Bread & Tulips Italian Restaurant N.Y.C.
The startlingly well-priced wines of Bread & Tulips
It isn't often we gasp when we're reading a wine list.
Then again, it is rare to encounter a collection of bottles as strategically priced as the ones at the new Bread & Tulips.
Every bottle at the new Italian-focused restaurant in Gramercy is priced under $100. But this is no anthology of terrifying swill. Rather, owner Riccardo Dardha enlisted the help of his longtime friend and wine broker Heather Willens to assemble a heavily European list teeming with nuanced, food-friendly wines.
Here, some of Dardha's deliriously well-priced favorites:
2006 Produttori del Barbaresco ($72) "This is the epitome of my favorite kind of wine," says Dardha, noting its subtlety and balance. Ideal with chef Benjamin Lambert's pancetta-wrapped rabbit porchetta.
2009 Patrick Piuze Terroir de Chablis ($53) "Great acidity, with color that is balanced between yellow and white," says Dardha. A racy match for the scialiatelli with razor clams.
2007 Vignaruja il Nuraghe ($45) "This is an 'I'm ready to have a steak' wine," says Dardha. "Like a cheaper Bordeaux." Pair with the dry-aged tagliata with cipollini onions.
Bread & Tulips, 365 Park Ave. S. (at 26th St.); 212-532-9100 or breadandtulipsnyc.com