Warming trend

La Companie des Vins Surnaturels, Soho/Little Paris

RESTAURANTS • First Person

Last week, an idea nearly went viral on (virus-containment platform) Threads, that New York City these days is too curated, too ticketed, too unfun to be fun anymore. 

Putting aside the fact that such waves of discontent have surfaced regularly in the city since its founding, the vibe felt real in the Midtown office of my eye doctor. As one does with one’s doctor in New York, we were chatting about new restaurants, and — to my amusement and delight — the ophthalmologist was dismissing hot new restaurant after hot new restaurant. 

“And then I went to that place over on the west side?” she said. “That new private dining club — Carbone Privato.” 

“You went to Carbone Privato?” I said, duly impressed by her level of access to the Major Food Group artifice with its $20K initiation fee and $10K in annual dues. 

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s meh.”

Even though I knew she was being provocatively unfair, I laughed — and recognized the mood in myself from the past few weeks. Winter had stuck around, the menus hadn’t yet flipped to spring, going out felt like more effort than it was worth. It’s the time of year when my review of everything is meh.

But then on Saturday night, the babysitter arrived as scheduled, and we found ourselves with some free time before a long-standing dinner plan, so we ended up walking aimlessly from Nolita down to a stretch of Centre Street that calls itself Little Paris. No, we didn’t have a reservation, we told the host at the front of La Companie des Vins Surnaturels, but he had standing space for us at the back of this crowded wine bar. 

Right after we placed an order from our standing spots along the back rail, the host appeared again to tell us two bar seats had opened up front. He escorted us there. That simple act of hospitality blessed us with nearly an hour in a perfect NYC room, which was humming at exactly the right level of bustle early on a Saturday night, both bartender and manager chatty and convivial, wine and olives and cheeses all just right. The bar’s been here 10 years, but for us, it was a first. 

We could’ve sat there all night. But the mood had already lifted — the vibe, perhaps, shifted — and we had more plans. –Lockhart Steele

→ La Companie des Vins Surnaturels (Soho/Little Paris) • 249 Centre St and coming soon to Flatiron • Mon-Wed 5p-12a, Thurs-Fri 5p-1a, Sat 4p-1a, Sun 4p-12a • Reserve.