited to try Guyanese food for the first time, I did a little dance in my seat. I was also curious to taste the fusion of West Indian and South American food. In Chef Narisa’s words, “it’s a mish-mosh of flavors,” and she wasn’t kidding.
The appetizer was a smoked white fish cake. It was served with a light salad and peach habanero sauce with tamarind. The texture was crisp on the outside like phyllo dough, but flaky and light on the inside. The arugula salad added a freshness to the plate. Scooped up with a piece of everything was like a spoonful of the Caribbean. Yum! The sauce was spicier than what I’m used to, but it was so flavorful, I couldn’t stop eating it.
The entrée was pork belly served with coconut rice and a radicchio, cucumber and pineapple salad. Y’all. If everybody prepared pork belly like this, more people would eat it. It was fall-apart tender with the perfect amount of jerk seasoning. The salad was so simple, but I enjoyed the crunchy and sweet combination. It added a different dimension to the dish that was #cookinggoals.
New York Vintners is located at 21 Warren Street. You can learn more about the food and wine classes here as well as on Instagram and Facebook.
