New York City is one of the best places in the world to drink wine. From fine-dining institutions and classic red-sauce joints to the bounty of natural wine bars across Brooklyn, there’s no shortage of spots to indulge in a glass or a bottle (or two). But NYC also presents its own unique set of challenges when it comes to dining out — especially for the avid wine drinker. On any given night, there’s a good chance that the city’s most prestigious restaurants, as well as any hot new spots, will be entirely booked up. Plus, guests seeking delicious bottles don’t always want to spend Michelin star-level prices or go to a wine bar every time they want to drink something good.
Here, we compiled a list of restaurants that aren’t necessarily fine-dining-level, but serve excellent food and offer thoughtful wine programs. Some are neighborhood spots that pop luxury Champagne or coveted bottles of Burgundy with burgers, and others curate lists of obscure or off-the-beaten-path wines for incredible prices. These establishments might not be top-of-mind when planning a wine-fueled night out, but they absolutely should be.
This list by no means covers every great place to drink wine in the city. We automatically disqualified any restaurant that might already be widely known for its wine program — any place that’s ever called itself a wine bar, considers itself a fine-dining establishment, or comes from a wine-focused hospitality group. There, you would expect to find an extensive list. Instead, these restaurants have either flown under the radar or are better-known for other menu items. (More often than not, it’s a burger.) Read on to discover NYC’s best hidden-gem wine lists.
Cafe d’Alsace
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Cafe d’Alsace would undoubtedly top the ranking of New York’s hidden-gem beer lists, but the Upper East Side establishment also boasts a hefty selection of wines from, you guessed it, Alsace. For fans of eastern French cuisine, there’s no better place to indulge in an artisan sausage and sauerkraut platter with a back-vintage Pinot Blanc from Albert Boxler.
Eli’s Table
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Most uptown residents might be familiar with the Eli Zabar name from shopping at Eli’s Market, Eli’s Essentials, or his family’s most iconic creation, Zabar’s. But at Eli’s Table, instead of gourmet groceries and bagels, diners will find an impressively long wine list. Eli is a passionate wine collector — with a particular affinity for classics from Burgundy, Champagne, and Piedmont — and has amassed over 50,000 bottles in his collection, all stored in cellars across the Upper East Side. A portion of that massive stash is offered in the restaurant’s 45-page wine menu.
Kafana
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Sure, many are already well-aware that Kafana, a Serbian restaurant in the East Village, has one of the best selections of Eastern European wines in the city with a treasure trove of old, back-vintage bottles from producers like Radikon and Kabaj. But for anyone who missed the memo, take your wallet (it’s cash-only) and your appetite to this laid-back establishment and gorge on cevapi and karadjordjeva with an aged Malvasia from Slovenia.
Kru
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Greenpoint Thai restaurant Kru, from Ohm Suansilphong, formerly of Fish Cheeks, reimagines traditional recipes from Thailand’s royalty. The wine list was created in collaboration with James O’Brien, sommelier and owner of Popina in Brooklyn — a spot well known for its phenomenal beverage program. The list is designed to complement the menu’s intense flavors and spice, with a wide selection of Rieslings, helpfully divided into sparkling, dry, and off-dry categories. There’s also a range of crisp whites, light reds, and Champagne, all listed at competitive prices.
LaRina Pastificio e Vino
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While LaRina might look like an unassuming pasta joint from its facade, there’s a lot more to this Fort Greene haunt, from the house-made pasta station to the charming back patio, and, of course, the 500-plus-bottle list. Unsurprisingly, the focus is mainly on Italian wines, but it doesn’t just hit the classics like Chianti and Barolo. Curious drinkers can try a 1996 Schioppettino with smoked spaghetti or Timorasso with a big plate of gnocchi. In addition to its regular by-the-glass pours, LaRina also offers a separate menu of special bottles available to sample via Coravin.
Lord’s
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Owners Ed Szymanski and Patricia Howard opened Lord’s, the highly anticipated meat-focused follow-up to the buzzy British seafood spot Dame, in October 2022. Given the hype around Dame, its fans quickly descended on the new spot, raving about its meat pies, curried lamb Scotch egg, and pig’s head terrine. About a year later, the restaurant made waves again when it debuted its extremely limited off-menu Welsh rarebit burger.
While many diners focused on the viral burger, comforting pub food, or cozy decor, the expertly curated wine list flew a bit under the radar. The program, run by head sommelier Max Eddy, features an impressive list of hard-to-find wines from thoughtful producers around the globe — including esteemed bottles from France alongside up-and-coming American winemakers. One might enjoy the restaurant’s thick burger with a glass of juicy but complex Carignan from California’s Emme Wines or the buttery, garlicky scallops with a coveted bottle from the Jura.
Maison Premiere
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While this Williamsburg cocktail institution is known for its absinthe-focused cocktails and extravagant oyster platters, it likely also has the widest selection of Muscadet in the city. Restaurants typically have one or two bottles on hand for seafood pairings, but Maison Premiere has no fewer than 20 expressions of the mineral-driven white, as part of a complete program of French wines. It might be a crime to skip the bar’s alluring Old King Cole Martini for the first drink, but guests can always order another round of oysters and enjoy with a chilled bottle of Muscadet in the dreamy back garden.
Nudibranch
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A space as unique as its name, Nudibranch is a restaurant in the East Village opened by chefs Jeff Kim and Matthew Lee in 2022. The contemporary menu draws inspiration from both Korean and Spanish cuisine, and the beverage program follows suit. The concise wine list curated by beverage manager Devon Fleming offers a wide range of options from Spain, Portugal, and beyond, with a solid number of bottles below the $100 mark. Guests can belly up to the bar for a glass of Cava with some snacks like frog legs with lemongrass, galangal, and ginger, and patatas bravas, sichuan spice, and aioli. Or they can make a night of it and get the 14-day dry-aged duck with blueberry hoisin and scallion pancakes with a few bottles of Xarel-lo and Garnacha.
Red Hook Tavern
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It’s a tale as old as time. When a restaurant has one menu item that defines its entire personality — like, say, a big, whopping burger — it can distract even the most discerning drinker from a treasured wine list. This seems to be the case at Brooklyn’s Red Hook Tavern, where patrons will line up for a bite of the thick, peppery burger without glancing at the restaurant’s excellent wine program. Start the evening off with oysters, plump shrimp cocktail, country ham croquettes, and a bottle of Champagne from iconic producers like Frederic Savart, Dhondt-Grellet, Etienne Calsac, or even Jacques Selosse, then make your way to the main event with a savory Syrah from the Northern Rhône.
Rolo’s
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After opening in 2021, Rolo’s quickly became a hot table. But somewhere between snacking on the wood-fired polenta bread and checking to see if the restaurant’s extremely limited double cheeseburger is available, diners might realize that Rolo’s has a stellar wine list with shockingly low prices. In a city where most menus have scarce options under $80, the list at Rolo’s boasts a fair number of bottles under $60. Best of all: The list offers range, meaning you can start the night with high-end Champagne and finish off your lasagne with a casual, juicy chilled red from Italy.
Rosella
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In a city full of sushi spots, Rosella does things differently. Instead of flying in fish overnight from Japan, the East Village restaurant sources its ingredients from across the U.S., primarily from the East Coast. Rosella’s wine list reflects this philosophy, featuring an exclusively domestic selection. Diners can pair Carboniste Sparkling Albariño from California with a Spanish mackerel from North Carolina or a skin-contact Riesling from New York with smoked bluefish from Rhode Island.
Runner Up
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Most Brooklyn residents are familiar with Winner, the bakery with lines out the door that provides bread to a number of restaurants around the neighborhood. The shop’s sister restaurant, Runner Up, goes beyond the bread, offering a three-course pre-fixe dinner at a small 12-seat counter. The menu is constantly changing, but diners can always expect a lengthy list of wines to peruse. It’s mostly centered around French wines, with both classic and trendy, up-and-coming producers, with price tags staggeringly close to retail cost.
SEA
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Jungsik Yim, the pioneering chef behind the two-Michelin-star Jungsik, a Korean fine-dining restaurant widely credited with starting a broader movement in NYC, opened his latest project, SEA, earlier this year. The Chelsea restaurant is a departure from Yim’s roots in Korean cuisine, focusing instead on Southeast Asian flavors and ingredients. Though SEA is more casual than its acclaimed counterpart, the wine list still screams fine dining. It’s concise, but packed with hallmark producers like Egon Müller, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Egly-Ouriet, and Dard & Ribo, just in case guests feel like balling out.
Tolo
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After crafting the food menu at Parcelle Wine Bar in the buzzy Dimes Square, chef Ron Yan opened Tolo, an intimate Chinese restaurant, just a few doors down in 2023. But that’s not where the Parcelle connection ends. The restaurant offers access to the complete collection of wines at Parcelle (which has a deep stash as both a bar and retailer), showing a few select bottles on the menu and displaying a QR code to browse more on its site. In addition to the hundreds of bottles on offer, Tolo pops one or two “special pours” each night to pour by the glass. Keep a keen eye on the restaurant’s Instagram page; there’s always a chance the team is popping a showstopping bottle of Burgundy to pair with the duck breast or a cult Chenin Blanc to wash down the sweet and sour crispy fish.
