Review: Too Much Talking at Terroir

I like Marco Cancora even though he took his chocolate doughnuts off the menu at Hearth, and didn't respond to any of my emails begging him to bring them back. And even though I didn't enjoy Insieme, his stuffy midtown eatery in a stuffy midtown hotel, I decided to give his wine bar, Terroir, a shot. Despite its pretentiously evocative name, Terroir is a shoebox located right behind Hearth on 12th Street in the East Village, with a decidedly neighborhood treehouse atmosphere. Other than the bar, the only place to sit is a long communal table squashed up against the wall, leaving people to squash against each other to get to that undesirable seat in the middle of the table. Get cool with this closeness, quick, cause you're going to end up sitting nearly as close anyway.

Warm fuzzy feelings dissipated quickly when I opened the wine list. It's a wine bar with fun graphic design screaming "Summer of the Riesling", so someone, please explain to me how the proprietors decided THIS is okay. Yeah, that's right. It looks like an abstract for an academic conference. And this was only one page of many: every type of wine on the list came with its own verbose disclaimer. This particular page wasn't even about a wine, it's a mini-biography of Alvaro Palacios, a superstar in the Spanish wine world. I understand that it's a wine bar where patrons may wish to be informed about what they decide to drink, but how are we to decide what to drink when we can't even finish reading about the first two grapes? Keeping the language cheeky and personal doesn't prevent the actual exercise from being pedantic - or overwhelming.

BUT the wine list was interesting, the staff was very knowledgeable, and they offered half-glasses at no premium, allowing patrons to sample a wide variety at reasonable prices. It's a great place for a self-selected tasting, with a small menu of snacks to keep you company. The food is unequivocally delicious, but did I mention that the chef (whose name I didn't catch) had the smallest workstation I've ever seen? It was a tiny counter about 2 feet long, with with a hot plate. Seriously; this somehow makes the food taste phenomenal. Major kudos to her for managing to keep other people out of her way long enough to send out perfectly toasted LARDO! bruschetta - this is a picture of the second one I ordered. To photograph the first would've required an X-ray within 20 seconds. Below is the roasted tomato and egg bruschetta.

In addition to bruschetta, there's a small selection of charcuterie, salads and panini, many of which I remember seeing at Craftbar, though I bet even those favorites taste better here, coming as they do from that hot plate. I also sampled the wild boar sausage at our server's recommendation - it was better than I expected, with a rich, chewy texture and hunger-creating gaminess. Am I a hunting outdoorsman in my heart? Cause you know, I'd learn to shoot a gun if it meant I'd have a lifetime supply of that boar sausage. Sorry, no picture as it too would've required an x-ray.

Terroir
413 East 12th Street (between 1st/A Ave)
New York, NY
646.602.1300