Long-awaited oenophile outpost City Vineyard finally opened at Pier 26 overlooking the Hudson last week.
BY ALEX ELLEFSON
Vines, vistas, and vino have finally come to Hudson River Park.
City Vineyard, the long-awaited wine-centric restaurant at Pier 26, made its debut on the Hudson last week, offering 15 wines on tap, as well as outdoor seating on the terrace and roof from which to soak in expansive waterfront and city views.
The new venue is a spinoff of Michael Dorf’s City Winery in Tribeca, and has been hotly anticipated since the Hudson River Park Trust tapped the vino impresario to create the high-end, glass-walled restaurant at Pier 26 more than a year ago.
“City Vineyard will provide people the opportunity to feel like they escaped the city without having to leave the Tribeca area,” Dorf said in a statement. “Our goal is to focus on the food, wine, and beverage program to give people a unique dining experience and a place for them to truly unwind.”
The 1,150-square-foot venue, with vines crawling up to the rooftop seating area atop a glass-encased indoor restaurant, uses every opportunity to expose guests to the shimmering city lights. The roof and terrace offer seating for 200 people, while the indoor space — scheduled to open September 16 — will accommodate 75 guests.
Madelyn Wils, president and CEO of Hudson River Park Trust, said the new waterfront restaurant will round out visitors’ experience at the pier.
“It completes the day,” said Wils. “People can come to enjoy the different activities and then settle down for lunch or dinner and a glass of wine.”
One eye-catching innovation of City Winery impresario Michael Dorf’s new venture is that City Vineyard offers 15 wines on tap.
The new restaurant is the latest puzzle piece to snap into place for Hudson River Park Trust’s reboot of Pier 26. Besides the Downtown Boathouse, which moved back to the pier in 2014, the trust is also building an estuarium where residents can learn about the Hudson River’s unique ecosystem. Additionally, the trust hired landscape architecture firm OLIN to design a recreational space on the pier that will feature additional education exhibits about the environment. Wils said the design should be completed in three months.
City Vineyard builds on the pier’s environmental focus by emphasizing locally sourced ingredients and sustainable agriculture — much of them drawn from farms near Dorf’s home in the Hudson Valley, according the restaurant’s general manager, Todd Whiteman.
Menu items are designed to complement the wine, which is poured from spouts tapping oak barrels attached to the walls. The vino is made nearby at Dorf’s City Winery. But Whiteman said they are working to outfit the new restaurant so the wine can be pressed and fermented on-site at the pier.
“The whole concept is about tying the wine to the experience,” said Whiteman.
Menu items for the outdoor space include shareable, small-plate dishes such as an artisanal cheese plate ($23), a cured meats board ($20) and house-marinated Mediterranean olives ($7). Whiteman said a cabernet-infused slaw, made with pressed grape leaves, is also in the works.
The indoor menu will focus on seafood, and offer entrée options that run between $28 and $35.
While the open-air parts of the City Vineyard will close between November and April, the indoor space — with floor-to-ceiling windows facing west, south and east — will operate year-round.
City Vineyard’s rooftop bar offers bright city views, including of 1 WTC.
