Bar Piquette
Bar Piquette is a wine bar with a chalkboard menu of regularly-changing wines and small plates.
Giving bistro vibes, this project from Grant van Gameren and sommeliers Nathan Morrell and Ellen Shrybman is an intimate locale to sip on a huge range of wines from around the world.
It's super cozy and hovers between quaint and sleek, from the Parisian junk shop-bought blowfish lamp above the bar that inspired the Piquette logo to the drop-in ice cooler at the sink.
Piquette offers a rotating selection of 80 to 100 labels of wine at a time, curated by Morrell and Shrybman, both formerly of Bar Isabel and other van Gameren-owned spots in the city.
The menu is flexible: whites, reds, roses, and sparkling wine available by the glass change multiple times a week, and can be found listed on the menus hanging above the olive green banquettes. Right now, you can get a glass of Le Sot de l'Ange from a magnum Sotisse bottle.
If you're really keen on a particular glass, the staff might just crack open a new bottle at your request — it really depends.
A beautiful custom wooden cabinet houses all the wines by the bottle, which range anywhere from the affordable $40 range up to rare finds for more than $200.
Every bottle is accompanied with charming hand-written descriptions, which helps if you don't consider yourself a wine expert but find the idea of an "oh-so-crushable" wine (the 2017 Envinate 'Lousas' wine, $105) appealing.
The food menu offers a lean selection of seasonal eats, like a salad ($1o) with tomatoes from Prince Edward County, basil, and slices of guanciale.
A mortadella sandwich ($5) is one of the big hits. Milk buns from Thuet come stacked with mortadella, pickled fennel, and garlic mayonnaise.
The duck lover parfait ($14) comes from Sanagan's, and served with a pear compote and toast.
A habanero fennel salad ($9) has radishes, tomato sauce, bonito shavings and a trini pepper vinaigrette.
Cozy and approachable, Bar Piquette isn't just for the bottle savants, though you might know a thing or two more about wine after leaving.
Fareen Karim