Tangled Vine Happy Hour

There's nothing like a good happy hour to brighten up our day.  We had been meaning to try out The Tangled Vine, a new wine bar featuring biodynamic, organic, and sustainable wine.  And their weekday 50% off happy hour deal was perfect for our first try.

Truthfully, we're not very familiar with organic wines.  According to Evan Spingarn, The Tangled Vine's sommelier, "If a distributor tells me that a wine was made without pesticides and herbicides in the vineyards, without laboratory yeast, or enzymes to speed the fermentation -- basically they're not manipulating the wine -- I'm willing to call it organic. So few producers want to certify because it's expensive. And a pain." (source: Fork in the Road)  

Red, white, and rose!  Organic or not, we're into good affordable wine and here, we got some very generous pours.  So we tried all three happy hour offerings which featured Spanish wines. 

Rose:  Muga Rose ($5.50 HH, $11 reg):  We liked the clean, crisp, not sweet taste of this blush wine.  Muga is a great producer and we found the wine to be dry yet fruity with faint tannins and balanced well with our tapas.

 White:  Rueda "Ermita de Nieve" Vinedos de Nieva 2009 ($4.50 HH, $9 reg):  Made with 100% Verdejo grapes, this wine was simple, straightforward, floral, fruity, yet still crisp and light.  It was a good Happy Hour wine, though my husband was not sure he'd pay full price for it.

Red:  Monastrell "Cono 4" Primitivo Quiles 2008 ($5 HH, $10 reg):  We found the red to be too warm, which brought out the heat (too bad they didn't have the Ravi wine chiller!).  This Monastrell (mourvedre in France) from Spain seemed too fruity and not really balanced.

Eggplant Caponata crostini ($4 happy hour special, $6 regular price):  All of the dishes on the menu have a Mediterranean bent to pair with the Old World wines.  We liked the rich flavor of these crostini - and like the caponata we had at Otto, my husband devoured this cold, hearty appetizer.

Like most wine and tapas bars, it can get quite pricey with the shared plates and wines by the glass.  The menu did look interesting though and we will probably be back to split a bottle with others or to check out their new brunch menu.

The Tangled Vine is located at 434 Amsterdam Ave (at W 81st St) in NYC.

Happy Hour at DBGB

I love date night with the hubby.  It gives us a chance to chat and enjoy a meal without doing the dishes.  We wanted to take advantage of a Happy Hour deal (or Early Bird Special), so I met him early one evening at DBGB Kitchen & Bar   

The last time we were at DBGB, it was Lent, so I had to watch my husband enjoy his pork belly burger while I opted for a salad (albeit a very tasty crab salad).  This time, I was eager and ready to try my first Daniel Boulud burger!

On the menu, there were 2 wines on tap (never had a wine on draft before!): a riesling and a lambrusco from Red Hook winery.  Unfortunately, the riesling ran out and we thought the lambrusco was a little funky, fruity, sour, and almost fizzy.  Instead, I opted for a glass of French white wine while my hubby chose a $5 pint of McNeill's Extra Special Bitter, a malty English-style ale from Vermont. 

My hubby then picked a beer which turned out to be one of the best beers he's ever had, aptly titled Of Love and Regret.  It's a saison beer from Stillwater Artisanal Ale's Brian Strumke, a gypsy brewer from Maryland but brewed in Belgium.  This seasonal beer (above in tulip glass) had an herbal and grassy focus but was so smooth and easy drinking that he hopes this one-off beer is bottled and distributed everywhere (instead of the few kegs floating around NY and DC).

A dozen fresh, balanced Blue Points ($15):  We could have used some horseradish on these plain oysters, but these meaty bivalves (my hubby's word) were only $1.25 each. 

Mixed Charcuterie ($10) In-house headcheese (fromage de tete), pate, pork terrine (rillette), and salumi (saucisson sec) with cornichons, pearl onions and frisee.  By far, the best "bar snack" we've ever eaten during happy hour!

The Yankee Burger with Vermont cheddar and crispy bacon ($11 normally $18):  Yes, it tasted as good as it looks! We enjoyed our perfectly-cooked (medium rare), juicy 8-oz beef burger.  I find most French fries addictive, and these thin, crisp ones were no exception.  Overall, my hubby preferred The Frenchie burger he had the last time (can't beat pork belly), but he had no trouble sharing this burger with me!

Raspberry Fromage-Blanc Ice Cream Sundae ($6, regularly $9):  It looks almost too pretty to eat! I loved the fresh raspberries, house-made whipped cream, speculoos cookies on top.  But my favorite part were the anise marshmallows that had a faint licorice-flavor.  I was at first concerned about the white cheese ice cream, but it was very subtle in flavor.

Happy Hour specials are currently available every weekday from 3-6pm

DBGB Kitchen & Bar is located at 299 Bowery (btwn Houston and 1st Aves) in NYC.