BARS • First Round
Jonathan Waxman is a busy man. Alongside his forever-cool West Village restaurant Barbuto and the reboot of his big-in-the’80s Midtown spot Jams (not to mention a restaurant in San Francisco), the chef is readying a Barbuto outpost at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge this month. On top of all that, he popped open a new wine bar, Bar Tizio, just down the block from Barbuto, in May.
On a recent Wednesday night, I spotted my friend at the bar and pulled up a stool. We studied the drinks menu, weighing a lineup of classic cocktails — martini, negroni, French 75, among others — against the substantial by-the-glass wine list (I counted 26 on offer) before the amiably chatty bartender recommended a glass of Miranius 2022 organic white wine from Catalonia. Fresh with crisp acidity, it was a perfect glass on a rainy late spring night.
Bar Tizio’s room has an industrial feel not unlike that of Barbuto itself. Big windows open out to the street, and there are a bunch of tables too (though they sat empty on this night). The word is not yet out.
With dinners booked afterwards, we weren’t planning to dine, but we couldn’t resist, ordering the fresh tajarin (egg rich) pasta and a razor clam pizette from the surprisingly substantial and interesting food menu. Both dishes were perfect for bar dining, the pasta a small pile of noodles somewhere between spaghetti and angel hair in width, and the pizzette a dinner-plate-sized circular pie with crisp crust and a generous helping of clams served atop ramps, baby arugula, and Thai pepper — as good a clam pie as I’ll likely ever have sitting at a bar.
One more surprise: a trip downstairs to the bathroom revealed the ultimate rec room, a cavernous basement filled with couches, tables, and rack after rack of wine. The bartender said they plan to use it as a private event space. A party down there would be a lot of fun, for sure, but I’ve also slotted Bar Tizio into the rotation as a perfect pregame or postgame spot. –Lockhart Steele
→ Bar Tizio (West Village) • 107 Horatio St • Tue-Sat 5-10p • Reserve, bar seats for walk-ins only.