If you want to experience the Carrabba’s of wine bars or shake off a clingy paramour—or really yearn to feel unwelcome, go to Vini e Fritti. The decor? Trite. The lighting? Platonic. The service—where?
Head to the beige-colored hotel bar because it’s your coworker’s last day and you don’t want to go to that dive bar again. You’ll fit right in with the large groups gathered around the high-top tables for birthdays and happy-hour celebrations on a recent Wednesday night. Vini e Fritti has dozens of bottles of Italian wine, spumante and (curiously) French champagne, but only 18 offerings by the glass. And although we enjoyed pours of the crisp, fruity—and pricey—Champagne Guy Larmandier Grand Cru ($19) and the full-bodied Cabernet Casanuova delle Cerbaie Rivale Toscana 2010, the list of Italian-inspired cocktails is less than inspiring. We ordered the Campari Loves Gin cocktail, but certainly didn’t love its syrupy concoction of three herbal liqueurs.
This brings us to the high-calorie, low-cost bites, a specialty of Danny Meyer. His fritti include small plates such as golden balls of saucy bucatini all’amatriciana, lightly crisped baby artichokes and chive-loaded latkes atop a creamy dill dip. But if Vini e Fritti is some sort of fast-casual answer to Italian wine bars, then we’ll stick with the slow-formal ones, per favore.