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WE’RE Not a Wine Bar

First things first, Racines NYC is not a wine bar. The owners describe it as “a restaurant that includes the wine bar concept. If we talk about it as a wine bar, people don’t get the idea that we have a fabulous chef.” That “fabulous chef” is Frederic Duca who worked at some of the best restaurants in Paris like Taillevent, Darroze and L'Instant d'Or, where he received his first Michelin star.

“It’s a sit down restaurant with a limited full menu, but you can come in and treat it like a wine bar. You can have a few glasses of wine and small plates. We are not going to have ten choices on the menu, we are going to have four. The menu will change frequently and focus on farm-to-table type of products.”

The Food

The classically trained chef Duca is originally from Marseilles in the south of France where he developed a passion for seafood. In New York, he’ll be sourcing local fish from Alex, the Blue Moon Fish purveyor at the Tribeca and Union Square Greenmarkets. The menu he’s creating will change based on seasonal and market ingredients. “At first, we were a little apprehensive about someone who had been through the French system. He’s received these accolades, but he is a super-nice, open and friendly guy and it’s very exciting to have him aboard.”

* Here’s a working example of chef Duca’s menu.

Paris vs. NYC

“We share the same philosophy in terms of wine,” is how the owners explain their partnership with David Lahner, the owner of the Racines in Paris, “even though we are not as extreme as the one in Paris.” The original owner of Racines Paris was Pierre Jancou who only served wines with no sulfur. “Pierre was militant about only offering pure juice with zero additives.”

The Wine List

“There will be no boundaries,” is how they talk about their wine list which will feature mostly natural wines, with some conventional ones as well. “We are not going to be dogmatic about what we allow in the place. The inspiration for the wine list is the people that we know that work organically, biodynamically, naturally, that vinify with minimal additives. We don’t look for certified, but most of the producers we will use work organic / biodynamic.”

The common ground will be based on the winemakers, many of them they know personally and respect their techniques. “When you see the vineyard work that the best vineyards in France do, it’s so impressive and so much work.  You really want to feature those wines.”

The wine list will be peppered with gems that are hard-to-find and relatively unknown in the US, but not in a trophy hunting hard to find way. Expect the wines to be reasonably priced. “There will be wines that are $50 instead of $500. We’ll have wines that are great, not because they have re-sale value or because it got points or because it’s regarded as being impossible to find.”

“There’ll be wines that are similar to what is featured at Chambers Street Wines. They’ll be Gonon, Christian Ducroux from Regnie, who’s maybe making the best Beaujolais now. We’ll have Clos du Rouge Gorge from Cyril Fhal in the Roussillon. That’s something that is impossible to get, but we’ll have on the list because we have a relationship with him.”

By the Glass

The wines by the glass will be a broad list also at reasonable price points (estimated to start at $8 to $9). “We are thinking of having at least 20 by the glass offerings, changing some every few days. I’d like to have a Beaujolais feature week, where we have 1o of them by the glass. That’s really fun to be able to taste different crus of Beaujolais at the same time. The core of the offerings will be French, but we’ll do features on other regions, whether it’s Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, whatever. We’ll keep it interesting.”

A Paris Wine Guide

Find | Wine Shops

Les Caves Augé

The most well known wine shop in Paris for things that lean towards the natural end of the spectrum. (DL)

116 Boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.45.22.16.97 | www.cavesauge.com

Les Caves du Panthéon

A terrific shop and I really like their selection. It’s not a big shop, but a really well chosen selection. I come in here and recognize all the wines from Chambers Street. Our entire inventory is at the Caves du Panthéon. They are super nice people. (DL)

174 Rue Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.46.33.90.35

Le Vin en Tête

They sell natural wines, but wines you don’t see everywhere else. (AT)

It’s a little chain, but you can find very good, all natural stuff here. It’s where I found Christophe Foucher at La Lunotte. I asked the guy to give me something I wouldn’t know that he really liked and he gave me the menu pineau from Christophe Foucher. (DL)

30 Rue des Batignolles, 75017 Paris, France | T: +33.(0)1.44.69.04.57

48 Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, 75009 Paris, France | T: +33.(0)1.53.21.90.17

53 Rue Saint-Placide, 75006 Paris, France | T: +33.(0)1.42.22.01.05

www.levinentete.fr

Eat | Restaurants

Bistrot Paul Bert

It’s super classic French food with a fantastic wine list. You have ’86 Overnoy Vin Jaune on the list for 160€, it’s ridiculous. It’s in the middle of nowhere and they just opened their second restaurant down the street. (AT)

18 Rue Paul Bert, 75011 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.43.72.24.01

Bistrot Mélac

It’s these guys from the Aveyron. They have all these crazy country wines and cook old fashioned Averyon-type food. (DL)

42 Rue Léon Frot, 75011 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.43.70.59.27 | bistrot-melac.fr

Café de la Nouvelle Mairie

It is behind the Panthéon in a nice little neighborhood. It’s kind of out of the way. You can get a really great meal and their by-the-glass wine list is terrific, well chosen, and well priced. It’s a fun, convivial, relaxed place and one of my favorite places in France. (DL)

19 Rue des Fossés Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.44.07.04.41

Racines

The original Racines is just such a beautiful small space. The food is always delicious -- simple, but well prepared with fabulous ingredients. The chicken is sensational. It’s always a great wine list. I like having the difficult choice of which great bottle to pick. The idea of the farm sourced ingredients goes so well with the natural wines. (DL)

I love the simplicity of how they come with the chalk board, put it on your table and there are only a few choices for appetizer, two mains, some cheese and two desserts. The wine list they just sell orally. There is no pretension. It’s small, has character and it’s in the oldest passage in Paris. (AT)

8 Passage des Panoramas, 75002 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.40.13.06.41

La Crèmerie

Part gourmet shop, part wine shop, part sit down restaurant. It’s right by Odéon. They play good music. I came here after a wine trip once and I was exhausted and the guy made me a vegetarian meal that was so delicious. It was just fantastic. You can buy a bottle of wine and drink it here for a modest mark-up or there is a limited, but very good by the glass menu. (DL)

9 Rue des 4 Vents, 75006 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.43.54.99.30 | lacremerie.fr

Quedubon

It’s a little out of the way spot by the Parc Des Buttes Chaumont, which is a cool place to walk around -- it’s beautiful. It’s a nice restaurant with very well done food and a good, all natural wine list. Not expensive, partly because it is out of the way. (DL)

22 Rue du Plateau, 75019 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.42.38.18.65

Le Verre Volé

They always have good wine and I’ve had some very good meals here, even though they are cooking in some little cubby hole. It’s a relaxed environment with nice people working here. (DL)

67 Rue de Lancry, 75010 Paris, France

T: +33.(0)1.48.03.17.34 | www.leverrevole.fr