Park Avenue Winter
100 East 63rd St. (Park Ave.), Manhattan
In twenty days (that's March 14th) Park Avenue Winter will shut down after brunch. They'll reopen on March 16th for dinner as Park Avenue Spring. Everyone knows that means a complete transformation - menu, uniforms, wallpaper - and almost everyone enjoys Spring best (unless it's Autumn). But we think you should stop by each reincarnation because the food is good and the company is great - almost exclusively Age Appropriate. Don't believe us? A Sous Chef tells us it's a veritable ghost town 'round midnight. It's true. We saw it happen. Packed house near 8pm; empty in the 11's (bar empty before that). Bed by 12. Perfect.
Back to Park Avenue Autumn for a moment. We noticed Alma Rosa makes the restaurant's signature pinot noir. We're longtime big fans of the Sanfords so excitedly asked our otherwise wonderful waiter to differentiate between the 2007 and the 2008 on the list, and wondered if this wine was an exclusive blend. He did not know. He did not even know there were two vintages on the menu. He was confused by how much we knew. We were confused by the lack of sommelier. We ordered the 2007 anyway. It was, of course, outstanding. We're reaching out to Alma Rosa now for more information, which we'll share with you. And we'll put up some pictures too.
UPDATE: Alma Rosa's wine for Park Avenue InsertSeason is a custom blend modeled after the winery's Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir. That means the wines are similar but not the same, something the waiter should have known. The restaurant has a custom-blended wine for each season and they too are huge fans of Richard Sanford. "Was a thrill that he was willing to work with us," they say. We completely understand.
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