Been anywhere good lately? Its a question that binds New Yorkers together by common appetite and the eternal, budget concious hunt for utmost deliciousness.

Vintage New York WineBar

Now that the city’s only New York–dedicated wine shop has opened a restaurant next door, its clientele no longer need hunch over the shop’s popular tasting bar, comparing Schneider Cab Francs to Bedell Merlots. Now they can do it in the relative comfort of the café, where the small-plates menu, like the wine list, is devoted to New York products, and neatly folds over so that each dish is matched up with a suggested paired wine. The warm house-smoked salmon went nicely with the Lieb Pinot Blanc, and a floral Palmer Gewürztraminer made perfect spice- complementing sense with the Thai dipping sauce that accompanies moist Long Island–duck meatballs. But the biggest surprise was the Rivendell Cab, an unexpectedly perfect match for the gooey richness of the “chocolate fantasy,” an oversize take on the molten, flourless, soufflé-like staple of dessert lists everywhere.

www.vintagenewyork.com