The past decade has seen an unprecedented growth in the number of wine bars, so that currently, Yelp counts 524 in the city. For an owner, the appeal is obvious: It's a restaurant category in which the emphasis is always on alcohol instead of food, offering a chance for pirate-like mark-ups on bottles that often run three to four times the retail price (restaurateurs pay half that). Moreover, the food can be perfunctory, often limited to cheeses, charcuterie, and bread—which can be prepared on a single counter with a sharp knife, with or without a chef.
Certain neighborhoods—such as the West Village, Williamsburg, and Carroll Gardens—have become riddled with wine bars. While some provide carefully focused wine lists with clever and delicious accompaniments, too many have lists haphazardly slapped together, alongside no-effort collections of viands. I decided to check out three new establishments in the neighborhoods mentioned above, to see where the genre is headed.
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